The sixth week of the football season is in the books and there were many big performances and interesting developments.

Below are some of the things that stood out to me.

TOP PHOTOS OF WEEK 6 – CLICK HERE
STATE FOOTBALL RANKINGS – CLICK HERE
FAN PHOTOS OF WEEK 6 – CLICK HERE 

TEAMS THAT CAUGHT MY EYE IN WEEK 6

There are many teams that had great weeks. I am picking 10 to focus on here. 

Forsyth

Forsyth made it a sweep over its lake rivals with a 41-14 win over Reeds Spring on Friday after beating Hollister in Week 3. It was the trio of Tamarkus Holmes, Chris Halbrook and Maverick Blevins who led the way for Forsyth. Halbrook, who played with a cast on his broken hand, was still able to go seven-for-nine through the air for 255 yards and three touchdowns. Blevins was on the receiving end of six of those completions for 223 yards and two touchdowns. Holmes had 13 carries for 180 yards and two touchdowns averaging 13.9 yards per carry. The Panthers have three conference games remaining and sit one back in the loss column to Springfield Catholic in the conference race.

Logan-Rogersville

The Wildcats bounced back from their first loss of the season with a 55-13 win over Hillcrest. Joe Roche continues to be one of the breakout stars in southwest Missouri with 22 carries for 176 yards and a touchdown on Friday. That brings his total to 124 carries for 978 yards and 14 touchdowns on the season. Speaking of breakout stars, Gage Hale hauled in five catches for 73 yards and three touchdowns in the win. He has 37 catches for 793 yards and 10 touchdowns on the season. He is more than just a standout receiver with 39 total tackles and three interceptions on defense. Sam Frieze completed seven passes for 127 yards and four touchdowns. He has 1,313 yards passing and 15 touchdowns on the season.

Marionville

Marionville has been dominant since suffering its first regular season loss since 2019 to Southside Batesville in Week 4. The Comets beat Diamond 63-0 in Week 5 and then took down Pierce City 50-13 this past week. They finish the season with a tough three-game stretch of Sarcoxie, Ash Grove and Miller. One note on the loss Marionville suffered to Batesville. It was a game they picked up to replace the canceled Springfield Central game. Batesville was a state semifinalist in Class 4 Arkansas last season. This season, Batesville is 6-0 and ranked No. 3 in Arkansas Class 4. Its enrollment of 444 would have it on the larger side of Class 3 in Missouri. What I am saying is that while Marionville has suffered a regular season loss for the first time since 2019, it was to a high-quality team two classes above to the Comets.

Mountain Grove

Mountain Grove welcomed in its rival Liberty and came away with a statement 35-6 win. The Panthers ran the ball over and over to great success with 58 carries for 339 yards and four touchdowns. Braydon Curtiss had 29 of the carries for 132 yards and three touchdowns. Eli Golden was a two-way force with 11 carries for 92 yards and a touchdown on offense to go with two interceptions on defense. Mountain Grove and Thayer have separated themselves as the top teams in the SCA through four weeks of conference play. The Panthers and Bobcats are undefeated while every other team has at least two conference losses.

Nevada

Speaking of rivalry games, Oscar is staying in Nevada for a second straight year after Nevada beat Lamar 27-7 in the Silver Tiger game. Will Jackson had two big touchdown runs of 44 and 77 yards on his way to 150 total rushing yards in the win. John Michael Collins ran seven times for 30 yards and a touchdown. Nevada’s final touchdown came from a pick six from Jett Snyder. Defensively, Nevada had two interceptions and eight tackles for a loss in the win. Nevada looks like the best of Class 4 in the area, but the Tigers are in a district full of Kansas City teams this season.

Republic

Republic went on the road to Webb City and came away with the week’s most impressive win. The Tigers committed three turnovers in Webb City territory in the first half and trailed 14-0 in the first half. From there, Republic clamped down and outscored Webb City 27-7 the rest of the way for a 27-21 win. Quarterback Preston McCracken carried the ball 25 times for 244 yards and three touchdowns. As a team, Republic ran the ball 50 times for 391 yards and four touchdowns. The two teams combined to run the ball 98 times in the game. This Republic’s fourth win over Webb City in the past five matchups after losing the first 24 straight to the Cardinals. Up next for Republic is another massive game at Carthage. More on that below.

Sarcoxie

Sarcoxie welcomed in newly state-ranked Miller coming off a win over Ash Grove on Friday. The Bears handed the Cardinals a 28-22 loss to stay in the hunt in the Southwest Conference. Sarcoxie is known for running the ball, but it was the passing game that made the difference on Friday. Sophomore quarterback Landen Straw threw three touchdown passes completing eight passes for 127 yards. Coming into the game, Straw had five touchdown passes through the first five games. Gatlon Malotte did the heavy lifting on the ground with 13 carries for 106 yards and a touchdown. He also had a game-ending pass break-up to preserve the win. Malotte has 760 rushing yards with eight touchdowns on the season. Josh Hoffman, who caught four passes for 80 yards and two touchdowns on Friday, has 20 catches for 376 yards and six touchdowns on the season. Carter Phillips (83 total tackles, two forced fumbles) and Reily Barrios (61 total tackles, seven tackles for a loss) have been defensive leaders for Sarcoxie this season.

