Progress was made for the Mehlville football program this fall.
Kent Heinemann’s squad snapped a 14-game losing streak and added a couple extra wins, finishing 3-8.
“It’s not where we wanted to end up but certainly an improvement from 0-10 the year before,” Heinemann said.
One thing that Heinemann liked about his team was the grit his players showed, even after making mistakes.
“We put ourselves in tough positions but always played hard and generally battled back,” he said.
The Panthers earned their first win of the season in week five, going on the road and beating Webster Groves, 28-23. The team also won the following week, beating McCluer North, 24-16.
After playing tough but coming up short against Oakville, 35-27, the Panthers defeated Parkway South, 25-20 for their third win of the season.
Heinemann called the win over Webster Groves the highlight of the season. “Going on the road and beating Webster for our first win in a long time was special,” he said.
Lawrence Jones and Jeremiah Shelton were leaders on the offensive side of the ball for the Panthers with six touchdowns each on the season. Jones, a junior, had 32 catches for 560 yards this season, while Shelton, a senior, had 508 yards on the ground.
Heinemann said the team will miss Shelton, along with fellow seniors Ian Shegog (57 tackles) and Jo’Von Randle. Randle had 32 catches for 414 yards to go along with five touchdowns.
Junior quarterback Cam Trautman can call 2024 a learning experience. He finished the season completing 87 passes out of 200 attempts for 1,247 yards. Trautman tossed 12 touchdowns and 17 interceptions.
Heinemann said his quarterback showed positive improvement, but has room to grow going into his senior season.
“I knew what our skilled guys could do, but Cam Troutman really put up some good numbers,” Heinemann said. “He just needs to protect the ball better next season and I’m confident he will.”
Heinemann said his players will need to hit the weight room pretty hard in the offseason to get stronger. The Mehlville coach also wants to see numbers for the program rise.
“We have to get stronger up front so that we can be better at running the ball and stopping teams from running on us,” he said. “We have to get our participation numbers up program wide.”
