Saturday was a pretty darn good day in Lancer Nation.
Yeah, the Lafayette football team fell 37-14 at McCluer North in a Class 6 first-round playoff game.
But the girls had it going on for the black and gold from Wildwood.
The Lafayette volleyball team completed a spectacular season with a scintillating three-game victory over defending runner-up Lee's Summit West in the Class 4 championship match at the Show-Me Center in Cape Girardeau. It was the first girls volleyball title in school history.
Meanwhile, the Lancers field hockey team shut out top seed Cor Jesu 2-0 to win the Midwest Field Hockey postseason tournament title at John Burroughs. The win marked just the fourth time a public school had won the 34-year-old tournament and the first since Edwardsville in 1988.
Not to be outdone Saturday was the city of Herculaneum.
The only difference between it and Wildwood was the fact Herky's two titles both came in the same sport, as the Black Cats turned in state championship performances in both boys cross country and girls cross country.
For the boys, it was their fourth title in the past five seasons and 12th overall. For the girls, it was their fifth title in the past six seasons and 10th overall.
Can anybody say dynasty?
WINNER, WINNER
While Wildwood and Herculaneum each won a pair of titles, the metro area was a three-time volleyball winner in Cape Girardeau.
In addition to Lafayette's win in Class 4, Villa Duchesne and St. Pius X swept their way to the Classes 3 and 2 crowns, respectively.
For all you need to know from the courts, check out our up-to-date volleyball coverage.
IT'S A BREESE
Think they know how to play volleyball in Breese?
The Clinton County town of 4,221 will have two entries in this weekend's Illinois volleyball championships at Redbird Arena in Normal for the second consecutive year, as both defending Class 3A state champion Mater Dei and defending Class 2A runner-up Breese Central will tackle the final four field once again.
This story from Ken Roberts begins its focus on Edwardsville's Class 4A Super-Sectional loss since that was the match he was covering, but toward the end, it touches on the three area teams who will play in Normal -- Mater Dei, Breese Central and first-time state semifinalist Gibault (Class 1A).
HERE HE COMES
For those of you who want to get an up close and personal look at one of, if not the, top football recruits in all the land, load up the car and head to Franklin County tonight.
Wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham and the Hillcrest Hornets pay a visit to the unbeaten Union Wildcats, the state's No. 2 team in Class 4, in what promises to be a game that will likely make the scoreboard operator's fingers sore on Tuesday morning.
DGB's numbers over 10 games this season would make any NFL receiver proud to call them their own over a 16-game season -- 104 catches, 2,049 yards and 23 touchdowns. He has 6,172 career receiving yards, recently breaking the all-time career mark nationally.
What makes the DGB story even more intriguing -- as if it could get any more interesting -- is the fact he still has not made his college choice and the fact SEC-bound Mizzou is still on that list.
You may get a chance to see Green-Beckham even closer to home in the Class 4 championship on Nov. 25 at the Edward Jones Dome. Or you may not -- Union ousted Hillcrest from the playoffs last season 35-7 and is every bit as talented again this season. And there's some team from Webb City most likely waiting in the next round.
So you may want to make that not-so-long trek down I-44 tonight, just in case, and that way, when you gather with your friends for Sunday NFL viewing parties in a few years, you can brag about how you saw that Green-Beckham guy who keeps making big plays on your TV screen way back when.
GRID GUIDE
This past weekend saw some exciting football action in both the Missouri and Illinois playoffs.
As always, STLhighschoolsports.com was all over the area (and then some) to bring it all to you. In case you missed any of it, here is a comprehensive look at our most up-to-date football coverage.
WEEKEND REWIND
In addition to all the weekend stuff we told you about above, there are a couple other things we covered that we haven't mentioned yet.
• While Herky was nailing down a pair of titles and a local duo each won in Class 3 (Drew White of Festus and Kaitlyn Fischer of Herky), the Illinois cross country championships were also being decided. The Metro East didn't have any teams or individuals take the gold, but several teams and runners still had some very good finishes.
• Most of the Missouri district soccer titles were earned either Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, but the rivals from Chaminade and SLUH had to wait until Saturday to settle their district. The Junior Billikens took an early 2-1 lead, but the Red Devils rallied behind sophomore Thomas Barlow's two goals for a 3-2 win and a sectional playoff date tomorrow afternoon against visiting Francis Howell.
ON THE TOWN, MONDAY STYLE
We're down to three fall sports (football, soccer and swimming) remaining in Missouri and one of them will be all over the site tonight. Readers can come back to the site late Monday to catch up on the game action. Here's what we're covering.
• It's Football Monday with 12 sectional playoff games involving area teams in Classes 2 through 5 and we'll be on-hand for most of them. Our football writer, Nate Latsch, once again did yeoman's work in breaking down all 12 of those matchups into capsule form and you can find them all right here.
THE VIEW FROM ELSEWHERE
• For a couple interesting tidbits heading into tonight's sectional playoffs, check out this article from the Springfield News-Leader's Matt Schoch.
• After a 35-6 loss during the regular season, not many folks gave Rock Bridge much of a fighting chance in its Class 6 sectional football playoff Friday at Rockhurst. Yet, there the Bruins were, leading the big, bad Hawklets for most of the game. Alas, it wasn't meant to be, as Rockhurst booted the game-winning field goal with just 1:07 to play for a 10-9 victory. The Columbia Missourian's Brendan Meyer was there and did a great job of conveying the emotions of an obviously disappointed Rock Bridge squad.
• Webb City could quite possibly be the best football team in any class in the state of Missouri. The defending Class 4 champions will get a stern test tonight when a good Helias team comes calling. The Joplin Globe's Anvil Welch has a game preview.
