Football

Just a week before the start of the high school athletic calender, the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) announced its class and district alignments for the 2018 fall season. Some of the biggest changes came on the football field, where Jackson will surely see a window of opportunity, as powerhouse Vianney departs Class 5 District 1 for District 2. ...

Football fans will have to wait at least 24 hours to get their first glimpse at the Kennett varsity football team. Thursday night’s Gatorade Game has been postponed until Aug. 23 at 6:30 p.m. at Metz Cherry Stadium. “Due to the amount of water we received, the facilities are going to be too wet to host the Gatorade Scrimmage tonight,” Kennett athletic director Jim Vaughan said. “The grass lot used for parking is still under water and the field is, and still will be, very soft.”...

Katlyn Harris tried the usual girls' sports. She admits that she wasn't good at any of them. But football always has been special to the Doniphan High School senior. Two younger brothers play; so did her father and other relatives. As the Dons embark this fall on their first varsity football season since 1979, Harris will be among a handful of seniors providing leadership...

No longer will Missouri high schools have to wait to see an enrollment spike or drop take effect. Beginning this year, the Missouri State High School Activities Association will release new class and district assignments annually. The goal is to make sure schools of similar size are competing against one another, accounting for sudden, drastic shifts in student enrollment...

With 15 years under his belt and seven years as head football coach, Jeff Bullock, looks for a promising season for his Portageville Bulldogs. “As of now, things look good for us. We have 36 kids that have tried out which is more than we have had in the past. We have about eight kids that have seen playing time from last year. We have a few new kids trying out, even seniors. We have a good mixture of players,” said Coach Bullock...

The Kennett Indians enter the 2018 season with a few holes to fill after winning its first outright conference title since 1964 in 2017. Kennett graduated 10 seniors off of last season’s squad that finished 7-4. “We are going to be pretty inexperienced,” Kennett second-year coach Joel Wyatt said. ...

The Malden Green Wave football team enters the 2018 season with zero plans of slowing things down despite graduating several key offensive components off of last season’s squad that finished 10-2. “We are going to continue to play fast,” Malden head coach Kevin Collier said. ...

The new artificial turf at the Jackson High School football stadium is seen in this drone view July 11 in Jackson.

Friday night lights are just around the corner, and for the first time in Missouri history, football state championships will be held in the first weekend of December instead of on Thanksgiving weekend. Missouri State High School Activities Association communications director Jason West said that doing this was voted on by the membership, but still draws some concerns...

The second annual Night of Champions is slated to take place July 27 at 5 p.m.at Kennett High School weight room. Athletes will participate in bench press, squat and power clean lifting at the event. “This is a great team-builder to generate some enthusiasm and get excited about the season,” Kennett football coach Joel Wyatt said at the event last season...

Student-athletes from across Southeast Missouri were recognized for their outstanding achievements Saturday night at the region’s premier sports award show. More than 150 athletes from 57 area high schools were on hand for the Fifth Annual Semoball Awards presented by SoutheastHEALTH at the Donald C. ...

The wait is finally over. The fifth Annual Semoball Awards presented by SoutheastHEALTH kicks off Saturday. Southeast Missouri's premier sports award show will welcome more than 150 student-athletes from 57 area high schools to the Bedell Performance Hall on Southeast Missouri State's River Campus for an evening of recognition and celebration...

2018 graduate Ty Ellis didn’t have his sights on the record books when he was selected to return punts for the Kennett Indians his senior season. “I was just trying to run punts back,” Ellis said. “After the last game, my dad told me I was really close to breaking a state record. I hadn’t thought about it because I had no idea I was even close to the record. But if I would have had one more long punt return I probably would have broken the record.”...

After 10 months, the list is complete. On Monday, the 45 spring sport finalists for the 2018 Semoball Awards were announced during a selection show live on air on SEMO ESPN Radio 1220 AM. In addition to those individual student-athletes, 15 additional nominees were revealed for Coach of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year and Sportsmanship, plus the Lifetime Achievement Award winner...

SIKESTON — With the summer just beginning and local sports teams a ways away from starting their respective seasons, comes a carousel of coaching changes. A new voice and vision are used to help struggling programs rise to the top and with that, here is the list of coaching changes for our local teams:...

In the fall of 2016, Ivory Winters was an up-and-coming defensive player for the Hayti Indians football team. Recognizing his talents, the coaching staff started him at defensive end, a good decision for sure as Winters was selected first-team all-state...

