The Lindbergh High School Flyers shut out the Mehlville Senior High School Panthers 35-0 Friday for their first shutout of the season.
“They’re good. They’re real good. It will be interesting to see what happens with their next game,” Mehlville head coach Eric Meyer said of the Flyers.
Lindbergh improved its record to 7-2 and plays St. Louis University High School Friday at home in a winner-takes-all game. The winner will clinch the second seed from District 2 for the Class 6 football playoffs and the losing team will have played its last game of the season.
“I want to see more crispness and more hustle. I want us to do things with a little more authority. Even going into the 10th game of the season, I think you can improve and I’m a firm believer in that,” Lindbergh head coach Tom Beauchamp said.
Lindbergh outdueled Mehlville (3-6) from the opening kickoff. After the defense forced a three-plays-and-out, the Flyers blocked the Panthers’ punt and senior Chris Collins picked up the ball and ran in for the touchdown to put Lindbergh in front 6-0.
On the Flyers’ first offensive possession, they needed three plays before they found the end zone. Senior Matt Klingler broke free from a stuffed run to score on a 43-yard touchdown run at the seven-minute mark of the first quarter.
“I went through the middle and I got hit by two of their guys pretty hard,” Klingler said. “I was pretty stunned and then I gained everything back and spun it outside. I tried to run as hard as I could and it worked out.”
The Flyers converted a two-point conversion on a run by junior Jordan Goodman. They added a third touchdown with 1:27 left before halftime on a 25-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Peter Simpson to senior wide receiver Adam Schremp.
Simpson scored on an 11-yard run late in the third quarter to push Lindbergh’s lead to 28-0. Freshman Garrett Krueger raced 42 yards for Lindbergh’s final score early in the fourth quarter.
Lindbergh won for the fourth time this season by more than 30 points, but the Flyers were not dominant.
“We sputtered,” Beauchamp said. “I look at how we play and I don’t think we played at the level we are capable of playing. I don’t think we were crisp. I don’t think we were sharp and I think they realize it. I’m hoping they come out with a renewed attitude next week ready to play.”
The Flyers posted 303 yards of offense and Simpson completed 13 of 22 passes for 170 yards. He completed passes to eight different receivers. Lindbergh’s defense allowed just six first downs and gave up only 135 yards.
Mehlville punted on eight of its 12 possessions and two of the other four ended on Lindbergh interceptions.
Mehlville’s season will end Friday regardless of a win or loss on the road at DeSmet Jesuit High School.
“I want the lower-level guys to come out and make sure they send the seniors out right,” Meyer said. “For the ones that play the game long enough, it’s rough. Some of these guys are never going to play again. I want us to come out and play hard for our seniors and give us the best opportunity to compete against a real good DeSmet team.”
Lindbergh plays host to SLUH (4-5) at 7 p.m. Friday.
The Flyers beat the Junior Billikens by a combined five points in district games the last two seasons.
“We’re all going to try as hard as we can so I don’t see why we couldn’t go further. I hope so,” Klingler said.
