Congratulations to the Waynesville Tigers from our Ozark Conference.  The Tigers have defeated the Belton Pirates in the Missouri Class 5A state championship title game, by the score of 17-7, finishing the season with 12 wins, 1 loss.  The Tigers and Pirates squared off Saturday night in the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, MO.  After a defensive struggle in the first half, Waynesville led 3-0 at halftime.  By the end of the 3rd quarter, the Pirates had scored a touchdown to take a 7-3 lead.  Then, with just over 4 minutes left in the game, the Tigers finally mounted a scoring drive to take the lead at 10-7.  On the ensuing kickoff, Belton fumbled the ball, and Waynesville was able to tack on another late touchdown for the final 17-7 score.  L.J. Fort from Waynesville was the star of the game, scoring both of Waynesville’s touchdowns, and also he rushed for over 200 yards.

Thank you Waynesville for exacting some revenge on the Belton Pirates, who defeated our Falcons in the first round of the state playoffs.  This is a great showing for the Ozark Conference, especially for all those naysayers who think only K.C. and St. Louis teams know how to play serious football.  It has been a long time since the OC has produced a state championship, let alone even producing a team to play in the state title game.  Now everybody knows that SW MO can play football with the best of them - way to go Tigers, and a big congratulations to Coach Vernon, a 30+ year coaching veteran there at Waynesville HS!

Our Glendale Falcons hosted the Belton Pirates on Friday night at JFK Stadium, in the quarter final round of the Missouri Class 5A state playoffs, and lost 12-41.  The Falcons had a great season, on their way to winning a 2nd consecutive Class 5A District 5 Championship, but the District 6 champions from Belton proved to be a tough team for our Falcons to match up with.

The Falcons defense held Belton to an opening drive 4th down, when the Pirates appeared to be in punt formation.  But a fake punt run all the way in for a touchdown by the Pirates’ quarterback, set the tone for the rest of the game.  Belton opened up a 0-14 lead before the Falcons showed some life, and scored on a long touchdown run by quarterback Joey Mendel.  But a 6-14 (missed PAT after a bad snap) score was the closest our Falcons would ever get.  Belton was up 6-34 by the half, and a late game touchdown by our Falcons yielded the final 12-41 score.

Great season Falcons, and for the Seniors who will be moving on now after this season, best of wishes, and thanks for all your hard work as Falcons over the last 4 years!  For the Juniors, Sophomores, and Freshmen, we look forward to seeing you next year for another great season of Falcons football - GO FALCONS!!!

Congratulations to our Glendale Falcon coaches and players, as we have won a 2nd consecutive Class 5A District 5 title, thanks to a 27-3 win over the Kickapoo Chiefs Friday night!

The Falcon beast slumbered through the first 3 quarters of the game, and by early in the 4th quarter, we trailed 0-3 and had lost quarterback Kevin Redmon to a leg injury.  The defense had played well, holding the Chiefs offense at bay, but the Falcons offense had struggled.  With just over 8 minutes to play in the game, an interception by Derek Benz, which the Falcons’ offense turned into a touchdown, the “sleeping giant” was finally woken up.  Our Falcons would capitalize on five 4th-quarter Chiefs’ turnovers, turning 3 of them into touchdowns, and a long run by Joey Mendel who was in at quarterback, would yield their four 4th quarter touchdowns.

Next up for our Falcons is a Missouri Class 5A quarterfinal matchup with the Belton Pirates (7-3).  This year the quarterfinal round will be here in Springfield, Friday night November 9th, at 7:00pm at JFK Stadium.  Belton clinched their district last Friday, but they still finished 3-0 in District 6 with a 48-13 win over Springfield Central last night.  Belton’s other district victories included a 20-0 win over Raymore-Peculiar, and 24-14 win over Lee’s Summit.

Be sure to come to JFK Friday night, and support our Falcons as they look for a quarterfinal victory over Belton.  GO FALCONS!!!