We love sports for many reasons. Among the many, is when a team has an unexpected turnaround. Last year, the Boston Red Sox finished in last place of American League East Division. This year, they won the World Series. What? Too soon? I agree. Moving on.
The Missouri Tiger football team has had a tremendous turnaround in their 2nd season as members of the Southeastern Conference. Last year, the Tigers lived out their worst nightmare. They went 5-7 overall and 2-6 in the SEC beating only Kentucky and Tennessee in conference games. Despite the disappointing loss last week against South Carolina in Columbia, if at the beginning of the season someone told you that the Tigers would be 8-1 overall, 4-1 in the SEC, and ranked 9th in last week’s BCS standings, you would not have bet a paper clip on it.
Just as we are surprised by those turnarounds, The Francis Howell Central Spartan football team has had a remarkable one this season. Last year, the Spartans won only one game. In fact, since 2005, Central has had only one winning season when they went 8-3 in 2006. This year, their seven wins are nearly as many they have had in the past 3 seasons combined.
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At the start of this season, no one had any reason to believe that anything would be different as the Spartans stumbled out of the gate losing two of its first three games. However, in their first game, they lost to Ft. Zumwalt East, a team that has gone undefeated heading into the District Semi-finals next Friday night.
In week 3 of the season, it can easily be argued that the Spartans gave one away in losing to Parkway South 28-22. Howell Central was up by two points late in the game, but they committed two personal fouls, aiding Parkway South’s winning drive. One couldn’t help but feel as if it would be another long dismal season on Highway N in Cottleville.
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But a funny thing happened on the way to Dismalville. The Spartans won 6 of their next 7 games. Their only loss in that stretch came at the hands of intra-district foe and perennial powerhouse Francis Howell. That loss may have actually showed how far the Spartans have come. Trailing 14-0 after one quarter, the Spartans answered back with 14 points of their own in the 2nd quarter to tie the game, if only for a few minutes.
The arrival of running back Kendall Morris has been a major factor to the Spartans’ success. The senior, who has run a 4.4 in the 40-yard dash, is the 2nd leading rusher in the St. Louis area with 1,817 yards. Morris has taken some pressure off senior quarterback Brody Allen. Last year, Allen passed for over 2,000 yards. This year, Allen has passed for only 753 yards, but there are two major factors on why his total is down. The first is obviously the fact that the Spartans have another offensive weapon to use in Morris. The 2nd reason why Allen’s total is down is the less obvious fact is that the Spartans have not trailed as often as they did last year when they were forced to throw more.
Last year as a junior, Allen threw the ball 260 times. This year, he has only thrown the pigskin 111 times, less than half of last year’s total.
Friday night, Central ended the season of Hickman with a 24-17 win in the 1st round of Class 6 district play. Next Friday night, the Spartans will battle another Columbia team as they host Rock Bridge. A win in that game could mean a rematch with Francis Howell.