Armed with a new understanding for the phrase "storm surge," this is Duerrisms for the week of September 6th. As always, our thanks to the find folks at GAMEMASTERS here in Quincy for making this column possible and their unyielding support of young people in our community. Be sure to thank Don and the Gang, both with your words and with your business.

And while we are on the topic of gratitude, thanks to all out there in the social media realm who offered up the great advice about using a bag of rice to revive my storm damaged cell-phone. Thanks to you, Siri Lives Again! I may have ruined a pair of perfectly good shoes, two golf towels, and believe it or not, an old Liberty WHO DAT T-Shirt in the offing, but at least I get out of the night not having to shell out for a new IPhone. And for those of you decrying my lack of Tweets on Friday, you now know why I was in "Social Media Purgatory" on my favorite night of the week. My phone was dead 20 minutes into the Macomb/Danville Soccer game at 4:35pm. Felt weird being so disconnected from the rest of the football world for the rest of that night and all day Saturday. I hate that feeling. And if you join the Twitter and Facebook craze here, you will soon know what I mean. So in that spirit, get enlightened.Be sure to join me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/ChrisDuerr) for instant feedback, scores as the happen, and stories as they break in real time on Twitter. And if you are up late on Friday Night after the games, the Pigskin Party continues for KHQA on our Facebook site http://www.facebook.com/KHQAChrisDuerr You can join us there until Midnight with all your observations and comments on the night's action as well as take part in our Hero of the Week Poll voting, to stump for your teammates and friends. It's a good way to end the night. End Shameless Plug here.

One other business note: It's almost time again to begin the KHQA STUDENT ATHLETE OF THE WEEK feature anew. We will be sending off nominations forms to every Athletic Director in the Tri States this week. We are looking for the best senior leaders in the Tri States to show all of our viewers out there just how special these kids are in our communities. If you know of a deserving Senior athlete (minimum 3.5 GPA) worthy of nomination, be sure to bring it to the attention of your high school athletic director. Every year, we award two scholarships (one male, one female) to our overall Scholars of the Year at our Honors Banquet. This is your chance to spotlight a deserving nominee. Our first vote will take place on October 1st, so act quickly. And again, our thanks to CELL TECH, SUBWAY, and PETERS HEATING AND AIR for their support of local athletics and academics.

Beyond that, hope all is well in your world and you had a great holiday weekend. Mine was spent with five straight days of Football, Volleyball, and Soccer as you can tell from our extensive highlights on both SPORTS FINAL on Friday and on OVERTIME on Saturday, the only 30 minute local sports wrap up in the Tri States. From here on out, it is a never ending Local Sports Buffet beginning at 10:30pm as Ross Green and I try to get to every corner of the region and bring you ever First Down, Spike, Hit, or Mile run. That's our commitment to you.

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FOOTBALL 2012

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN-WEEK TWO

7) BUBBA PATTERSON, RB/DB, Beardstown

9 Carries, 124 Yards, TD vs South Fulton

6) ZACH ABNEY, FB, Pittsfield-Griggsville Perry

25 Carries, 111 Yards, TD vs Princeton

5) DALTON POWELL, QB, Hannibal

19 Carries, 99 Yards, 2 TD; 6 of 8 Passing, 48 Yards, TD vs Quincy High

4) NICK WEIMAN, FB/LB, Quincy Notre Dame

15 Carries, 203 Yards, 3 TD vs Alton-Marquette

3) DALTON HEUBNER, RB/LB, Central-Southeastern

11 Carries, 198 Yards, 4 TD vs Pleasant Hill

2) COLE THURMAN, RB, Rushville Industry

25 Carries, 257 Yards, 4 TD vs BPCA

1) J.R. BOYD, RB/LB, Rushville Industry

10 Carries, 200 Yards, 3 TD; 21 Total Tackles Vs BPCA

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KHQA HERO OF THE WEEK

(as voted by the fans at http://www.facebook.com/KHQAChrisDuerr)

TYLER STEINKAMP, RB

Mark Twain High School

Great down to the wire vote between Steinkamp and Rushville/Industry's JR Boyd. Thanks to all who participated. In the end, Mark Twain's workhorse tailback takes honors for doing, well, what we've come to expect of all good Tiger Running Backs: thrive in the mud. Steinkamp tormented the Monroe City defense with 198 ground yards (on awful footing) and three touchdowns in his team's "upset" road win at Lankford Field. I got to watch the first quarter of Tyler's rushing masterpiece and two things really stood out. For starters, the Monroe City Defense struggled to find Steinkamp on a couple of his better runs. He is one of those guys who seems to run into a pile of humanity and yet somehow slides free on the other end. To be honest, really can't remember having had a previous chance to watch Tyler run but he's very good in tight quarters and almost has a pinball effect to the way he bounces around contact. The great aspect of the kid that I like is his feet. I saw him slip but once while I was in Monroe City and I don't know if it's a case of him being fast or just being really sure footed, but he seemed to have a gear in the slop that no one else on the field possessed. Credit where credit is due here as well as I thought the Twain line did a very nice job staying in front of him and giving Tyler a chance to gather some steam. Nice back. Great effort. And it could be that the Tigers are going to end up being a little saltier than anyone thought preseason. More to the point, if I am Matt Hudson, I am doing a rain dance every Thursday night. His team seems to thrive in the adverse weather circumstances.

