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JIM WIENER’S SPORTS ROUNDUP: The Show Me Bowl
Lutheran North Seeks 6th State Title, 1st Since 1999
By Jim Wieners
About 20 years ago in the now Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, Lutheran North defeated Kansas City St. Pius X 28-21 to win the Class 2A State Football Championship.
That was the last time Lutheran North played in the Show Me Bowl. Friday, Dec. 6, at Faurot Field (at Memorial Stadium) on the University of Missouri Campus in Columbia, the 13-0 Crusaders play the 14-0 Ava Bears for the Class Two State title. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m.
Lutheran North won two of the five state football championships at Faurot Field, 1988 over Chillicothe (36-0) and 1990 over Oak Grove (27-13), LHSN won two titles in St. Louis, 1981 (at Busch Stadium II) over Marshall (14-6) and St. Pius X. Moreover, in 1989, the Crusaders pulled off a last minute come from behind win over Branson (28-26) at Missouri State University Plaster Field, Springfield.
Four of the five state championships were in Class 3A and the head coach is Mike Russell while Jim Manion coached the 1999 State Champions. Lutheran North’s five titles equal the most in Football by North County high schools. The other North County high school, with five state titles, is combined total won by the Hawks of Hazelwood High (1972 co-champions with the now defunct Kansas City Southwest) and Hazelwood Central (1985-undefeated, 1996, 2008 and 2009, the last two coached by Rich Nixon).
Lutheran North got help to going 13-0 thanks to the forfeitures of the entire season by Cardinal Ritter for using an ineligible player (name will not mention) in the Ritter season opener against Illinois Class 7A Runner Up LaGrange Park Nazareth Academy. That player was to be suspended a game after an apparent ejection in the 2018 Class Three Final loss to Trinity Catholic but played with a different uniform number and a different (un-mentioned) name. However, reported photos showed similar tattoos. Lutheran North originally lost to Ritter (27-13) in week two (at East St. Louis, Ill.) but became a 13-0 Crusader forfeit win before the week eight game against Farmington.
Ava, located east-southeast of Springfield in southwest\ Missouri, is playing in their first Show Me Bowl State Championship. Until this season, the Bears never got past the quarterfinals. This year the Class Two,
District Three Champions defeated former seven time Champion Lamar 26-14 in the Quarterfinals and won their first State Semifinal game at home in overtime over 2008 champion Clark County 28-14.
LUTHERAN NORTH 38, LATHROP 24 — Anticipating rainy weather for the Nov. 30 semifinal the game moved from the potentially soggy grass of LaMothe Memorial Field to South County and the artificial turf of Bayless (High School) Field. Bayless began playing football in 2015 and this season is the second varsity season for the Bronchos (not a typo).
It took just 59 seconds for Lutheran North to score on the game’s opening drive after the Crusaders won the coin toss and chose to receive against the 2018 Class Two State Runner Up. The opening four-play, 58-yard drive includes a 32-yard run by sophomore quarterback Brian Brown, who threw the first of three touchdown passes, from 17 yards to senior Antonio Doyle. Brian Brown completed 13 passes for 163 yards.
After Lathrop was not successful in getting a first down on their first drive, Lutheran North got the ball back on the Mule 38 after a poor Lathrop punt. The drive went six plays including a Lathrop pass interference penalty on fourth-and-one and, with 7:02 left in the first quarter, senior Jalen Head ran for an eight-yard touchdown.
Lathrop cut Lutheran North lead from 16-0 and 16-10 before Lutheran North responded with 15 unanswered points to end the first half. That includes a Jackson Giselle 39-yard field goal with 2:08 left in the first quarter and a 60-yard Blake Gordon touchdown pass to Tyler Paul with 5:08 left in the first half. Brian Brown responded 2:45 later with on a fourth-and-five play from the Mule 11 with a touchdown pass to sophomore Kevon Jacobs, then Brian Brown, who rushed 13 times for 108 yards, added a 39-yard touchdown with 49 seconds left until halftime.
The second half included a pair of goal line stands by the Lutheran North defense but not a third as Gordon scored on a quarterback sneak from a yard out with 9:56 left. An interception on a lateral-pass play by senior Parker set up a Brown 37-yard touchdown pass, with 5:58 left to senior Jordan Smith, who caught nine passes for 121 yards. Paul ran for a 35-yard Lathrop touchdown.
