For high school varsity football fans in the Call’s circulation area, 2016 has been a disappointing season.
Lindbergh, Mehlville and Oakville fans have enjoyed a combined total of four victories out of 21 total games among the three high schools, three of which have come from the Lindbergh Flyers.
The Flyers, under the leadership of new head coach Nathan Norman, have strung together three wins this season, which came over Oakville, Mehlville and Seckman, but haven’t been able to get past some of the more dominant area programs.
In their final two games of the regular season, the Flyers will first take on 6-1 Eureka and then 5-2 Marquette, so they will have their work cut out for them to grab another victory this season.
The 1-6 Panthers have the other victory with their 40-0 slaughter of the Seckman Jaguars two weeks ago. They round out their season with Northwest Cedar Hill this Friday and Oakville the following week.
Mehlville’s situation is a little different, because the Panthers opened their season against some very strong opponents and have showed signs that they could compete with some of the top area programs.
They lost momentum midway through the season, but still have the potential to win the remainder of the season.
Northwest, which historically has been an easy victory for Mehlville, will not come easy this year, as the Lions have amped up their program and have a 4-3 record thus far. The Panthers then will tackle 0-7 Oakville. It would appear Mehlville would prevail based on the Panthers’ record, along with offensive production and defensive numbers. But it’s a rival game and no matter what the numbers say, anything goes between these two teams.
Oakville will have its best chance at getting a win this Friday when the Tigers take on 0-7 Seckman, which has been an easy target for everyone this season at home.
Again, it’s all bets off when the Tigers face Mehlville in the regular-season finale.
Then each team will have one chance in week 10 to combine all of their skills and learn from all of their mistakes and attempt to advance past the first game of the postseason.
