Looking Back At Teams Falling Short

By Jim Wieners

While Incarnate Word Academy Girls Basketball, Hazelwood (Central) Boys Lacrosse Club and McCluer South-Berkeley Girls Track and Field won the sports championships other High School Sports teams, shall we say, come up a bit short of accomplishing their mission.

A couple of HAZELWOOD CENTRAL teams fit into that category. In Football, the Hawks went 9-0 before the start of districts in three of their last four seasons but fell short of playing in the Class Six State finals. Two of their last three years saw the Hawks end at 11-1 after losing to Christian Brothers College High in the Class Six, District Two Finals (a.k.a. Quarterfinals). Girls Track And Field won Class Five, district and sectional titles for the last three years but fell short at state finishing second.

TRINITY CATHOLIC FOOTBALL, with a load of underclassmen, particularly freshmen and sophomores won their first 12 games of 2016. However, Trinity fell eight points short in the Class Two Final to six-time champion Lamar, which had defeated five previous opponents by double-digit margins. Trinity had played two less games because John F. Kennedy, now closed, dropped football before the 2016 season started and Northwest Academy of Law ended the season two weeks before districts began.

McCLUER SOUTH-BERKELEY also won the first 12 games in football but suffered a 42-0 home shutout by Monett in the Class Three Semifinal. McCluer South-Berkeley, which opened the season with a forfeit win over Northwest Academy, had a week off in week seven unable to fill the spot, after Maplewood-Richmond Heights dropped football.

LUTHERAN NORTH enjoyed their best season of Girls Basketball by first winning Class Three, District Six then made their first-ever State Semifinal where they lost 80-47 to eventual Class Three Sate Champion Strafford before rebounding to win 61-56 over Trenton and taking Third Place. Lutheran North won districts in Baseball and Girls Soccer and won the Metro League Boys Track And Field title.

INCARNATE WORD ACADEMY had won districts in Softball, Girls Tennis, Girls Volleyball, Girls Basketball and Girls Soccer. While Girls Basketball won state (see related article) Softball fell in the Quarterfinals while Tennis Volleyball and Soccer fell in the Sectionals.

HAZELWOOD WEST SOFTBALL had a 20-win season, a Suburban XII Conference North Division title and a Class Four, District Six title but lost 2-1 at home to Francis Howell North in the Sectionals.

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