There's been a lot of negative outcomes in recent memory for the St. Louis professional football franchise at the Edward Jones Dome.
Now, it seems that is trickling down to the high school level.
For the second straight season, the area posted an oh-fer at the Missouri high school football championships. Last year, the record was 0-5. This year, 0-4.
The closest team to taste the good life has been Valle Catholic from Ste. Genevieve (60 miles to the south of town), which has now brought home two straight Class 1 championships.
Columnist David Kvidahl took a closer look at what has become a disappointing trend lately.
GRID GUIDE
This season saw some exciting football action in both Missouri and Illinois.
As always, STLhighschoolsports.com was all over the area to bring it all to you. In case you missed any of it (including all the great coverage from the Dome), here is a comprehensive look at our most up-to-date football coverage.
WEEKEND REWIND
Most of our weekend efforts were concentrated on downtown St. Louis, but we were able to sneak in a little basketball as well.
• The Borgia Thanksgiving Tournament has suffered from attrition lately, as it was down to six teams this year, its lowest field in recent memory. But not many tourneys can offer a championship game featuring two teams that were in a state title game the season before. But that's what Saturday offered, as defending Missouri Class 4 runner-up Borgia rode the hot hand of Bryce Dolan (28 points, including eight 3-pointers) to come from behind for a 48-46 win over defending Class 5 champion McCluer North.
ON THE TOWN, MONDAY STYLE
The fall sports season is officially in the books, so we can now safely dive full bore into the winter. With that in mind, we've got some basketball game coverage coming your way tonight. Readers can come back to the site late Monday to catch up on the game action. Here's what we're covering.
• As usual, Whitfield is hosting its four-team boys round-robin to begin the season and again it has a strong field. We'll be on hand to see two of those teams tonight, as Cardinal Ritter will take on the host Warriors. Tip-off is 7:30.
• The eight-team Troy Invitational girls tourney also gets underway today with four first round matchups - McCluer South-Berkeley vs. defending Class 4 champion St. Dominic; Borgia vs. Fort Zumwalt South; Timberland vs. Troy; and Holt vs. Eureka. The action begins at 4.
• The Jim Salsman Memorial girls tourney at Fox also begins today and we'll bring you first round action from there. Summit-Ursuline and Fox-Ladue play at 6, while Jennings-Seckman and Rosati-Kain-Lindbergh square off at 7:30.
• The Gerald Linneman Memorial Round-Robin always brings the Parkway teams together to begin the season, including the Parkway South boys at Parkway West at 7.
• The four-team St. Charles boys round-robin will commence today with Orchard Farm against Lutheran St. Charles at 5:30 and Barat against the host Pirates at 7.
THE VIEW FROM ELSEWHERE
• While St. Louis teams were shut out of the football title hunt, folks near Springfield are downright giddy. It had been 13 years since a team from the greater Springfield area (Greene, Webster, Christian, Dallas and Polk counties) had even played in the championship game. Logan-Rogersville not only broke that drought, but busted all the way through the door with its thrilling 21-14 comeback win over John Burroughs.
• Also winning its first state title at the expense of an area team was Staley. The Falcons pulled off a 35-21 win over Kirkwood and did so in just their fourth year of existence. That would be like the Florida Marlins winning the World Series within their first few years as a franchise (oh, wait, they did).
• Among all the exciting games at the Dome over the weekend, one of the most thrilling was the Class 6 final between CBC and Blue Springs South. The Jaguars beat the Cadets, just as they did in 2006, but this one was much, much closer.
• The party really got started Friday afternoon with the rollicking Class 4 final between MICDS and Webb City. The record-setting thrillfest ended with the Cardinals hoisting first place trophy No. 10.
