Despite being billed as one of the most anticipated games in the Suburban West Conference, the Mehlville Senior High School football team hammered out a 42-14 win over the Lindbergh Flyers Friday night.

The defeat marked Lindbergh’s second loss in the past three games as the Flyers (4-3, 4-3 Suburban West) have given up more than 32 points per game during that time. That’s a stark contrast to Lindbergh’s 3-1 start to the season in which the Flyers had recorded two shutouts and given up just 4.25 points a game.

“We just didn’t play very well,” Lindbergh head coach Tom Beauchamp told the Call. “This wasn’t one of those situations where you put yourself in position to be successful. I don’t think we’re clicking on all cylinders right now and we need to get more consistent.”

The win for Mehlville (5-2, 4-1 Suburban West) is the second straight for the Panthers. They enter the Class 6, District 1 Tournament at 7 p.m. Friday at home against Fox.

“There’s a rivalry with Lindbergh and they’re always a good team that’s well coached,” Mehlville head coach Gary Heyde said “We knew it was going to be a tough game.”

Mehlville scored first midway through the first quarter on Phil Blair’s 36-yard touchdown run with 7:33 left in the quarter.

The junior running back carried the ball eight times for 71 yards and one touchdown.

“Phil’s been real steady,” Heyde said. “He scored on a counter play and once he got through the line, it was a foot race to the end zone.”

The Panthers then recorded a safety with 10:53 left in the second quarter when senior linebacker Brandon Clark sacked Lindbergh quarterback Zeke Scott in the end zone.

“We had a real good punt by Aaron Alexander, which put them deep on their end,” Heyde said. “Their quarterback ran a bootleg and Brandon Clark tackled him for the safety.”

Alexander brought the score to 16-0 on a 15-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Alexis Reedus with 2:09 remaining in the first half. Alexander recorded two receptions for 22 yards and one touchdown against the Flyers.

“We hadn’t thrown too much to Aaron this season, but on Friday night, he was one of our main targets,” Heyde said. “He’s really been coming on as a tight end.”

The Flyers got on the scoreboard early in the third quarter with a 65-yard touchdown pass from Scott to senior running back John Lane to bring the score to 16-7.

“John’s a quick kid and they didn’t cover him as well as they should have,” Beauchamp said. “Zeke hit a nice strike and John was off to the races.”

Mehlville extended its lead to 23-7 on a four-yard touchdown run by Joel Fieseler with 8:12 left in the third quarter. The senior running back carried the ball 13 times for 61 yards and two touchdowns.

“Joel had a good game,” Heyde said. “He had a lot of tough running on the inside.”

Glen Grimm gave Mehlville a 26-7 lead on a 34-yard field goal with 2:10 left in the third quarter. The field goal was Grimm’s longest of the season.

“Glen was perfect all night and has been kicking well all year,” Heyde said. “When you need that field goal and you’ve got a good field-goal kicker, it’s real important for us to not come away with nothing.”

Reedus scored his second touchdown of the game on a 25-yard run with 11:27 left in the fourth quarter to give Mehlville a commanding 33-7 lead.

The senior quarterback carried the ball five times for 68 yards while completing three of six passes for 35 yards and one touchdown.

“Alexis does a lot of things out there for us,” Heyde said. “I’ll call a lot of pass plays, but if it’s not there, he’ll take the ball and try to run with it.”

Mehlville’s defense came up big again midway through the fourth quarter on a safety with 8:11 left in the quarter.

Lindbergh scored its second touchdown on a 45-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Kyle Portell to senior wide receiver Charles Little with 1:16 left in the game.

“At that time, we had Kyle Portell, our second-string quarterback in the game,” Beauchamp said. “Once he hit Charles, he was off to the end zone.”

The Flyers hope to bounce back from the loss as they travel to St. Louis University High for the first round of play in the Class 6, District 6 playoffs at 7 p.m. Friday.

SLUH (3-4, 1-2 Metro Catholic Conference) is coming off a 31-17 loss at home to CBC as the Cadets torched the Junior Billikens for 340 yards rushing.

“The key to any game at this time of the year is to be consistent,” Beauchamp said. “We need to be focused on just what we need to do in order to win ball games.”

Mehlville will face the Warriors (6-1, 6-1 Mississippi Area Conference), who are one of the hottest teams in the area with a six-game winning streak.

Fox recently disposed of rival Seckman 28-25, rushing for more than 204 yards against the Jaguars.

“Fox is a good football team that’s well coached,” Heyde said. “The Gianino brothers are doing a real good job down there and we’re going to have to bring our A game.

“We know that we can’t have a bad game at this time of the year,” he added.