Seneca

Seneca undefeated and the two-time defending state runner-up in Class 3 with 24 straight regular season wins. And somehow, it feels like they get overlooked because their dominance is just so consistent. The Indians stepped out of conference play and up one class to play former Big 8 Conference rival Carl Junction on Friday and came away with a 42-7 win. It was the Brodie Probert and Roman Miller show once again. That duo running behind a talented offensive line combined for 385 yards rushing and five touchdowns on Friday. Probert had 21 carries for 208 yards and one touchdown while Miller had 19 carries for 177 yards and four touchdowns. Jace Renfro was a one-man wrecking crew on defense with four sacks, five tackles for a loss and a forced fumble. On the season, Probert and Miller have been the most productive duo in the area with 1,137 and 1,111 rushing yards, respectively. It is rare to have two 1,000-yard rushers on a team and Seneca already has two through six games. If the Indians march to another state title game, both players stand a good chance of going to 2,000 yards on the ground.

Springfield Catholic

The biggest turnaround in the Ozarks continued on Friday with Springfield Catholic beating Fair Grove 36-15 to remain undefeated on the season. Last season, the Irish started 0-6. This season, they have played the exact same schedule and avenged every 2024 loss so far. Jett Lewis connected on four completions for 132 yards and two touchdowns in the win. Easton Gifford was explosive in the game with one reception for 74 yards and a touchdown to go with three carries for 42 yards and another touchdown. That is an average of 29 yards per touch. Gifford also forced and recovered a fumble in the game. Through six games last season, Catholic was averaging six points per game on offense while giving up 36.2 points per game on defense. This season, the Irish are averaging 37.2 points per game while yielding 25.7 per game. They control their own destiny in both the conference and district standings.

Warsaw

Warsaw’s defense was really good last season. Through six games last season, the Wildcats were giving up 7.3 points per game with three shutouts. This season, Warsaw’s defense has gone to a new level. The Wildcats are giving up 4.3 points per game on average with four shutouts in the past five games with the one blemish being a six-point effort from Versailles. On Friday, Warsaw’s Ozark Mountain Conference dominance was on display in a 48-0 road win over El Dorado Springs. Offensively, Josh Harvath paced the Wildcats with 14 carries for 144 yards and three touchdowns. Ryan Fajen was five-for-five passing for 101 yards and a touchdown. Harvath has been a two-way force for Warsaw all season with 60 carries for 685 yards and 13 touchdowns on offense while leading the defense with 40 total tackles. This season isn’t a one-season blip for Warsaw either. Head coach Ryan Boyer took over a program coming off back-to-back 0-10 seasons in 2017 and immediately won five games. The past two seasons, Warsaw is 16-1 with the lone loss coming to eventual state champion Lamar by two in the district title game last season. Boyer credits not only the players but a strong coaching staff backed up by strong community and district support for the program for the run of success the Wildcats are currently experiencing.

TOP GAMES OF WEEK 7

Republic at Carthage

This might be the game of the week in the state. These two teams sit at Nos. 1 and 2 in the Class 5 District 6 standings. A win for Republic here will all but guarantee a top two seed pending the result of Republic’s Week 8 game at home against Neosho. Republic has already banked a win against Webb City. Carthage is just entering its three-game stretch featuring Republic, Webb City and Neosho in consecutive weeks. After Republic snapped a long losing streak to Carthage in 2023, the blue Tigers got Republic back last season with a 31-14 win.

Carl Junction at Branson

This one is always a fun one with Branson head coach Aaron Hafner taking on his brother Todd Hafner who is head coach of Carl Junction. The Pirates come into the game with a 3-0 record in conference while Carl Junction is 2-1. This is a must-win for the Bulldogs to stay in the mix for an Ozark Mountain Conference title.

Marionville at Sarcoxie

Marionville has not lost a Southwest Conference game since 2019. Sarcoxie was the second to last conference team to beat the Comets in that season. Since then, Marionville has beaten Sarcoxie six times in a row. The Bears are coming off a big win against then state ranked Miller last week while Marionville has been rolling since losing in Week 4.

Clever at Hollister

Clever won the first ever matchup between these two teams last season. Right now, the Blue Jays are 5-1 and 3-1 in conference trailing Springfield Catholic by one game. Clever needs to win this game to remain in control of its own destiny in the conference race. Hollister is 4-2 on the year and 2-2 in conference.

Monett at Lamar

Seneca and Nevada appear to be the class of the Big 8 this season, but there is a lot of competition for that second tier in the conference. Monett can score it. The Cubs are averaging 54 points per game while yielding 34.5 points. Lamar has had a couple tough weeks back to back scoring just seven points over the past two games. Since 2010, Lamar has won 13 of the 14 matchups including the past four in a row. Monett’s last win over Lamar was in 2019.