Previous Winners:

Week One: ANDRE REYNOLDS, Macon

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1) CLARK COUNTY (2-0)

Last Week: 42-15 win over Louisiana

This Week: at Highland

THE SKINNY: The definition of highlight gold for the KHQA Sports Team is Logan Prewitt scooping up the opening kickoff and returning it 73 yards for a touchdown before our cameras can even get warmed up. Interestingly, Prewitt was one of seven different Indians to reach the end zone on Friday. Even Defensive End Kyle Kovar joined the party with a 35 yard scoop-and-score fumble recovery. As balance goes, hard to top that. Was it a flawless Week Two effort for Clark County? No. There was plenty of good to be found. 345 yards of total offense, obviously. Not a single turnover in lousy conditions; a stat made even more impressive by the fact that the Indian defense forced five Louisiana giveaways. But there is also some clean up work to be done here moving ahead as the schedule gets progressively harder. To be honest, our camera crew was out of Kahoka in relatively brief order on Friday night so I really don't have enough film to speak to the what or why of some of the flaws of the Indians Week Two effort. And make no mistake, it gets decidedly harder this week with a Highland team that has shown the serious ability to trade haymakers with good teams the last two weeks. The Cougars may not quite know how to finish yet, but the last three weeks (because I am counting their better than billed showing at the Hannibal Jamboree) have proven that Highland has the ability to expose and exploit against good teams; especially those that may have taken them for granted (I am looking at you Centralia and Brookfield)

Bottom line, Clark County needs to better than ten penalties this week. The Indians need to be more proficient in the passing game than a 29% completion rate. And they better be stingier than 6.5 yards per carry against, especially with the very underrated Chris Sparks waiting to play keep away from the Indian Offense this week. Granted, some of that statistical struggle on defense this week was born of playing an unfamiliar offense (The Louisiana Flexbone) and the ability of Greg Pitzer (he's pretty good, no?) to find and exploit flaws in a defensive scheme with his feet. By the same token, this is also the best collection of defensive talent in the Tri States and the Indians should be more stout and less susceptible to the big play, even when already holding a big lead. The only concern I have had to date about this team through two weeks is how quickly this squad seems to get "disinterested" after building a big first half margin. My quibble is that I would like to see more boot to throat from the Indians; given the standard they are expected to set here. This would be a good time to do so. As impressive as Clark has been early, those two wins have come against a pair of teams who have really labored on Defense the last two weeks. Highland just held JJ Abongo and Brookfield to 12 points. I can't emphasize this enough: this is not the week to be caught looking ahead. Highland is dangerously improved.

2) CONCORD TRIOPIA (2-0)

Last Week:

This Week: vs Brown County

THE SKINNY: Under ordinary circumstances, Triopia/Brown County would be a no-brainer for Game of the Week honors. But in the interest of fairness, with two other league games already guaranteed GOTW status because of their newness, I don't want to get too WIVC-centric this early and figured this might be the right week to share the love. And in full disclosure, Brown County's rough outing at White Hall (ample credit to North Greene on that, by the way) did take some of the shine of this pairing. That's a little unfortunate from Triopia's side of things, because I am not sure any area team put together a more complete or impressive outing than the one Rich Thompson's crew delivered against Greenfield. Granted, the offensive numbers may not wow anyone, but holding an opponent of Greenfield's ilk to just 49 total yards should silence any question anyone had about the Trojans largely rebuilt Defense. The Big Three delivered as usual (see also Dakota Longely's two quarterback sacks for example) but the interesting thing here is that some of those newcomers really upped their level of performance. Dean Arendt picked up a safety. Rich Thompson had high praise for the play of Patrick Waddell, one of the Virginia imports, when I saw him in White Hall on Saturday afternoon. Rich also told me that his team's first half goal line stand elevated the play of his entire team the rest of the night. Not much to quibble with here at all. The Trojans had six different players post double digit rushing yardage, led by Matt Parker's 76 yards and two touchdowns. And mind you, that was really without having the luxury of turning Tanner Huddleston loose in the passing game due to the conditions. And in full candor, I think that day is coming soon. The Trojan staff has so much confidence in Huddleston right now and he just seems so darned unflappable, that I would not be surprised if a 150-200 yard passing game may not be in the offing soon; as out of character as that may seem. And maybe most impressively, Rich and Andy Phelps found a way to cut their team penalties from 11 in Week One to just a single infraction this week. That's a lot of good positive momentum working in the Trojans favor headed into this week. More to the point, Brown County seems to be a team that feeds right into the Trojans Defensive strengths. The Hornets seem to be at their best offensively with quick strike attacks to the edge. North Greene did an absolutely stellar job of taking that away from BC this past weekend, and beat up the Hornets edge threats in the process. On paper, Triopia is an even faster and more physical defense. Bottom line, unless BC can establish some sort of legitimate between the tackles, move the chains rushing threat here (and on Saturday, the only effective one the Hornets displayed was QB Michael Scoggan's Tim Tebow impersonation) they become a much simpler team to defend. If I am Andy Phelps, I pack the box with nine guys and defy Brown County to either beat me man-for-man in the physical department or force them to try to throw over the top of me. Unless BC makes rapid improvement this week, I am not sure they have the bodies to succede at the former. And with Derrick Schone playing center field, the latter may be an even more dangerous plan to attempt. On paper, I just think its going to take all the wizardry Tom Little can summon to beat this Triop team in this circumstance. I've been wrong before and the BC Staff is as good as it gets at crafting a game plan, but I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that I have Triop as a decided favorite on paper going in.

