District Football: Underdog Teams Hope to Win in Last Year of Playoff System

Entering Week 7 of the Missouri high school football season, teams are preparing for their final tune-up ahead of district play beginning Oct. 14.

This year will mark the end of the road for the state's current playoff system, which awards postseason spots to two teams from each district. A new playoff system featuring record-based seeding and a tournament-style district format will be introduced in 2012.

Under the current rules, the slate is wiped clean for all teams entering Week 8. Schools such as unbeaten and winless , for example, will enter the season's final three weeks on equal footing. Teams will advance to the state playoffs based on how well they do, compared to their district opponents, in Weeks 8-10.

It's an opportunity on which some local teams - namely the underdogs - don't want to miss out.

"You can have a tough and difficult season, kind of like the one we've had through these first six games, and still focus on the positives and realize there's always something out there to compete for," St. Charles coach Joe Leibner said.

Despite beginning 2010 with an 0-7 record, coach Charlie Elmendorf and the Pioneers made the current system work for them. They finished the season just 2-9 but won two of their three district games and earned a Class 4 playoff game against Warrenton.

Elmendorf believes the current system is the best way of giving lesser teams, and small schools in particular, a fair shake at making the state playoffs.

The added element of seeding teams to determine a team's Week 10 opponent, as will be the case starting next season, will make that feat more difficult to achieve for teams with sub-par records. So, beginning next year, every loss will truly count.

"Our kids really look forward to districts because they see it as an opportunity to really make something good out of our season," Elmendorf said. "We can be one of the two teams to come out of our district and salvage it. Even if we lose this week (Week 6), we can still win our last three games (and make the playoffs). That would be a great accomplishment for our group."

Duchesne (2-4) will host St. Charles (0-6) on Oct. 14 in a Class 4 District 7 contest. The other District 7 teams are Jennings (5-1) and Westminster (1-5).

Class 5 District 4: Five-team District Already Underway

District play began in earnest for some teams last week and already there's been some surprising results in the area's only five-team district.

Fort Zumwalt East (3-3) and  (2-4) both began their slate of district games on the right foot last week, with the Lions defeating Fort Zumwalt South 21-20 and the Wolves defeating Fort Zumwalt North 38-26.

East and North will meet this Friday in another crucial conference and district matchup. Led by the running tandem of V.J. Fitzpatrick and Vinny Bockhoff, North will try to bounce back from consecutive losses after beginning the season 4-0. The Panthers are preparing to face another running quarterback in East's Brandon Barrett, who has 13 touchdowns on the ground and nine more through the air.

Despite its recent setback to East, Zumwalt South has thus been one of the area's biggest success stories, especially considering its 2-28 record over the past three seasons.

"The kids seem to be a little more coachable and a little more enthusiastic about things than past teams," South coach Scott Fulton said. "Also, we have more speed and size than what we've had in the past. We knew coming in that this class of juniors was a pretty good bunch and they've really been the key to a lot of our success."

The Bulldogs are 4-2 overall, 3-2 in the GAC North, and are led by running back Chase Abbington. The junior, who racked up seven touchdowns in South's Week 5 rout of Warrenton, leads the area with 19 touchdowns and is fifth in rushing yards with 969.

Timberland gets a break from district action this week and visits Fort Zumwalt West while (2-4) opens its district schedule at Zumwalt South.

If things fall into place for the two Wentzville schools, there could be a playoff spot on the line in their Week 10 matchup. That was the case last season, as Holt defeated Timberland before losing to Kirkwood in the Class 5 playoffs.

"It's basically playoff time for us right now," Holt coach Ken Moore said. "We're six games in, now let's see what happens. We're excited to be where we're at and I think we've played a schedule that will prepare us to make a run."

This is shaping up to be an ultra-competitive district. But with five teams vying for two playoff spots, three good squads will be forced to turn in their equipment early.

