Missouri Week 1 Games to watch

Missouri High School football is back and the slate of games in Week 1 will tell us a lot about some of the best teams in the Show-Me State. <strong>FRIDAY, AUGUST 27</strong> <strong>EAST ST. LOUIS (Ill.) at CBC, 7 PM</strong> A cross-state matchup of powerhouse programs, East St. Louis and CBC will likely be the preseason favorites to win state championships in their respective classes (and states). The teams last played in 2016 and host East St. Louis emerged with a 32-28 victory after scoring a touchdown with 28 seconds left. It was a tough loss for the Cadets, but helped pave the way for their back-to-back state championships in 2017 and 2018. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/CBCCSN"><strong>WATCH LIVE STREAM HERE</strong></a> <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/07/2021-team-preview-cbc-2022-prospects/"><strong>CBC Season Preview</strong></a> <strong><a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/08/ihsa-highschool-team-preview-east-st-louis-flyers/">East St. Louis Season Preview</a></strong> <strong>Players to Watch </strong> <strong>CBC:</strong> QB [player_tooltip player_id="37608" first="Patrick" last="Heitert"] (2022), CB [player_tooltip player_id="37539" first="Blair" last="Schonhorst"] (2022, Ball State commitment), RB [player_tooltip player_id="171841" first="Dylan" last="Van"] (2023), OL [player_tooltip player_id="171840" first="Josh" last="Gregory"] (2023) and WR [player_tooltip player_id="126237" first="Jeremiah" last="McClellan"] (2024) <strong>East St. Louis:</strong> WR Luther Burden (2022), QB Robert Battle (2024), OL Myles McVay (2023), CB Ahmad Robinson (2022) and RB Marquise Palmer (2023). &nbsp; <strong>CENTER HILL (Miss.) at WEST PLAINS</strong> COVID protocols forced the cancellation of a much-anticipated season-opening matchup between Glendale and West Plains, two of the top teams in Southwest Missouri, and sent West Plains searching for a Week 1 opponent. <a href="https://chhs.desotocountyschools.org/football">Center Hill High School</a> in Olive, Branch, Mississippi, answered the call and agreed to travel to Missouri for tonight's contest. <strong><a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/07/team-preview-west-plains/">West Plains Season Preview</a></strong> <strong>Players to Watch</strong> <strong>Center Hill:</strong> QB-S Mark Holmes, RB Amari Dawkins and DL Erik Covington. <strong>West Plains:</strong> RB-LB [player_tooltip player_id="96259" first="Connor" last="Lair"] (2022), OL [player_tooltip player_id="96199" first="Jaylon" last="James"] (2022), QB [player_tooltip player_id="96166" first="Dagen" last="Kenslow"] (2022), WR-DB [player_tooltip player_id="172411" first="Heston" last="Miller"] (2023) and TE [player_tooltip player_id="174097" first="Garrett" last="Mahan"] (2023). &nbsp; <strong>LUTHERAN NORTH at ST. MARY'S, 7 PM</strong> A matchup of two of the top smaller school squads in Missouri will feature plenty of Division I talent on both sidelines. Lutheran North has a new head coach in Kyle Wagner, who was the Crusaders' offensive coordinator for their state championship team two years ago, and he is looking to keep North at an elite level. St. Mary's has another strong squad and will be looking to make a statement at home. <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/07/2021-team-preview-lutheran-north/">Lutheran North Season Preview</a> <a href="https://team1sports.com/prepcasts/?B=285749"><strong>WATCH LIVE STREAM HERE</strong></a> <strong>Players to Watch</strong> <strong>Lutheran North:</strong> QB [player_tooltip player_id="37531" first="Brian" last="Brown"] (2022, Southern Illinois commitment), RB [player_tooltip player_id="171824" first="Jaylin" last="Carson"] (2022), DT [player_tooltip player_id="37593" first="Jaylen" last="Banks"] (2022, Southern Illinois commitment), WR [player_tooltip player_id="179182" first="Justin" last="Price"] (2025). <strong>St. Mary's:</strong> WR [player_tooltip player_id="37523" first="Kevin" last="Coleman"] (2022), QB [player_tooltip player_id="172435" first="Caron" last="Spann"] (2022), RB-DB [player_tooltip player_id="37601" first="De'Shawn" last="Fuller"] (2022) and WR [player_tooltip player_id="37684" first="Chase" last="Hendricks"] (2023). &nbsp; <strong>BLUE SPRINGS at LIBERTY, 7 PM</strong> Two of the most talented Kansas City area squads square off in this season opener in Week 1 and it will tell us a lot about where these teams are early this fall. There will be plenty of talent on both sides, but Blue Springs will unfortunately be without senior standout linebacker [player_tooltip player_id="104345" first="Carson" last="Willich"], an Iowa State commitment, who is expected to miss the season with a torn ACL. <strong> (from The Examiner)</strong> <strong>Liberty Season Preview</strong> <strong>Players to Watch</strong> <strong>Blue Springs:</strong> RB [player_tooltip player_id="172251" first="Lamana" last="Tapusoa"] (2023), DE [player_tooltip player_id="99750" first="Ikenna" last="Ezeogu"] (2022, Iowa State commitment), WR-DB [player_tooltip player_id="172240" first="Dalesean" last="Staley"] (2022, Northern Iowa commitment), QB [player_tooltip player_id="177877" first="Sal" last="Caldarella"] (2024) and TE [player_tooltip player_id="103377" first="Eli" last="Youman"] (2023). <strong>Liberty: </strong>RB [player_tooltip player_id="37448" first="Wentric" last="Williams III"] (2022), OL [player_tooltip player_id="96197" first="Michael" last="Capria"] (2022, Kansas State commitment), WR [player_tooltip player_id="177054" first="Caden" last="Dennis"] (2022), LB [player_tooltip player_id="181655" first="Nchang" last="Ndifor"] (2023) and WR [player_tooltip player_id="177902" first="Ricky" last="Ahumaraeze"] (2023). &nbsp; <strong>Check out:</strong> <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/08/weekend-preview/">Players to Watch from Josh Robinson</a> <strong><em>You can follow Nate Latsch on Twitter at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/natelatsch">@natelatsch</a>. </em></strong> &nbsp;