The third-seeded Kennett Indians struck for three runs in the third inning Saturday and beat seventh-seeded Dexter 5-2 in a consolation semifinal of the SEMO Conference Baseball Tournament at Cape Central High School. The Indians will face Notre Dame in the fifth-place game at 2:15 p.m. Monday. Dexter (3-12) will meet New Madrid County Central for seventh place at noon Monday. Both games will be played at Capaha Park in Cape Girardeau...

Washington University is St. Louis has been on Malden senior Jackson Wilson’s radar screen for quite sometime. “I’ve always known it was a renowned program,” Wilson said. “When I went to camp there this past summer me and the coaches hit it off and it felt like home.”...

DEXTER, Mo. — Round two is approaching for the Dexter football program and it’s most successful coach. Former head coach Aaron Pixley is returning to the sidelines as their new head football coach after returning to the school as athletic director last year, according to minutes taken at the Dexter School Board meeting on Tuesday...

For a third time in four years a Kennett High School football player is making plans to join the Southeast Missouri State University football team in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Kennett senior Patrick Maddox will join 2014 Kennett graduate Bud Hillburn and 2015 graduate Britt Harris on the gridiron at Southeast Missouri State University this fall...

When he stepped inside the East Prairie gymnasium, Danny Johnson was a little timid. The former football standout hadn’t been inside the high school gym for 40 years as he walked along the basketball court at East Prairie High School with his black leather shoes thumping along the hardwood with each step. Dressed in a suit and tie waiting to get his picture taken, Johnson paused and took it all in...

Find out which student-athletes in the Southeast Missourian coverage area signed with college programs by National Signing Day

Another year, another group of superb performances by area student-athletes, the most outstanding of which are being recognized. On Wednesday, 55 individuals were announced as fall sport finalists for the 2018 Semoball Awards. The selections were presented during a live radio show on SEMO ESPN Radio...

Sikeston seniors Quincy Chinwuko and Austin Branch each signed letters of intent to play football at the Division I level Wednesday at the Sikeston Field House, joining thousands of athletes around the country who did the same as part of National Signing Day...

Long before Cooper Callis stepped foot into Jackson High School, he dreamed of playing at The Pit. The Indians' football stadium held a special allure for Callis. He grew up tossing the football around with his father, and on Fridays, he would sometimes head over to The Pit to watch Jackson play...

Meet the members of the 2017 All-Southeast Missourian Football team.

Grade: Junior Position: Running Back Height: 5-11 Weight: 180 About Anderson: The Charleston junior was electric on the field, turning even the smallest of openings into huge gains all season long. Anderson, the reigning Class 2 100-meter dash track champion, blazed past anyone who challenged during Charleston’s 6-5 campaign finishing with 2,265 yards on 236 carries and 32 touchdowns. ...

Grade: Senior Position: Linebacker Height: 6-3 Weight: 215 About Tucker: The Charleston senior dominated an improved defense in nearly every statistically category. He finished with over 500 tackles for his career and saved his best season for last. ...

I’ve had a month to reflect on the 2017 high school football season for our little corner of southeast Missouri and it was not good, not bad, just…okay. Not one of our teams made a playoff run and out of the seven teams the Standard Democrat covers, the best record we could muster was 6-5 – although it was a major improvement from where they were just two years ago...

CHARLESTON, Mo. – As a freshman for the Charleston football team, Jeremy Tucker had his doubts. The Bluejays were in the midsts of the school's longest losing streak and Tucker wasn't sure he wanted any part of it. Fast-forward to Wednesday – surrounded by family, friends, coaches and teachers, through all the losses and eventual turnaround Charleston made – Tucker was getting a full ride to a Division I college...

Statewide high school football rankings, as compiled by a 15-member panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. First-place votes in parenthesis. Panel is made up of Dion Clisso, PrepsKC; Sam McDowell, The Kansas City Star; Dave Kvidahl, STLHighschoolsports.com; Jim Powers, High School Sports Caravan; Cameron Teague, The Columbia Tribune; Tom Rackers, Jefferson City News-Tribune; Mike Scott, Ozone Sports; Harrison Keegan, The Springfield News-Leader; Tim Leible, The Rolla Daily News; Thomas Huitt-Johnson, The St. ...

The 2017 Missouri Media All State Football Teams were released Wednesday morning with several local players making the cut. In Class 1, junior defensive end Ivory Winters (6-1, 205) made first team defense. Senior defensive back Jay Moore (5-9, 155) was selected as a second team defensive members for the Indians as well...

