Hallsville football had a less-than-memorable 2-7 regular season. Despite this, Hallsville rattled off wins over Winfield, St. Charles West and Moberly en route to a MSHSAA Class 3 District 3 championship.
Quarterback Brayden Matheney’s strong play in the postseason catapulted Hallsville to its Class 3 District 3 title. Matheney has passed for 11 TDs to just two interceptions in the playoff stretch.
The signal-caller passed for 361 yards and accounted for five touchdowns — three passing and two rushing — in the Class 3 District 3 title game against Moberly.
Matheney hit wide receiver Issac Stinson on a go-ahead touchdown pass in the final minute to clinch the 37-35 victory.
Stinson has been the top target in the passing game all season, catching 124 passes for 1,539 yards and 17 touchdowns.
While many high school football offenses lean on their run game, Hallsville uses a pass-heavy approach that averages 316 yards through the air per game.
Hallsville rallied to win its first district title since 2020, but it faces a greater challenge Saturday.
Its opposition, Blair Oaks, breezed past Southern Boone and Boonville to win the Class 3 District 4 championship. The Falcons routed the Eagles 66-0 and blew past Boonville 49-6 to secure their district title.
Like Hallsville, Blair Oaks’ district title run was paired with dominant play from its quarterback. Tyler Bax carried his impressive regular-season performance into the playoffs, where he passed for six TDs and rushed for another in the past two games.
Blair Oaks boasts plenty of depth at the running back position. After losing Hayden Lackman and Brady Dapkus to injury Oct. 25 against Southern Boone, Toby Edler and Carson Verslues have stepped in and been productive in the postseason.
Verslues has four rushing touchdowns in the playoffs, while Edler has three.
The Falcons have had no trouble finding success against Hallsville of late, going 9-1 since 2015. The lone win for Hallsville came on Oct. 8, 2021, in a 56-51 triumph.
For the third week in a row, Blair Oaks will face an opponent it already played in the regular season. The Falcons cruised to a 56-12 win over Hallsville on Oct. 18.
Class 3 District 4 champion Blair Oaks (10-1) takes on Class 3 District 3 champion Hallsville (5-7) in the Class 3 quarterfinals at 1 p.m. Saturday in Hallsville.
Soaring Cardinals and scrappy Bulldogs
In the MSHSAA Class 1 District 2 championship, the game’s two competitors have taken two different paths to get there.
On one side, Tipton (10-1) has rolled for most of the season, securing its best record since a 2012 campaign that saw it go undefeated in the regular season. After getting blown out by Lamar 44-0 in Week 4, the Cardinals ripped off six straight wins en route to earning the No. 1 seed in the district. In its first two playoff games, Tipton didn’t have much trouble against Crest Ridge with Chilhowee (3-8) in the district quarterfinals and Salisbury (8-3) in the district semifinals, winning those games 69-0 and 42-6, respectively.
The challenger to the district’s top-seeded squad is dangerous despite possessing a middling regular-season record. Harrisburg (5-4) started 2-4, but the Bulldogs ended the regular season with three straight wins, by 41, 32 and 51 points, respectively. Even during those first six games, Harrisburg beat Salisbury 36-30 in Week 4 and barely lost to Tipton 38-32 on the road the following week. In the playoffs, the Bulldogs took care of No. 6 seed Fayette 16-6 in the district quarterfinals before pulling off one of the bigger surprises of the postseason by knocking off No. 2 seed Westran 14-10 in the district semifinals. Since the program’s first full season of football in 2013, this is the furthest Harrisburg has ever advanced in the MSHSAA playoffs.
Also of note is how the Bulldogs achieved the No. 3 seed; they finished with a worse regular-season record than Salisbury (7-2 compared to 5-4) and had 3.26 fewer playoff points. Despite Harrisburg finishing one spot behind the Panthers for the No. 3 seed, the Bulldogs ended up achieving it anyway because of the “Automatic Switch” rule. According to the 2024-25 MSHSAA Football Manual, “If two teams have played head-to-head and their seeds are consecutive, they will be switched if the lower seed has beaten the higher seed.” Since Harrisburg defeated Salisbury and finished one spot behind the Panthers in the district standings, the Bulldogs were given the No. 3 seed.
The Cardinals and Harrisburg face off in the Class 1 District 2 championship at 7 p.m. Friday in Tipton.
Helias looks for revenge against Republic
For a second consecutive season, Helias runs into Republic in the postseason. The Crusaders’ 2023 season came to an end Nov. 18, 2023, in a 28-21 defeat at the hands of the Tigers in the MSHSAA Class 5 quarterfinals.
Helias is fresh off a 30-18 victory over Lebanon in the Class 5 District 5 championship. Quarterback Austin Weaver hit wide receiver Sam Lopez on a dig route on third-and-18 for a 27-yard touchdown to secure the district title.
Since suffering its only los
s of the season, to Rock Bridge 29-22 on Sept. 27, Helias hasn’t given up more than 18 points in a game.
Class 5 District 5 champion Helias (10-1) hopes to avenge last year’s postseason heartbreak against Class 5 District 6 champion Republic (10-2) in the Class 5 quarterfinals at 1 p.m. Saturday in Republic.
