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We are down to seven games left involving area football teams.
See what to watch for in the games below.
DISTRICT QUARTERFINAL FOOTBALL PICKS – CLICK HERE
Class 5: Forth Zumwalt North at Glendale
Glendale has the respect of Southwest Missouri.
Now it is time for the state and, potentially, the nation to take notice.
Alex Huston is on the cusp of rewriting the national record book.
Right now he is fourth in the history of the nation in single season passing yards with 5,790. Second and third are 5,920 and 5,872 yards respectively. He will get those numbers this week. That means Mike Mauk’s son Ben is the only remaining hurdle to clear. He holds the national record with 6,540 yards. That is two games worth of production for Huston.
He has thrown 73 touchdown passes. Second and third in the national record book are 77 and 76. Corey Robinson holds the national record at 91. Huston will likely need three games to get there.
It isn’t reflected in the national record book, but he should already hold the completions per game and yards per game records from last year. He is on pace to up his yards per game record from 509.8 to 526.36 as of this writing.
This will be the first time the Falcons have stepped out into the unknown of Southwest Missouri as they welcome in 10-1 Fort Zumwalt North from the St. Louis area.
The player Kyle Doran and the Falcon defense have to stop is Cade Brister. He has thrown for 1,192 yards and 12 touchdowns, but is even more dangerous on the ground. Brister leads the Panthers with 1,609 yards on 195 carries for 35 touchdowns. That is an average of 8.3 yards per carry.
No other Panther running back has more than 598 yards.
Zumwalt overall is a run heavy team with 3,531 yards and 61 touchdowns on the ground versus 1,317 and 12 touchdowns through the air.
If Doran and the defense can keep him in the pocket and stuff out his scrambles, it will be a good night for Glendale. They know exactly who they have to stop on offense.
Defensively, Brister will be the biggest foil for Huston. He leads the team with seven interceptions while the rest of the team has four combined. Zumwalt doesn’t get a ton of pressure on the quarterback with just 16 sacks in 11 games and five total fumble recoveries.
But the Panthers also don’t make mistakes. Brister hasn’t thrown a pick in 99 attempts.
This is fairly simple for Glendale: Stop Brister, stop the Panthers.
Class 5: Carthage at Battle
Carthage left no doubt in the 47-7 district title-game win over Nixa. The one touchdown they gave up was itself a complete 50-50 call by the referees on the goal-line.
The thing I like the most is that they did it through the air last week. Keith Guest was an efficient 8-for-12 for 220 yards and four touchdowns. Arkell Smith was on the receiving end of those touchdowns with six catches for 178 yards and four touchdowns.
It was the fourth game this season where Carthage had more yards passing than rushing. That balance will serve the Tigers well against Battle this week so the Spartans can’t sell out on one phase of the game.
Battle gets to the quarterback and into the backfield on a regular basis. The Spartans have 70 tackles for a loss and 18 sacks this season. Triggering that backfield mayhem is senior Keiondre Hall who is a 6’4”, 205-pound defensive end and wide receiver.
Hall leads the team with 15 tackles for a loss and 6.5 sacks. Hall ranges around the field very well with a ton of speed. On his HUDL film online, any time you leave him unblocked he makes you pay.
Kahleb Adams is another key senior for the Spartans. He has 14 tackles for a loss and 4.5 sacks at linebacker to go with 64 total tackles.
On defense, Dillon Lancaster, Logan Kabance, Trey Collins, Tucker Edmonson and company have one overarching goal: keep Brevinn Tyler in the pocket.
The senior quarterback has thrown for 2,454 yards and 27 touchdowns, but is only completing 53 percent of his passes. He leads the Spartans with 1,315 yards and 24 touchdowns on the ground for an average of 9.7 yards per carry.
Watch this video to see just how little space he needs to make a defense pay with his legs: http://www.hudl.com/v/uYruu
Carthage has 18 interceptions as a team this year, so they may be able to get some of those key turnovers if they can make him throw more passes than he would like.
It will be easier said than done. Knight was a sophomore quarterback the year Battle won the Class 5 title. These games don’t rattle him.
Hunter Smith is their top running back with 1,207 yards and 16 touchdowns.
Class 4: Harrisonville at Webb City
There is no love lost here. Webb City has ended Harrisonville’s season each of the last two years in this round by margins of 45-7 and 35-0.
Webb City is a completely different team from the beginning of the season and it showed in a 27-6 revenge win over Carl Junction to take an 18th consecutive district title.
Durand Henderson continues to be a revelation here in the latter part of the season. He had 24 carries for 100 yards and a touchdown against CJ. It was his second straight 100-yard game. Junior Will Larson was second on the team with 59 yards and two touchdowns last week.
The defense of Webb City has risen to the occasion in the last two weeks by holding West Plains and Carl Junction to a touchdown each.
Keegan Hoopes was averaging 213.5 yards and 3.5 touchdowns per game on the ground going into the district semifinals. Webb City held him to 67 yards and no touchdowns.
Last week, Rayquion Weston had been averaging 144 yards per game and was held to a season-low 56 yards and no touchdowns. It was only the second game this season that he had failed to cross the goal line.
