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North County High School Football
Hazelwood Central, East Football To Battle MCC’s Best Teams In Finals
Lutheran North-Trinity in Class 2 Title Game
By Jim Wieners
Hazelwood Central and Hazelwood East, the top two teams in the Suburban XII Conference North Division will be battling this weekend, Nov. 4-5 against the top two teams from the Metro Catholic Conference, Christian Brothers College High and Chaminade College Prep, both state runner ups in 2015.
Hazelwood Central — Suburban XII North Champions the top seed in Class Six, District Two — hosts second-seeded and Metro Catholic Champion CBC Saturday at 1 p.m. in a district final which will also be a state Quarterfinal since Class Six has only four districts. This is the fourth consecutive year these two have met in this round and the first time since 2014 that Hazelwood Central is hosting it.
The winner will play Nov. 11, in a 7 p.m. Semifinal against the Class Six, District Three winner, Blue Springs or Francis Howell. Hazelwood Central, with a win, will play at the District Three winner while a CBC win means the Cadets will host Blue Springs or play at Francis Howell. The State championship game is Nov. 18, 7 p.m., at Faurot Field, University of Missouri, Columbia.
Hazelwood East — seeded second in Class Five, District Two and was second in the Suburban XII North — plays Friday, 7 p.m. at Chaminade, the top seed and second in the MCC. The winner plays in the Class Five Quarterfinal Nov. 12 against the Class Five, District One Champion, Jackson or St. John Vianney, an MCC team. Hazelwood East or Chaminade, which defeated East 42-6 in the 2015 semifinal, will be at home against Jackson or plays at Vianney, which lost 47-32 at home Sept. 16 to Chaminade
Hazelwood Central, 11-0 for the third time in the last four years, overcame a 17-6 third-quarter deficit Oct. 29 to defeat St. Louis University High 18-17 for the Hawks third consecutive win over the Junior Billikens and ended the 29-year reign of SLUH head coach Gary Kornfeld, the teams second head coach since 1959. Raphael Bell ran for a third-quarter touchdown with 43 seconds left and threw a halfback pass to Dallas Craddieth, a 93-yard play with 6:32 left in the fourth quarter, for the Hawk win.
CBC, 10-1 and only lost to Illinois Class 7A second-round participant and 10-0 East St Louis, led only 10-9 Oct. 28 at home against Rockwood-Summit, scored 17 unanswered third-quarter points and won 34-16. Brett Gabbert threw three Cadet touchdown passes and ran for another against the Mustangs.
Hazelwood East, 8-2 and lost only to Hazelwood Central and Lafayette, won a high-scoring game 52-46 Oct. 29 at home over Francis Howell North as Mekhi Hagens was involved with five first half touchdowns, throwing for four scored and running for another. It would have been a rout if it were not for Aiden McDaniel, who threw five Francis Howell North touchdown passes and ran for two more. Chaminade, 8-1 and only lost to CBC, scored 35 unanswered points in the final three quarters Oct. 28 to blow away Pattomville 42-6 as Jakobi Buchanon and Andre Whitley each ran for two touchdowns.
LUTHERAN NORTH-TRINITY CATHOLIC — These two North County High Schools are to slug it out for the Class Two, District Two title Friday, 7 p.m. at top-seeded Trinity. The winner will play Nov. 12 against the District One Champion, Malden or Caruthersville. Second-seeded Lutheran North, which has won three district titles in a row but lost the last two quarterfinals to Palmyra, will host the District One winner with a win while Trinity will be at home against Malden or play at Caruthersville.
Lutheran North, 9-2 an only lost to Metro League Champion and Class Four, District Four finalist Mary Institute Country Day School and Illinois Class 4A second-round participant Breese-Mater Dei, had an Oct. 29 whitewashing of visiting Cardinal Ritter as Aqeel Glass threw for 238 yards and five touchdowns. Trinity, 9-0 for the first time in school history, scored the fewest points Oct. 28 but rolled over Carnahan of the Future 41-6 as Torre Boland scored three second-half touchdowns and had two of the Titans four quarterback sacks while Isaiah Williams threw for 254 yards and a third-quarter touchdown.
McCCLUER SOUTH-BERKELEY, 10-0 and the top seed in Class Three, District Three, hosts 7-4 and third-seeded St. Charles West Saturday, 1 p.m.. with the winner playing Blair Oaks or So. Boone Nov. 12. McCluer South-Berkeley defeated Soldan-International Studies 44-6 and Lutheran St. Charles Co. 60-16.
