Of the St. Louis American
Looking ahead:
Althoff (2-0) at SLUH (1-0), Friday, 7 p.m. – An early-season showdown and a rematch from last year’s exciting game, won by Althoff 28-27. Both teams bring plenty of firepower to the party. Althoff sophomore Jason Ford rushed for 215 yards and four touchdowns in the Crusaders’ victory over Belleville West last week. Quarterback Dale Fink has thrown for more than 350 yards as well. The Junior Billikens have a tremendous 1-2 punch in senior quarterback Paul Chaney and tailback Stephen Simmons. Chaney scored two touchdowns while Simmons rushed for 156 yards in SLUH’s 28-12 victory at Parkway South.
Webster Groves (1-0) at Parkway North (1-0), Saturday, 1 p.m. – The game features two excellent teams from the Suburban South Conference. There will also be a special ceremony in honor of former Parkway North standout Aaron O’Neal, who died two months ago before his redshirt freshman year at the University of Missouri. His No. 25 will be officially retired. Both teams had impressive opening-week victories. Webster shut out University City 49-0 while the Vikings defeated Parkway West 27-20.
Cahokia (2-0) at Geneseo (2-0), Friday, 7 p.m. – One of the top matchups in the state of Illinois. Cahokia is well on its way to another impressive season with big wins over Memphis Northeast and Ladue to open the season. They will travel north to face one of the state’s top programs in Geneseo, which finished 11-2 last year and won the NCIC Northeast Conference. One of Geneseo’s two losses came to Cahokia last season. Both teams qualified for the state playoffs a year ago and should do so again in ’05.
Lutheran North (1-0) at Lutheran (St. Charles) (1-0), Saturday, 7 p.m. – A battle between Lutheran schools that both qualified for the state playoffs last season. North is coming off a 36-21 victory over Duchesne. Senior Previn Perry scored two touchdowns while junior Rolandis Woodland was all over the field with a touchdown reception, an interception return for a touchdown and several tackles. The Cougars will rely on Colin Lauer who rushed for 149 yards and two touchdowns in their 20-19 victory. Sophomore quarterback Alex Meyr threw for 179 yards and one score.
Looking back
What a difference a year makes: Several of last weekend’s top games were rematches from top nonconference games played last season. All of them turned out to be one-sided affairs. The scores were McCluer North 54 Mehlville 7, Hazelwood Central 42 O’Fallon 7, Hazelwood East 36 CBC 2, Lutheran North 36 Duchesne 21, Cahokia 41 Ladue 7. Each of the winning teams gained revenge after dropping their opener to the same opponents last season.
East Side combo
The East St. Louis junior passing duo of quarterback Derek Johnson and receiver Jerrell McDaniel is fast becoming one of the best combos in the area. The Johnson-McDaniel duo has hooked up for five touchdown passes in the Flyers’ first two games.
Big gamers
Hazelwood West junior Lamark Brown got out of the blocks quickly with four touchdown runs (including an 80-yarder) in the Wildcats 41-16 victory over Fort Zumwalt South…Junior Antonio Tullock of Festus rushed for 269 yards and three touchdowns in the Tigers’ victory over Union…Fellow Jefferson County standout Carlos Bisch of St. Pius rushed for 287 yards and four touchdowns in a victory over Principia….Sophomore Wesley Kemp had touchdown receptions of 80 and 75 yards in the Spartans’ 35-0 victory over Vashon. He caught four passes for 181 yards in his first varsity start.
McNeil to UNB
Kirkwood High’s standout tight end Michael McNeil gave an oral commitment to the University of Nebraska last week. The 6’4″ 225-pound McNeil is one of the state’s top tight end prospects. He is the ninth area player to commit to a NCAA Division I college. McNeil joins Kirkwood’s Jeremy Maclin (Oklahoma), Eureka’s Sam Johnson (Mississippi), DeSmet’s Munir Prince and Paddy Mullen (Notre Dame), Vashon’s Jerry Brown (Illinois), Cardinal Ritter’s Quentin Davie (Duke), Howell Central’s Bart Coslet (Missouri) and Herculaneum’s Mike Sobol (Northern Illinois).
Freshman stars
Talented freshman Craig Applegate of East St. Louis and Devin King of DeSmet have already moved into starting positions for excellent teams. The 6’3″ 185-pound Applegate caught a touchdown pass in the Flyers’ 52-8 victory over Beaumont. He later left the game with an arm injury. The 5’11” 190-pound King is starting for the Spartans at linebacker and running back. He is already making his presence felt.
