Columnist Dennis Cox is keeping up with the changing polls.
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By Dennis Cox
The number of 1A football teams that are now or have been ranked at one time or another this season continues to grow while the number of undefeated clubs continues to dwindle. The latest casualties on the unbeaten list: South Harrison, Greenfield, Slater and Fayette. South Harrison lost to Albany. Greenfield lost out of state to Sedan (KS). Paris upset Slater, 20-6. Fayette dropped a 13- 9 decision to Salisbury.
As far as I know, the only unbeaten 1A teams left in Missouri are Rich Hill and Hardin-Central (soft schedule so far). Add to all of the teams mentioned above these teams that have been ranked so far in any of the 3 polls: Gallatin, St. Vincent, Adrian, Cass-Midway, Santa Fe, Maysville, Norborne, Milan, North Platte, Schuyler County, Crest Ridge, North Shelby, Lone Jack, West Platte, Princeton and Lockwood.
There have been 7 different #1 teams in the polls : Adrian, Cass-Midway, St. Vincent, Santa Fe, Gallatin, Rich Hill and Greenfield.
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There are some good battles brewing in Class 1A district play, which begins a week from Friday night. I’m not even talking about the ones ahead in the Grand River Conference. Granted, there are a number of teams that should walk through their districts. St. Vincent, Greenfield, Pierce City, Lockwood, Cass-Midway and Crest Ridge should have relatively easy times. That takes care of 6 of the 8 districts from the south side of the state. The big battles are coming up here in our neck of the woods, from I-70 north to the Iowa line:
* Salisbury, 5-1, and North Shelby, 5-1, have each lost inside Lewis & Clark Conference play. Salisbury lost to Slater. North Shelby fell to Schuyler County. Salisbury won District 9 a year ago.
* Milan, 5-1, and Schuyler County, 4-2, are also big rivals in the Tri-Rivers Conference and District 10. Milan fell to North Shelby by a 27-point margin. North Shelby lost to Schuyler County by 14. Schuyler County’s only loss was a 3-point setback to Brookfield. Milan beat Brookfield by one point.
* District 11 looks a lot like Gallatin’s District 15. You’ve got 5-1 Fayette, 5-1 Santa Fe and 5-1 Slater all getting ready to butt heads. Santa Fe’s loss came to one of the hottest teams in the state, Crest Ridge, whose only blemish is that 2-0 forfeit to Gallatin.
* District 14 looks to be up for grabs. Bishop Hogan, East Buchanan, Mid-Buchanan and defending state champion North Platte.
* The only “south” district that looks interesting right now is District 6, where 5-1 Adrian and 6-0 and high scoring Rich Hill dwell. Both are members of the Western Missouri Conference. Adrian’s only loss came to Cass-Midway early in the season. Rich Hill beat C-M by a 20-point spread.
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Possibly the best 1A football team in the state right now is St. Vincent of Perryville. The Indians have one loss to 3A Herculaneum, in which they turned the ball over 5 times. Herculaneum lost, 31- 19, to St. Pius of Festus. St. Vincent drubbed St. Pius, 24-0, so it would seem those turnovers really decided the Herculaneum game. Indian quarterback Jonathan Paulus has completed 43 of 84 passes for 709 yards and 7 touchdowns. St. Vincent has kicked 6 field goals so far.
Lutheran St. Charles of 1A, District 2 is 5-1 and it’s not hard to figure out why. The Cougars are +19 in turnovers through 6 games. They have 16 fumble recoveries and 15 interceptions.