Missouri Class 4 semifinal preview

There will be at least one of the best teams in the state sitting at home next week when the Class 4 championship game is held in Columbia. With only two games remaining, one of the semifinals will have the top two teams in the Missouri Media Poll facing off this week. Friday’s Game No. 1 Smithville at No. 2 MICDS Smithville’s defense is one of the best of the stats and statistically speaking, of the teams still playing between Class 1 to 6, the Warriors defense is the best when it comes to points allowed per game at 7.1. The next closest team is Class 3 St. Pius X (Kansas City), which has allowed only eight. The Warriors’ varsity defense has allowed no more than two touchdowns in a game this year and that came in last week’s 29-14 win over Lincoln College Prep. A key in that win was forcing three fumbles, which gives Smithville 16 on the year with 14 fumble recoveries. LB [player_tooltip player_id="96260" first="Cody" last="Simoncic"] has five of the team’s forced fumbles, the team-high. He also leads the Warriors with 82 tackles. ... The defense, though, is without linebacker Derek Boyd, who is third on the team with 61 tackles after tearing his ACL. That is one of two big losses for the Warriors, who are also without leading rusher [player_tooltip player_id="96156" first="Hayden" last="Sigg"], out with a foot injury. ... Both teams are back in the semifinals for the second year in a row. ... MICDS did so by picking up a 22-20 win against St. Dominic last week, much different than in Week 8 when MICDS won 47-13. ... Junior running back Steven Hall accounted for 126 of the Rams’ 240 yards on the ground, but he was held without a score on the ground. He did catch a touchdown pass, which turned out to be the game-winning score. ... MICDS turned back a two-point conversion attempt with 6:32 left in the game, which accounted for the difference in the final score. ... Senior LB Bjorn Sjogren had a team-high 11 tackles, while adding an interception and a sack. Saturday’s Game No. 3 Hannibal at North County Courtland Watson had a banner day last week to help Hannibal pick up a 35-26 win over No. 4-ranked West Plains. The senior quarterback was 16 of 27 passes for 295 yards and five touchdowns, which broke the Pirates’ single-game passing yardage and passing touchdowns records. He has 1,796 yards on the season, which broke the school record as well. He has 32 touchdown passes, including 21 to sophomore running back [player_tooltip player_id="130203" first="Aneyas" last="Williams"]. All five of Watson’s touchdown passes went to Williams, who had 12 catches for 172 yards. He now has 21 on the season, which is a single-season record. ... This is the third trip to the semifinals for Hannibal and they have already tied the school record with 12 wins. ... North County beat No. 9-ranked Vashon, 49-24, to punch its ticket and its ninth straight win. ... Junior RB [player_tooltip player_id="193116" first="Jobe" last="Smith"] accounted for six of the seven touchdowns for the Raiders. He had four rushing touchdowns — he had 168 yards on 18 carries – but also had a punt return (85 yards) and interception return (61) to account for the other scores. ... North County’s offense is averaging about 40 points per game and has scored 50 points four different times. The Raiders have thrown for a little more than 700 yards all season, but it has been spread out between 11 different receivers. Smith is the leading receiver with 164 yards and also leads the run-heavy offense 1,861 yards rushing.