The road to the state championships began this past weekend as the Missouri State High School Activities Association girls’ tennis singles and doubles districts took place with many of the top names advancing to the state tournament. On the football field, Lutheran North took control of the Metro League while Francis Howell’s win on Saturday set up a battle for the GAC South next week.
Let’s get caught up on the action with this week’s edition of the Monday Morning Wrap-Up.
In Class 2 action, Ladue qualified all six of their players in the tennis singles and doubles districts last Friday as Angela Chen defeated her teammate Saba Fajors 6-0 and 6-0 to claim the district title while the Rams double team of Megan Ouyang and Kayla Chan won the title with a 6-0 and 6-2 victory over fellow Rams Grace Qian and Jenna Song. In Class 3, Clair Stewart of Howell advanced to the state tournament with a 6-0 and 6-1 win over Anna Burcham of St. Dominic while Emma Shuler and Josie Maddox of Howell claimed the district doubles title with a 6-1 and 6-3 win over Katelyn Voges and Katherine Groat of Howell Central. Sahana Madala of John Burroughs moved on with a 6-0 and 6-4 win over teammate Allison Wayne with Emerey Gross and Abigail Gaines of St. Joseph’s Academy claiming a three-set victory over Mikaela Mikulec and Rachel Li of MICDS to win the district doubles tournament. The top two players in each district will now compete in the state tournament at Cooper Tennis Center in Springfield, Mo., on October 13-15.
Photo Credit – Ladue High School
On the football field, Ricky Dixon rushed for 230 yards and four touchdowns as Lutheran North raced past MICDS 34-18 to take control of the top of the Metro League Saturday afternoon. Mikel Harris opened the scoring for the Crusaders midway through the first quarter with a seven-yard run to put Lutheran North ahead 7-0. The Rams answered early in the second as Winston Moore found the endzone on a three-yard run to even the contest at 7-7. Dixon put Lutheran North ahead with a five-yard and a 30-yard dash to the endzone to push the lead to 21-7. As time expired in the first half, Harrison Mandell kicked a 35-yard field goal to cut the Crusader advantage to 21-10. Dixon extended the lead in the third quarter with his third score of the day with a three-yard run to make the score 28-10. After another Dixon score early in the fourth, the Rams attempted to make a comeback as Marcus Coleman grabbed a seven-yard pass from Brian Gould to cut the deficit to 34-16, and then the MICDS defense scored a safety to make the score 34-18. The Rams would get no closer as Lutheran North controlled the final five minutes of the contest to improve to 4-2 on the year. The Crusaders rushed for 347 yards on the afternoon while Rico Merriweather and Marvin Stringfellow each had 11 tackles to pace Lutheran North in the win.
Francis Howell exploded for 49 first-half points as the Vikings remained undefeated with a 56-21 win at Fort Zumwalt West Saturday. Howell cracked the scoreboard just 94 seconds into the game as Adam Shipley found Jude James on a 24-yard touchdown strike to put the Vikings on top 7-0. Brady Hultman extended the lead to 14-0 with a one-yard run before the Jaguars cut the lead as Mike Ludwig found the endzone from three yards out to make the score 14-7. After each team scored early in the second quarter, the Vikings scored 28 unanswered points to make the score 49-14. Shipley scored on a nine-yard run during that span and then tossed three more touchdown passes to three different receivers. Jaylen Pearson caught a 55-yard pass while Brent Norfleet grabbed an 11-yard strike, and Garrett Puckett caught a 12-yard pass as time expired in the half to pace the Vikings. Shipley finished the day with 12 completions for 306 yards and five touchdowns and added 51 yards on the ground with another score. Jude James led the Howell defense with nine tackles and interception to aid the Vikings in improving to 6-0 on the year.
This week will be busy as the girls’ tennis teams hit the court for the MSHSAA District team competition. Ladue will look to advance to the state final four after falling in the Class 2 finals last year while St. Joseph’s Academy and MICDS will attempt to make it back to the championship match as the Angels defeated the Rams in last year’s Class 3 title contest.
It is also that last week of the regular season in softball as many conference titles are up for grabs while the softball seeding meeting
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
