Oct 4, 2010
Kicking it around...
Congratulations to the "Powers That Be" in organizing the talent that flooded the Saint Louis area this past weekend in assembling the talent-filled Gateway City Soccer Classic. It is billed as the Premier Boys Soccer Event in the Nation and it would be hard to argue any different. There were teams from New York, Kansas, Colorado and many other states. It's always fun to see styles and skills from other parts of the country.
I was truly entertained last Thursday broadcasting/watching two games in the tournament. It was fun to see two current defending state champs in CBC (MO) and St. Thomas Aquinas (KS)go toe-to-toe. Aquinas prevailed 2-0 and showed why they finished last year as the nation's top high school squad. CBC is no slouch and played well. It was top quality soccer.
(Later in the tournament, SLUH upended the Saints 1-0). In my humble opinion, I think SLUH is the top area team this year. But stay tuned...The soccer scene is an always changing one. Just ask Oakville, who after that unforgettable week where the beat SLUH, Chaminade and CBC in the annual CYC tournament and they became the first public school in at least 18 years to win, they lost their very next game 1-0 to Lindbergh in penalty kicks in a Suburban West Conference tussle. Figures don't it?
The Home Run ball (in softball?)....
Kudos to the Parkway South softball team for the 3-0 defeat they handed to previously unbeaten Oakville this past week. Taylor Monaco had the clutch hit, a two-run homer in the fifth inning to break open the game. Oakville stranded 10 runners in the game. This avenged an earlier season loss to the Tigers. South ran their record to 19-5 (5-2) and Oakville fell to 19-1 (6-1). Both teams should go deep into post-season play which starts THIS WEEK! Yes...softball districts this week!
The next day, Anna Guimbara blasted a 3 run-HR to highlight a huge 5 run 7th inning as Cor Jesu rallied to win 7-5 over Urusuline. UA had jumped to a 5-0 lead in the first 2 innings but the Chargers big rally earned them a MWAA conference victory.
JUST TOO MUCH...
The St. Joe's volleyball machine just keeps rolling. In what was supposed to be a key match-up, St. Joes' stormed past Mater Dei 25-12 and 25-17 in a ridiculous 38 minutes! Mater Dei came into the match 20-2 and ranked 11th nationally. They left with their first loss to the 19th ranked St. Joe squad. Volleyball district are just around the corner.
Top Ten Football "battles"...
For you "ranking buffs", The St. Louis area's top two ranked teams won big too. East St. Louis defeated Belleville West 51-2 and Hazelwood Central rolled over Riverview 41-0 in a Suburban North game.
In a gigantic matchup in Class 1, #4 ranked Westran beat #1 Valle 21-14. Look for both of these highly talented teams to play several post-season games and possibly meet again in the dome.
Bombs Away !
These QB's aired it out repeatedly Friday night. Matt Futrell (Hillcrest) was 24 of 42 for 383 yards and 1 TD in the thrilling 29-28 win over Waynesville. The Tigers scored in the last minute only to have the Hornets bounce back for the winning score in the waning seconds. Dorial Green-Beckham was on the receiving end of 12 passes for 187 yards!
Sam Van Doren (J Burroughs) led the Bombers to a 6-0 mark with a 15 of 21 performance against Ste. Genevieve in a 42-7 romp.
Christian Suntrup was 9 of 10 for 188 yards (Chaminade) while Jr. Bill Trevor McDonagh was 19 of 30 for 231 in a wild scoring affair that saw the Red Devils outlast SLUH 42-40 ! It wasn't like there wasn't any rushing yardage in this game. Chaminade's Rob Standard (Iowa St) piled up 317 yards on 35 carries and 6 TOUCHDOWNS! SLUH's Terek Hawkins had 286 yards at 3 scores ! WOW ! Just between these 4 players, I'm seeing 1022 total yards !! YIKES !! Chaminade-CBC game this week will be video streamed LIVE on www.prepcasts.com It's one of our six games this week-check the schedule page.
Turning things around ..
How about the Marquette Mustangs who raised their record to 5-1 as they toppled Mehlville 35-7. Last year, the Mustangs finished their season at 2-8. Congrats to Coach Ryan Thornhill as he prepares his team for a strong run in district.
Head up or down ?
Two weeks ago, the Rock Bridge Bruins were riding high after tumbling Jeff City 39-36 and raising their record to 3-1. Losing in a hard fought game to Rockhurst last week wasn't tough to take but dropping a 31-28 game to Class 4, Helias (3-3) this weekend may need a deeper look. Helias has lost to Francis Howell (class 6, 5-1), Hickman (class 6, 4-2) and an always tough Quincy ND team. There's a reason some of the same teams are ALWAYS THERE in the playoff...they play bigger schools with sound teams to improve their squad during the regular season. The Bruins don't have any reason to hold their head down. Heilas is good.
