Cardinal Ritter tops Hillsboro in battle of Missouri high school football unbeaten squads

Dejerrian Miller catches three touchdown passes in win

ST. LOUIS – The Cardinal Ritter football team is already in playoff mode. Coach Brennan Spain’s squad showed that on Saturday.

The Missouri Class 3 champions a year ago, the undefeated Lions are the top-ranked team in Class 5 despite jumping up two classifications and appear poised for another run to Columbia.

Ritter took control of its showdown with undefeated Hillsboro on Saturday afternoon by scoring 34 straight points en route to an impressive 34-21 win.

“We told the guys last week, Week 7, playoff mode starts now,” Spain said. “You don’t get ready for the playoffs during the playoffs. You get ready for the playoffs before the playoffs. We treated last week like the playoffs. There are things to clean up, but that’s week in and week out, things you can do better, opportunities you miss. But the ultimate goal is to make sure we have more points on our side than them.”

Ranked fourth in the SBLive Missouri Power 25 rankings, Cardinal Ritter improved to 8-0 and extended its winning streak to 22 games dating back to the beginning of last season.

The Lions’ dynamic quarterback duo of senior Antwon McKay Jr. and junior Carson Boyd combined for five touchdown passes – Boyd had three, McKay two – and junior wide receiver Dejerrian Miller caught three touchdown passes.

“It’s always important to play at our best, no matter who we play against,” McKay said. “We shouldn’t underestimate nobody. We have to play every game at our highest.”

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Hillsboro, the No. 10 team in the SBLive Missouri Power 25, fell to 7-1 after scoring a season-low 21 points, the Hawks’ lowest output since a 26-13 loss to Cardinal Ritter last October 14.

Hillsboro entered Saturday’s showdown averaging 47.7 points per game and, after marching down the field on their first series and scoring on Payton Brown’s 6-yard touchdown run, the Hawks had to be feeling good about their chances.

But that’s when the host Lions started to roar.

Ritter responded with a touchdown pass from McKay to junior running back Jamarion Parker. Then an interception from Maleek Perkins turned into a touchdown pass from Boyd to Miller to make it 12-7 (after both 2-point conversion attempts failed) late in the first quarter.

The Lions extended their advantage with two late touchdowns in the second quarter, with Boyd connecting with sophomore wide receiver De’Shaun Stevenson (and then again on a 2-point pass) and then McKay finding Miller for a score (before running in the 2-point conversion) to make it 28-7 going into halftime.

Boyd found Miller again for the second time for a 28-yard touchdown (with a failed 2-point conversion) with 9 minutes 32 seconds remaining in the third quarter to stretch the lead to 34-7.

Missouri high school football Top 25 scoreboard (10/13/2023)

Spain said his squad made adjustments after the Hawks’ successful first series.

“(Hillsboro) is well-coached,” Spain said. “For you to run that style of offense, you have to be very disciplined and very true to what you believe in. Once we saw what they did and we made adjustments, we went from there. So kudos to them, 7-1 now, great ball club, very bright future for them.”

Hillsboro tried to rally after Miller’s third touchdown.

The Hawks were deep in Ritter territory before Vinaz Cobb came up with a clutch interception at the goal line and returned it to midfield.

Hillsboro finally snapped its scoring drought when junior quarterback Preston Brown scored on a 30-yard run as time expired at the end of the third quarter to make it 34-14.

Payton Brown scored for the second time – and 23rd time this season – on a 3-yard run with 5:11 remaining to cut the deficit to 13 points.

Cardinal Ritter was able to get the ball back and run out the clock from there to secure the victory.

The Lions passed a test against one of the top contenders in Class 4 and extended their long winning streak going into their regular season-finale at St. Louis University High next week.

“I tell my guys all the time, we’re not in competition with anybody else on the other sideline – we’re in competition with us,” Spain said. “Week 7 Cardinal Ritter shouldn’t be better than Week 8 Cardinal Ritter. And that’s how we look at it. We’re just trying to progress and get better and better week by week.”

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- Nate Latsch | latsch@scorebooklive.com | @SBLiveMiz