After two exciting rounds of playoff football, the Class 5 quarterfinals take place this Saturday with four great games, including Webster Groves, who survived its first playoff game Monday against Eureka, lining up against Chaminade, who bounced out last year’s champs, Hazelwood East. Last year’s Class 5 runner-up, Raytown South, travels to Nixa.
Chaminade (9-3) at Webster Groves (10-0) Game Time: 1:30 p.m. Saturday
These two teams met the night before Halloween in the District 2 Championship and the scary part about that meeting was how great the Webster Groves defense played, holding Chaminade’s star running back, Rob Standard, to a measly 42 yards on 17 carries. Needless to say, the Red Devils had trouble with the offense that night and lost 30-7. Two weeks later, Standard is up to his old tricks again, and ran all over Hazelwood East on Monday to the tune of 300 yards on 51 carries – and no, neither of those numbers are misprints – in Chaminade’s 24-21 win over the defending Class 5 Champs. But if Chaminade is going to give the Statesmen a run, literally or figuratively, it will need quarterback Christian Suntrup to step up and make plays to keep the Webster Groves defense from simply keying on Standard. Sure, 51 carries worked against East, but Mike Jones’ defensive unit is neither as talented nor as deep as Cliff Ice’s group. Marquise Clemons continues to make plays on both sides of the ball, not to mention the offensive firepower with essentially three quarterbacks on the roster in Clemons, Derrick Dilworth and Desi Brown, although Brown, an East Carolina commit who transferred in this season, has been running the ball and doing a great job of it, including racking up 108 yards on eight carries against Chaminade in the team’s first meeting. But if you’re the Red Devils, you have to feel better about your chances, considering Standard didn’t have his best game, and according to Chaminade head coach Doug Taylor, who said after the game, the Red Devils were trying not to show too much to the Statesmen considering they could possibly meet again. Well, the matchup is here, and Webster Groves, who was outplayed by Eureka for most of the game in a 36-25 Statesmen win, can only improve on a lackluster start to the playoffs.
Parkway North (9-1) at Parkway Central (10-2) Game Time: 6 p.m. Saturday
Another rematch from district play, North had no problem taking care of Central nearly three weeks ago when the Viking running game racked up 257 yards in a 41-10 rout. However, that Viking offensive line featured All-State left tackle and future Mizzou Tiger Anthony Gatti in that game, and now Gatti, who tore his ACL in the team’s regular season finale against Kirkwood, is done for the year. But that didn’t stop the Vikings from pounding the rock in a four-OT win in its playoff opener against Rolla, 38-35. In fact, the Vikings ran the ball 41 times for 321 yards, and were led in rushing by running back Jaimee Buchanan, who’s been a workhorse all year and was again on Monday with 25 carries for 213 yards, including a 99-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. The Vikings will look to do more of the same against Central, whose defense has been spectacular in the three games following the loss to the Vikings. During those three games, the Colts have allowed only two touchdowns, and despite getting outgained by Timberland 318-239 in total offense, the Colt defense recovered two fumbles, intercepted a pass and sacked the quarterback once. Expect to see a heavy dose of running from the Colt offense too, as they’ve racked up nearly 400 yards rushing in the playoffs through two games, and so it’s vital if you’re the Vikings defense, which held the Colt running game to 142 yards in it the first meeting, to jump out to an early lead and force the Colts to abandon the running game and make Matt Robinson beat them.
Raytown South (9-3) at Nixa (9-3) Game Time: 1:30 p.m. Saturday
Following a 21-14 loss to Fort Osage in week 6 of the regular season, David Allie’s group has won six in a row, including a 30-14 win over Lee’s Summit West to start the playoffs that avenged a loss to the Titans in week 5. Meanwhile, there’s the Nixa Eagles, whose won four in a row including a 42-0 thumping of Camdenton on Monday. Nixa rolled up 414 yards of total offense in the game against the Eagles, and Jordan Keeney, who missed the first game earlier in the season, a 7-6 Nixa win, made sure folks knew he was in the building Monday with 25 carries for 186 yards and two touchdowns. Eagle quarterback Ben Fisher was sharp as well, completing 10 of 12 passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns. The Nixa offense will need that kind of production again against a tough and fast Raytown South defense that hasn’t allowed more than 21 points to an opposing offense all year, including the #1 team in Class 5, Fort Osage. While Nixa had no trouble stopping the Camdenton offense, limiting the Lakers to 85 yards of total offense, the Eagles face Dennis Tanner, one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the state, who threw for 244 yards and three touchdowns in the Cardinals 35-13 win over Ozark Monday night. Both teams will use the Ozark game tape to get an idea of each team’s tendencies. Nixa lost to Ozark 21-13 in district play in an intense, overtime, rivalry game thriller.
Fort Osage (11-0) at Raymore-Peculiar (8-3) Game Time: 1:30 p.m. Saturday
Two of the best teams from the KC Metro square off Saturday afternoon as the Fort Osage Indians come in riding an 11-game win streak while Ray-Pec is looking to get back to the Show-Me Bowl for the first time since 2006. Fort Osage had no problem taking care of Park Hill for the second straight year, this time a 29-6 win in which quarterback Ed Pearl played great, throwing for 123 yards on 7-12 passing with one touchdown while Mizzou-bound running back EJ Gaines toted the rock 17 times for 100, scoring three touchdowns and caught three passes for another 75 yards. If Fort Osage is to continue its winning streak and make it to the school’s first ever Show-Me Bowl, then head coach Ryan Schartz will need more performances like that from his 1-2 offensive punch. As for Ray-Pec, who three-peated with that 2006 Show-Me Bowl title, at one point this season stood at 2-3 and were coming off an embarrassing 56-14 loss to Class 6 power Blue Springs. But the Panthers, led by All-State quarterback Cameron Coffman, reeled off six consecutive wins including a 42-14 win over Winnetonka in the opening round of the playoffs. Coffman, who’s thrown for 1292 yards this season, has been helped in the backfield by Marc Harrison, who was moved to running back this year after starring on defense. Harrison has rushed for 862 yards and 13 touchdowns, including running for 172 yards and two touchdowns in the win over ‘Tonka. Expect to see a lot of running, but don’t be surprised to see the team that makes the biggest plays through the air win the game.
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