The regular season for local high school football teams came to an end on Oct. 25, but not before Mehlville and Lindbergh faced off.
The Flyers came out victorious, beating the Panthers 56-21.
Lindbergh improved to 7-2 with the win, while Mehlville ended the regular season at 3-6.
Flyers head coach Nathan Norman said one of the goals going into the game was to give some of the players who see a lot of time a little break before heading into District play.
“It was very important and it was fortunate that we were able to spread the wealth amongst several players this past week,” Norman said. “Heading into district play, our goal was to limit the overall workload of some of our traditional workhorses and spread the wealth.”
The Flyers got four touchdowns from running back Connor Lanham and 164 yards on the ground – and a touchdown – from Kevin Fisher.
“Connor is the epitome of what you are looking for in a high school football team player,” Norman said. “He is a team-first kind of guy, willing to do any role to help us be successful. He is the same way Monday afternoon at practice as he is Friday game night. He is very consistent and reliable.”
Mehlville hung with the Flyers for the first half, as the Flyers went into the break with just a 21-14 lead. The second half, however, got away from the Panthers, as Lindbergh put up 21 points in the third quarter, while the Panthers were held scoreless.
“Our kids played hard, but ultimately it came down to us not stopping their running game and not getting ours going,” Mehlville head coach Kent Heinemann said. “We really struggled to run the ball. Lindbergh is very good up front on both sides of the ball.”
Lawrence Jones and Jordan Hannam-Lewis had nice nights for the Panthers. Jones had a pair of touchdown catches. He was on the receiving end of a 41-yard pass from Mehlville quarterback Cameron Trautman and a 20-yard strike. Hannam-Lewis finished with 4 catches for 69 yards in the game.
“Lawrence Jones and Jordan Hannam-Lewis had good games,” Heinemann said. “They made some big catches, and Cameron Trautman made some really good throws to those guys.”
Next up for Mehlville will be a District playoff matchup with St. Mary’s on Nov. 1 at 6 p.m.
St. Mary’s is 3-7 on the season.
“It’s win or go home, so we’re going to leave it all on the field Friday night,” Heinemann said.
Meanwhile, Lindbergh will stay home for a matchup with Fox. They defeated the Warriors 31-13 on October 11.
“It is always nice to host a playoff game and we are looking forward to Fox on Friday night,” Norman said. “Playing a team twice can be viewed as a pro or a con depending on how you want to look at it. Regardless, Fox is in the same scenario as Lindbergh. We try to focus on what we can do to improve at Lindbergh Football and what areas we need to clean up from previous weeks.”
