The first week of high school sports started with a bang as CBC and St. Mary’s each had statement wins over quality opponents Friday evening. On the soccer field, St. Louis University High School showed that they are going to be a team to watch this fall while on the volleyball court, St. Pius X out of Festus proved that Jefferson R7 is not the only volleyball power in Jefferson County.
Let’s get caught up from an outstanding weekend of prep sports in today’s Monday Morning Wrap Up.
CBC went on the road and showed why they are still considered one of the top teams in the state as the Cadets defeated Milton, Ga., 41-27 Friday evening at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio. After both teams played to a 20-20 tie in the first half, CBC scored midway through the third quarter as Ralph Dixon found the endzone after a three-yard to put the Cadets on top 27-20. CBC put the game away in the fourth as Dylan Van scored twice while the Cadet defense held Milton to a single touchdown in the half to claim their first win of the season. Dixon paced the Cadet offense with 139 yards while Van added 130 yards in the game. Jeremiah McClellan collected a pair of touchdown passes in the victory to help the Cadets to a 1-0 start on the year.
St. Mary’s also registered a signature victory Friday as the Dragon defense held St. Louis University High School scoreless for the last 32 minutes of the contest to earn a 42-10 victory over the Jr. Bills on the road at SLUH. Chase Hendricks jump-started the Dragons offense with a pair of touchdown runs in the game’s first six minutes to give St. Mary’s an early 14-0 advantage. After SLUH kicked a field goal and a Ryan Wingo touchdown reception from Marco Sansone cut the Dragons lead to 14-10, St. Mary’s responded by scoring four touchdowns over the next 16 minutes to extend the lead to 42-10. John Roberts Jr. scored twice in that span to aid the Dragons in a convincing win. Jamal Roberts paced the Dragons offense with 229 yards on the ground and a touchdown with Roberts Jr. adding 51 yards on the ground in the win.
In one of the wildest games of the night, Edwardsville needed overtime to defeat Jackson 41-34 in a double overtime affair at The Pit in Jackson. The Tigers road victory is the first time that the Indians have been beaten at home in over four years. Jackson raced out to an early 21-0 advantage midway through the second quarter before Edwardsville started their comeback. Jordan Bush scored from two yards out in the second quarter to cut the Jackson lead to 21-7. Bush found the endzone again just 59 seconds into the third quarter on a 21-yard run to put the Tigers eight points behind the Indians at 21-13. The Indians then scored their final touchdown in regulation at the 5:37 mark of the third quarter to extend the advantage to 26-13. In the fourth quarter, Jake Curry scored to cut the lead to 26-19, and then Joey DeMare collected a touchdown pass from Curry with 2:51 remaining in regulation to tie the game at 26-26. After both teams scored in the first overtime, De’Shawn Larson scored from four yards out in the second extra session to give the Tigers a massive road win.
On the soccer pitch, the Jr. Bills need to work overtime to defeat Chaminade 2-1 Saturday afternoon in West County. After a scoreless first 45 minutes of play, Lucas Higgins put the Red Devils on the board first after he collected a touch from Graham Basile and found the back of the net to give Chaminade a 1-0 lead early in the second half. The Jr. Bills responded as Henry Sanders evened the match in the 67th minute when he scored from 10-yards out to make the score 1-1. After both teams played the final 13 minutes of regulation and the first 10-minute extra session to a scoreless battle, Grant Locker sent SLUH home with their first victory over Chaminade since 2017 with a goal four minutes into the second overtime to give the Jr. Bills a 2-1 win.
St. Pius X out of Festus started the season by winning the inaugural Brace for Impact tournament at Legacy VTC in Fenton, Mo., this past weekend. The Lancers finished the tournament with a 5-0 record and defeated Althoff 2-1 in the title match to claim the trophy. After winning the first set 25-22, Althoff bounced back with 25-18 in the second set to force a final set. The Lancers grabbed an early lead and did not look back as they won set three by a score of 25-11 to earn the championship. The young Lancers squad will look to complete with Jefferson R7, who advanced to the state final four last season.
The first state media football poll will be released this evening at 7 p.m. It will be very interesting to see how the local teams will be slotted in later tonight especially with many teams moving classifications this season.
The Parkway Softball Tournament starts today with all the Parkway schools taking part with Kirkwood, Hillsboro, and Pattonville joining others in the tournament being held at ABC Park.
The Zumwalt Classic started play this past weekend and will finish up this week as Fort Zumwalt West, Lutheran St. Charles, Fort Zumwalt North, and Howell Central all collected victories in the opening round. Lutheran St. Charles will take on Fort Zumwalt West in one semifinal while Fort Zumwalt North and Howell Central will match up in the second semifinal Tuesday evening with the winners playing in the title game Thursday evening.
Jim Powers has been covering prep sports in the St. Louis area for 15+ years and a part of the Missouri State High School Activities Association Championship Broadcasts for the past 11 years. Powers is also a part of the Fox 2 Verlo Mattress Prep Zone Friday nights at 10:10 during the football and basketball seasons. If you have a prep sports story, please contact Jim at japowers2421@yahoo.com. Follow Jim at @hssportscaravan