The Missouri Football Coaches Association has announced Jackson football coach Brent Eckley as the recipient of the 2017 Paul Martel Outstanding Service Award. According to the MFCA's website, the award is given "in recognition of selfless service to the Missouri Football Coaches Association." The honor is named after Paul Martel, who coached and served on the MFCA Board of Directors for 30 years...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Jackson quarterback Cooper Callis was named the most outstanding football player in the SEMO Conference, taking home the Carr Trophy at the 72nd annual Poplar Bluff Letter Club Gridiron Banquet on Wednesday night. ...

The Southeast Missouri Area Football Coaches Association released the 2017 All-Region teams for Classes 1-5 recently with several local athletes making the cut. First team Offensive MVP: Cooper Callis, Jackson Defensive MVP: Nathan Brown, Jackson Coach of the Year: Lee Freeman, Hillsboro...

CARUTHERSVILLE, Mo – For the first seven minutes of Friday’s Class 2 quarterfinal matchup against undefeated Lutheran North everything was going the Caruthersville Tigers’ way. A three-and-out on the Crusaders first drive was followed by a Caruthersville score on their next series to leave the Tigers in control of the game...

CARUTHERSVILLE, Mo. – Caruthersville head coach Jimmy Jackson knows that a bigger, stronger, highly-touted football team lies in wait during their upcoming Class 2 Sectional. But he’s not overly concerned with what state-ranked and prohibitive favorite Lutheran North looks like on the outside. He’s locked in to what his team has to offer on the inside...

As 5-year-old JaiDynce Reed runs up and down the field watching his older brother JaiDeon Reed practice with the Mean Machine football program, coach George Foster calls out to him, asking what grade he is in. It turns out JaiDynce, still in kindergarten, is still too young to strap on the pads for Foster and the Mean Machine, but the coach likes what he sees, praising his enthusiasm and energy before giving him a kiss on his head...

For years, Jeff Tullis and Nathan Norman had known each other from afar. They had followed a similar path, growing up in Southeast Missouri and playing college football in the Southeastern Conference, but it wasn't until Tullis walked into the weight room at Lindbergh High School one day last winter that the two finally met...

KIRKWOOD, Mo. -- When Jackson quarterback Cooper Callis found Ethan Laster over the middle for a 40-yard score, it was his sixth touchdown pass of the night. A successful point-after attempt one play later meant the Indians football team had reached the 50-point mark with two and a half minutes remaining...

HILLSBORO, Mo. -- For the last four years, the Cape Central football team has been bestowed with the honor of district champion, a distinction that each senior has carried throughout his high school career. But as it goes, all good things must come to an end at some point...

CARUTHERSVILLE, Mo. – The Caruthersville football team finally knocked Malden off the Class 2, District 1 mountain. Caruthersville unseated the three-time defending champs with a 38-20 win Friday night at Hopke Field in Caruthersville, Mo., putting an end to three-straight district title losses to the Green Wave as well...

STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. — The Valle Catholic Warriors continued their reign in Class 1, District 1, defeating visiting Hayti 42-18 to claim their 10th straight district title. Valle opened the game with a 13-play, 72-yard drive, capped off by a Carter Roth 5-yard touchdown run. Hayti fumbled on their opening drive and Valle capitalized with a 10 yard touchdown pass from Mason Skaggs to Roth and Valle led 14-0 midway through the opening quarter...

The Cape Central football team is in a familiar spot against a familiar foe, but for numerous Tigers, this is a new experience. Central aims for its fifth straight Class 4 District 1 championship at 7 p.m. today when it faces host and top-seeded Hillsboro, a team the third-seeded Tigers have beaten in three of the last four title games...

For Jackson football coach Brent Eckley, there has been at least one constant during his six seasons at the helm: a district game against Vianney. Since Eckley took over the Indians' program prior to the 2012 season, Jackson has faced Vianney in the district tournament each season, a trend that won't end this year...

It’s the 12th week of the high school football season, which means Caruthersville and Malden will play for a district title. The Class 2, District 1 crown will come down to the same two teams for the fifth-straight year tonight in Caruthersville, Mo., in a series that’s featured blowouts, close calls and even a mid-game brawl...

CARUTHERSVILLE, Mo. — The Charleston Bluejays have made huge strides in the last two years. Two seasons ago, Charleston snapped a 23-game losing streak, the longest in school history, and finished 4-7, winning a first round district game in the process...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- When the district semifinal was over, after a combined 1,165 yards of offense and 105 points, all Jackson senior quarterback Cooper Callis could do was smile. His team had survived, and extended their season for another week. The third-seeded Indians defeated No. ...