Raiders join Valle and Fredericktown in play-offs
DE SOTO — The North County Raiders had to wait a day to find out if they needed to practice some more or put up their equipment for a year. After winning their game over Windsor on Thursday, the Raiders needed Festus to either win or lose by no more than seven in their game with the De Soto Dragons. Festus came through for the Raiders with a 31-22 win.
North County will play again on Wednesday at Sikeston in the State Class 4 Regional game
Valle 46, Paris 0
STE. GENEVIEVE — The Valle football team put the final touches on a perfect regular season and captured the 16th district championship in program history by rolling past Paris 46-0 on Thursday night.
Junior tailback Luke Uding rushed for 145 yards and three touchdowns, including a sparking 75-yard scamper as time expired in the first half. Valle carried a 32-0 advantage into the break.
Quarterback Michael Greminger completed 17-of-25 passes for 169 yards, and contributed two short scoring runs during the first quarter. Uding later cashed in his own interception with a 13-yard touchdown jaunt.
The Warriors opened the second half with an 11-play drive, capped by a 9-yard touchdown pass from Greminger to Nick Brown. Christian Moulton added the 2-point conversion for a 40-0 lead.
Danial Cabral completed the scoring with a 14-yard run near the conclusion of the third quarter, and Michael Loida ensured the shutout with his second interception of the night.
Jason Blum made three catches for Valle after missing six games with a broken collarbone. The third-ranked Warriors (10-0) will host Hayti in a Class 1 regional contest on Wednesday night.
Tyler Dunlap had 44 rushing yards for Paris (5-5), which punted seven times in the first half.
Fredericktown 43, Ste. Genevieve 22
FREDERICKTOWN — The Fredericktown Blackcats had one goal in their sights: beat the Ste. Genevieve Dragons with 13 or more points for a trip to the state playoffs. They made a kill with a 43-22 win.
For the first 15 minutes of the game, there was question if they would accomplish their quest, but for the next 33 minutes the Blackcats’ defense shut off the valve on the Dragons’ scoring.
Running back Jacob Farmer broke lose at the 50-yard line for his second of three touchdowns in the game, and upon his punching in the two-pointer that followed, the Blackcats pulled even with the Dragons at 22-22. It was all Fredericktown after that.
The Blackcats (6-4) claimed the half-time lead on a two-yard run by A.P. Lewandowski, with Ryan Gifford kicking the extra point to make it 29-22 with two minutes left in the half.
A 56-yard touchdown run by Coley Gray late in the third quarter gave the Blackcats the cushion they were seeking, but for good measure Farmer scored again in the fourth quarter from 14 yards and Gifford made good for his fifth extra point for the final score. Farmer also scored the first touchdown of the game on a 35 yard run to finish off the Blackcats first possession.
Ste. Genevieve scored twice to take their first lead after Farmer’s touchdown. Tim Lurk capped off the Dragons’ first drive with a one-yard run, but the two-point try was denied by the Blackcats.
On the first play of the second quarter. Brandon Weiler connected on a pass to Dylan Noll for a 13-yard score, and Lurk ran in the two-pointer for a 14-7 lead. The lead was erased on the kick-off as Luke Cureton returned the kick 79 yards to tie the score.
The Dragons marched right back to retake the lead on a three-yard pass from Weiler to Brock Meyer, and again Lurk ran the ball in for two and Ste. Genevieve’s last points of the 2009 season.
Ste. Genevieve (2-8) finished with a total of 307 yards, 128 rushing and Weiler was 27-37 for 179 yards passing. Lurk carried the ball 15 times for 94 yards.
Fredericktown racked up 336 yards on the ground with Farmer carrying the ball 22 times for 209 yards. Lewandowski was 1-3 passing for nine yards.
Fredericktown will travel to New Madrid on Wednesday for their Regional game.