Class 4 District 8: Warriors just one piece of District 8

Perhaps no other Class 4 district in the state is as menacing as District 8.

is unbeaten and enjoying its best start to a season in school history. But competition moving forward will be fierce. The Warriors must compete with the likes of St. Dominic and St. Francis Borgia, both of which are also 6-0, and last year's state runner-up Warrenton (1-5) during district play.

"I know that St. Dominic and Borgia are both very well-coached, with Jim Cook at St. Dominic and Dale Gildehaus, who just got his 200th win, at Borgia," St. Charles West coach Gary Strauss said. "Those guys have been at it a long time and know how to prepare teams for the end of the year.

"Last year we lost to Borgia on a last-second field goal and against St. Dominic we didn't show up at all. Our guys are focused and have been looking forward to these games. I'm confident we've prepared ourselves with the kind of schedule we've played."

West will face Imagine College Prep this Friday and will host Borgia on Oct. 14 in its district opener. The Warriors will try to finish the season unbeaten in Gateway Athletic Conference North play against Warrenton in Week 10.

Class 6 District 5: Francis Howell North Searching for Answers

Other than a hard-fought win over Fort Zumwalt East in Week 3, success has been hard to come by this year for Francis Howell North (1-5).

"It's just kind of been one of those seasons for us," Howell North coach John Brune said.

The Knights' most recent setback came in the form of a 37-12 loss at Holt on Friday. They'll try to get on track Friday against Troy before competing in Class 6 District 5 against Francis Howell (4-2), Francis Howell Central (3-3) and Pattonville (1-5).

Running back Terron Givans has been one of the Knights' bright spots. The junior leads the GAC South in rushing with 818 yards on 109 carries and is second with 10 touchdowns.

"Terron is a heck of a football player," Brune said. "He does things with the ball that most people can't do. We try to showcase him and give him the ball whenever we can."

Class 3 District 5: Orchard Farm Looks to Build Momentum

It's been a feast-or-famine type season for Orchard Farm.

In their two wins the Eagles (2-4) have beaten their opponents by an average score of 50-6. In their four losses, however, they have been outscored by an average margin of 38-9.

Orchard Farm will look to build some momentum this Friday when it hosts rival school Lutheran-St. Charles before tapping into its Class 3 District 5 slate, which features teams that are having equally troubled seasons in Wright City (1-5), Winfield (2-3) and Bowling Green (2-4).

"We feel like we've played some pretty good opponents the last three weeks with more good opponents coming up," Orchard Farm coach Phil Kendall said. "We're always fired up to play Lutheran-St. Charles so we're looking forward to that. We're as healthy as we've been all season and if we can stay positive hopefully a lot of good things can happen for us."

Class 6 District 6: Jaguars Rolling Through GAC South

Since winning a tough road contest Sept. 16 at Francis Howell, Fort Zumwalt West has kept itself on track toward winning the Gateway Athletic Conference South for the first time in three years.

The Jaguars lost two of three games to start the season - to unbeaten CBC and Arkansas' defending Class 7A state champion Bentonville - but since then have ripped through their competition, including convincing wins over Holt and Francis Howell Central.

Zumwalt West (4-2, 4-0 GAC South) faces Timberland on Friday before competing in Class 6 District 6 against Hickman (2-4), upstart Troy (3-3) and a highly regarded Jefferson City (6-0) squad.

"We thought early on in the season we'd have one of the most difficult schedules in the state, and that's proven true," said Jaguars coach Paul Day, whose team will be competing for its fifth consecutive playoff berth. "We've played up to our capability but we need to continue to get better. If we can do that, I think we'll be a difficult team to beat."

Jaguars running back Ray Harris has been as good as advertised. In addition to a standout performance against Howell in Week 4, the senior has netted a team-high 734 yards (337 rush, 397 receiving) and is among the area leaders with 15 total touchdowns, including seven in the past two weeks.

Northern Illinois recruit Drew Hare again finds himself among the area's passing leaders with 1,320 yards and 14 touchdowns against four interceptions.

And led by lineman Tanner Day, the Zumwalt West defense is on pace to set a new school record for sacks in a season. Day leads the conference in that category with eight, and the Jags have 17 overall.