Mid-Season Top 10 Quarterbacks in the St. Louis Area

We're already past the midpoint of the regular season and have four games left before the playoffs begin. Here's a look at the top-performing quarterbacks in the 314/636 area through five weeks.     1. Christian Cotton (De Smet Class of 2023)   A battle-tested quarterback with a proven pedigree, Cotton is once again off to a hot start. He's gone up against two top 50 nationally ranked opponents with the likes of IMG and Springfield, OH, plus the always locally dominate CBC Cadets, and didn't look out of place. He's tallied 950 passing yards with 10 touchdowns, and two interceptions, and is 64-of-98 (65.3%) through the air. He also has a very respectable 126.345 QB rating. Despite De Smet losing all three of those games, Cotton was productive in everyone and finished with a completion percentage above 60% in his first five games. Not to be outdone, Cotton leads the team in every major rushing category with 242 yards on 32 carries and four touchdowns.     2. A.J. Raines (Timberland Class of 2023)   Perhaps the biggest surprise in the whole state is the emergence of A.J. Raines. He proved to be a solid dual-threat quarterback last year for the Wolves, but so far he's taken the St. Louis area by storm. Raines has thrown for 1,488 yards, and 17 touchdowns with just one interception, and has compiled an astounding 101-of-137 passes for an unheard of 73.7% completion percentage. He's also rushed 502 yards on 70 carries with seven touchdowns and a QB rating of 147.228. Raines has been a big reason why Timberland is currently 5-0 and off to their best start since 2008 when they had an undefeated regular season. Raines' big highlight of the season is his incredible Week 4 performance against Fort Zumwalt West where he threw for 489 yards, six touchdowns, no interceptions, and ran 87 yards plus a touchdown. Timberland won 59-56.     3. [player_tooltip player_id='196494' first='Liam' last='Hughes'] (Union Class of 2023)   An incredibly efficient quarterback, Hughes is doing what he's always done throughout his career for the Wildcats: Throwing touchdowns at a high rate and being undefeated in the regular season. Union is out to a perfect start at 5-0 with many thanks to Hughes' arm among other things. He's thrown for 966 yards with 15 touchdowns to just two interceptions and is 55-of-90 (61.1%) passing, and has a 138.489 QB rating. Hughes' best game so far was against Pacific where he threw for a career-high 339 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions.     4. [player_tooltip player_id='126261' first='Grant' last='Gibson'] (Rockwood Summit Class of 2024)   A year ago Gibson was at Fox in a heavy run offensive scheme where he attempted 85 passes and completed 669 yards with six touchdowns. Now at Rockwood Summit, Gibson has transformed into a feared pocket quarterback. It's taken him all of four games to surpass just about every passing stat he had last year. Gibson is 70-of-107 (65.4%) through the air with 986 yards and 12 touchdowns plus one interception, and a 128.788 rating. In his last three games against Parkway Central, Parkway North, and Lindbergh, Gibson has tallied at least 200 passing yards, two touchdowns, and 12 completions. Additionally, Gibson has bested his win total at Fox already as the Falcons are off to a solid 4-1 start to another promising season.     5. [player_tooltip player_id='126228' first='Beau' last='Dolan'] (Ladue Class of 2024)   Coming off a mixed-bag season where he was platooned, Dolan has found his form again as the QB1 for the Rams. The junior lefty has thrown for 864 yards with 14 touchdowns and four interceptions. His 14 touchdown passes have already surpassed the 12 he finished with last year. Dolan is 73-for-127 through the air with a 105.666 QB rating. After a relatively slow start, Dolan has come on strong in his last two games against Oakville and Parkway North throwing for a combined 431 yards, eight touchdowns, and one interception, and has completed 32-of-54 passes (59%). He had a breakout game last week against Parkway North throwing for a career-high five touchdown passes in a 56-28 victory.     6. [player_tooltip player_id='130185' first='Adam' last='Shipley'] (Francis Howell Class of 2023)   A first-year starter for the Vikings whose been waiting in the wings is now taking advantage of his moment under center. He's thrown for 602 yards with eight touchdowns and one interception and is 41-of-62 (66.1%). His QB Rating is a very good 133.560. You might think he hasn't thrown enough passes, but the Vikings have one of the best-diversified offenses in the state, which doesn't require Shipley to gun it every other play. His breakout game was a couple of nights against state-ranked Troy Buchanan where he was 12-for-19 and threw for 156 yards with a touchdown plus four rushing scores and 116 yards on 17 carries.     7. [player_tooltip player_id='126209' first='Marco' last='Sansone'] (SLUH Class of 2024)   Despite being one of the few first-year starters on this list, Sansone had some preseason expectations going into August, but he's lived up to some of the hype. Despite starting 0-3 against a tough stretch of opponents, Sansone has managed to record an impressive 14 touchdowns to three interception outputs with 1,225 yards. He is however 65-for-148 (43.9%) with a 95.885 rating. Despite the number of incompletions, Sansone has thrown for 11 touchdowns with zero interceptions in his last three games including a big 43-15 win over Vashon. He also threw for 341 yards against CBC with four touchdowns and no interceptions.   8. [player_tooltip player_id='207474' first='Jack' last='Ahlbrand'] (Marquette Class of 2023)   Ahlbrand and the Mustangs, are off to another good start with a 4-1 record including some key victories over the likes of Hazelwood Central, Lafayette, and Rockwood Summit. At his best, Ahlbrand is one of the best quarterbacks in the area proving that in 2021, but he's had a few games that haven't filled up the stat sheet. Overall he's thrown for 810 yards with seven touchdowns and three interceptions having completed 46-of-87 passes. On the ground, Ahlbrand has accumulated 218 yards with five touchdowns on 45 carries. He's shown improvement in his last two games against Eureka and Northwest Cedar Hill throwing a combined 5 touchdowns with one interception, 397 yards, and 22-of-32 passing (68.8%).   9. Nick Ortinau (Francis Howell Central Class of 2023)   One of the more underrated quarterbacks in the area, Ortinau has helped the Spartans get out to their best start since 2017 with his efficient play under center. A year he threw for 1,564 yards with 10 touchdowns and four interceptions in an offense that averaged 17 points per game. So far through five games, Ortinau is well on his way to vastly improving his numbers and already the amount of team wins. He's 59-of-94 (62.7%) passing with 835 yards, nine touchdowns, and three interceptions with a 116.770 QB rating.   10. [player_tooltip player_id='349729' first='Byron' last='McNair'] (Pattonville Class of 2023)   In his first season as a full-time starting quarterback, McNair has been a crucial player in the early season success of the Pirates who are off to their best start since 2018. He's thrown for 866 yards with six touchdowns, and two interceptions, and is 51-of-79 (64.5%) passing with a 124.400 QB rating. McNair was solid in two big wins over Ritenour and Lindbergh completing 21-of-32 passes with two touchdowns and 366 yards combined. He's also shown the ability to throw the ball well on the run and is difficult to sack in the pocket.

We're already past the midpoint of the regular season and have four games left before the playoffs begin. Here's a look at the top-performing quarterbacks in the 314/636 area through five weeks.