Last week, senior Trey Gibson left his mark all over the game with 14 total tackles and two for a loss. He is the heartbeat of a defense that has kept Webb City alive much of the season while the offense has caught up here in the latter part of the year.
Jarren Taylor and Jordon Rogers each have 11 tackles for a loss to tie for the team lead.
All of this doesn’t bode the best for a Harrisonville team that loves to run the ball. The Wildcats have run for 2,389 yards and 36 touchdowns while passing for 1,179 yards and seven touchdowns with seven interceptions.
Senior Morgan Selemaea is their lead back with 130 carries for 1,050 yards and 15 touchdowns.
He was ineffective in a 49-0 loss to Platte County with 4 carries for 11 yards. He did not play the next week in a 19-18 loss to Excelsior Springs. In their final 19-7 loss to Grain Valley he had 16 carries for 82 yards.
He did rebound nicely in a rebound 33-10 win over Grain Valley last week with 21 carries for 171 yards and three touchdowns.
These are two teams who are much better today than they were in August.
Class 3: Owensville at Monett
I am sure some people get tired of his name, but Michael Branch continues to be one of the area’s best players regardless of Class affiliation.
He stepped up with his best game of the season last week with 329 yards and five touchdowns in a win over upset-minded Mount Vernon. That brings his season rushing total to 1,781 yards and 25 touchdowns.
The Monett defense was especially good against the area’s second-best passing attack by holding Garrett Hadlock to 25 for 44 passing for 228 yards. His top target Jarrett Massie had nine catches for 76 yards and one touchdown with no true big play.
This week’s opponent is undefeated Owensville, which has been an offensive powerhouse this season, not unlike last week’s opponent Mount Vernon.
The Dutchmen are led by dual-threat quarterback Wyatt Ellis. The junior has thrown for 2,337 yards and 32 touchdowns to go with 1,086 yards and 12 touchdowns on the ground. Trevord Rector (817 yards) and Robert Weirich (617 yards) are also threats on the ground.
Owensville has a staggering 5,255 yards of total offense. The Dutchmen are scoring 46 points per game while yielding 21.75 points per game.
Locally, Owensville played 2-8 Buffalo to open district play and yielded 28 points, which was the third-highest output for the Bison this season.
Monett is going to score its points. The only question is will the defense step up in a similar way to last week?
Class 2: MV-BT/Liberty at Lamar
Here we are again. Lamar has ended MV-BT/Liberty’s season in five of the last six seasons.
Last year was a 14-7 nail-biter that just slipped out of the Eagles’ reach.
Can Liberty finally get a win this year?
It is going to be very tough.
Lamar took on a solid and undefeated Fair Grove team last week and dismantled them, holding the Eagles to negative yards rushing. The profiles of Fair Grove and Liberty in terms of skill players are very similar.
Last year, Cale Cornman kept Liberty in this game with a team-high 21 total tackles. How do the Eagles replace him in this year’s game?
To beat Lamar you have to be willing to play physically and attack on both sides of the ball. Lamar ball carriers are great at letting their blockers help. If a Tiger ball carrier gets free he is willing to slow up a bit to allow his blockers to open space and deliver punishment. It sounds like a car crash every time the Tigers hit. They know their schemes and they know their roles.
Cornman was able to be a one-man wrecking crew. Somebody will have to step up defensively for Liberty. Junior Koel Orchard is probably that player. He had 11 total tackles and a sack in this game a year ago.
Most of the offensive faces are back for Liberty led by Josh Pruett. He threw for 173 yards and rushed for 97 in the quarterfinal loss a year ago. Brenton Bush has developed well as a receiver since his junior year, but it is going to take more than him. The Lamar secondary will scheme to take him away, likely lining up with Luke Hardman across from him.
Class 1: Midway at Lincoln
Midway had is season ended by Skyline each of the last two years in this round while this is the first trip to the quarterfinals in Lincoln’s history.
These two teams have two common opponents in Osceola and Rich Hill. Lincoln beat Osceola 48-0 while Midway beat the Indians 36-16. The Cardinals beat Rich Hill 52-3 with Midway taking their game against them 44-24.
Midway is going to run the ball. The Vikings have run the ball 610 times and thrown just 92 times with a 42.4 percent completion rate.
Peyton Richardson is the focal point of Midway’s offense with 173 carries for 1,444 yards and 25 touchdowns.
If Lincoln can force the Vikings into obvious passing situations it is a decided advantage for the Cardinals. Midway has 10 passing touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
Class 1: Valle Catholic at Thayer
Thayer won a defensive battle over Ash Grove 6-0 last week.
This week the task is much more difficult in six-time defending state champion Valle Catholic. Thayer has lost to the Warriors five consecutive times in the playoffs dating back to 2010.
The last time Thayer beat Valle in the playoffs was a 30-0 win back in 2008.
Outside of the blowout loss to Lamar, the Warriors have been untouchable this year. Hayti gave them their second-closest game of the season last week in a 41-24 win.
That is the same Hayti team that beat Thayer 26-0 to open the season.
