Missouri Class 4 Championship Game Preview

Either Smithville or Hannibal will be celebrating like it never has before after a football game. The two schools will play for the Class 4 championship at 11 a.m. on Friday at Faurot Field in Columbia. The title game appearance is only the second ever for both teams. Smithville last made the finals in 1969, while Hannibal made it back in 2006. Each team relied on big-time players to reach this stage. <strong>Smithville (12-0) </strong> Key Players to Watch [player_tooltip player_id="179109" first="Andrew" last="Hedgecorth"], QB, 2023 The second-year starting signal caller ran for a 50-yard touchdown on the second play of the game against MICDS in a semifinal game. This was the second week in a row that Hedgecorth has broken off a long touchdown run on a bootleg play. Hedgecorth, the Suburban Conference Blue Division offensive player of the year, is 156 for 224 yards passing for 2,125 yards through the air with 26 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. In last week’s 36-20 win against MICDS, Hedgecorth was 30 for 41 for 372 yards and three touchdowns, including two in the fourth quarter that helped spark the comeback. He also averages 34.8 yards per punt. Sam Calvert, SB/WR, QB, 2022 The splitback had 11 catches last week, while senior Keltin Nitchse had 10 catches as the Warriors had to turn to the air when MICDS slowed down the rushing attack, which had been the bread-and-butter for Smithville. Calvert had two fourth-quarter touchdowns and finished with 121 yards receiving. Calvert now had a team-high nine touchdowns and is third on the team in receiving yards with 415 yards. Nitsche has 682 yards, while returning all-state [player_tooltip player_id="96165" first="Rhett" last="Foster"] leads the team with 717 yards. [player_tooltip player_id="96260" first="Cody" last="Simoncic"], LB, 2022 Had a role as Wildcat quarterback, the first time that has happened in the postseason. He ran for a touchdown in one of the sequences, but his bigger impact is on the defensive side of the ball. He enters the state title game with 82 tackles, with two sacks, four interceptions, five forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. Gabe Talley leads the Warriors with 93 tackles and DT [player_tooltip player_id="96231" first="Mason" last="Crim"] has a team-high five sacks. Simoncic leads the way in INTs and forced fumbles. The Warriors defense is giving up 9 points per game, up by 7.1 the team had before giving up 36 to MICDS. <strong>Hannibal (13-0)</strong> Key Players to Watch [player_tooltip player_id="130203" first="Aneyas" last="Williams"], RB/WR/S/P, 2024 The Pirates are a run-heavy team that has racked up 3,423 yards on the ground and 1,944 passing and Williams has a big role in both. He is second on the team with 972 yards rushing but is averaging 10.1 yards per carry and has 20 of the team’s 48 yards on the ground. The only back with more yards on the ground is senior AJ Thomas, who has 1,068 yards but he has 124 more carries than Williams. Williams had 60 catches for 1,285 yards in the air and 24 of the team’s 35 passing scores. He is also skilled at returning the ball and North County squibbed the kick rather than kick to Williams, who has big-play potential anytime he touches the ball. Williams had 137 yards receiving and 122 yards rushing for five total touchdowns in the 42-26 win. The do-it-all star is also averaging 42.4 yards per punt this year, though the Pirates have punted only 11 times all season. Courtland Watson, QB/K, 2022 The 6-foot-1, 185-pound signal caller is completing 63 percent of his passes (104 for 165) and has 1,944 yards and 35 touchdowns, compared to four interceptions. He is also a threat at running the ball with 726 yards and nine touchdowns. Watson hit Williams for three touchdown passes in the win last week. Aside from the 60 passes to Williams on the year, the next two targets for Watson are Kaiser Greenwell and senior DaeQuan Powell, who have a combined 30 catches for nearly 500 yards. On special teams, Watson has booted 78 point after attempts. Kaiser Greenwell, WR/S, 2022 Greenwell has a big impact on defense with 96 tackles, the most on the team and well ahead of junior linebacker Ashton Watts, who has 66. The defense is full of players with multiple interceptions including two by Greenwell. Leading the way is Williams with three, while senior linebacker Tyler Hardy also has two picks. The Pirates defense is giving up 15.3 points per game, giving up 14 or less in seven of the 13 games.