3) CENTRALIA (2-0)

Last Week: 18-12 Double Overtime win vs Palmyra

This Week: vs Mark Twain

THE SKINNY: Suffice it to say, the Panthers certainly haven't wasted many style points getting to 2-0 this season. The Panthers allowed a Brock Butler to Caleb Kizer touchdown pass with no time on the clock to tie the ballgame and were spared the end of "The Streak" only by a botched P-Town PAT attempt. Truth be told, the game should have never been that close. Palmyra finished the night with just over 80 yards of total offense, more than 50 of which came on that game tying final drive. Conversely, even in the slop, Centralia managed 256 total yards. So why was this such a close game? Centralia lost a pair of fumbles in the red zone, gave up a special teams touchdown to Palmyra, and generally let the Panthers hang around too long before Austin Kinkead's one yard touchdown finished the deed in Double OT. Absent that last drive (which took place with Centralia in the Prevent Defense) hard to quibble with much the Panthers did defensively. Jesse Arnold led the charge with nine total tackles, spearheading a balanced effort that included eight stops each as well from Jason Anders and Austin Kinkead. Richard Arnold delivered both an interception and a quarterback sack to the cause. Offensively, Centralia did a passable job in tough conditions, led by Quarterback Zach Etzler's 104 yards rushing and 167 yards of total offense. Again, tough to argue with a 2-0 start. It just hasn't been the typically overwhelming start we have become accustomed to for the Panthers in the CCC. Then again, that might also have to do with the fact that overall level of play in the League has been pretty salty to start the year.

4) CENTRAL-SOUTHEASTERN (2-0)

Last Week: 46-0 win over Pleasant Hill/Western

This Week: vs Unity/Payson

THE SKINNY: Like their WIVC brethren Triopia, CSE handled the ugly conditions with aplomb. The Panther Offense rolled up 46 points and 459 yards of total offense in spite of the mud and looked somewhat elegant, believe it or not, in doing so. In a battle of size on size in the trenches (between arguably the WIVC's two biggest Lines) the Panthers dominated in every sense of the word. The CSE Offensive Linemen fronted for a pair of 100 yard rushing efforts (Dalton Heubner 198 yards, Douglas Weese 103 yards) and helped the Panthers build a 9-0 lead before PHill could even run its first Offensive Play from scrimmage. Defensively, Brad Dixon's crew limited the Wolves to 65 total yards and just three first downs. Aaron Aschemann led that charge with a team high eight total tackles. Marcus Landes and Mike Johnson each finished with six. Not much more to say here. These guys are exactly who we thought they would be. And expect the next two weeks to bring out the best of CSE with the inducement of getting to rekindle dormant rivalries with a pair of neighboring schools in Unity/Payson and the much anticipated Brown County showdown on September 14th. The Panthers will be favored in both those games, sure, but more than that, these are also a pair of statement games for CSE regardless of what records the Mustangs and Hornets ultimately bring to the table. This is as much about community/school pride as it is about football and that alone infuses an extra level of fun into this fortnight of football.

5) SOUTH SHELBY (2-0)

Last Week: 14-0 win over Macon

This Week: at Palmyra

THE SKINNY: This is the week we find out just how good the South Shelby Cardinals may be. Yeah, I know what you are thinking. The Centralia game isn't until next week. And granted, that will be a strenuous examination of the Cardinals Offensive Firepower, particularly given the fact that the Panthers are one of the few teams on the slate with the speed in the Secondary and Linebacker Group to run with the Cardinals, both on the ground and in play action. What I am talking about here, however, is the manner in which this relatively young South team attends to its business. If ever there was a potential trap game on the schedule; if ever the conditions were ripe for an upset, this is the spot. You have a South Shelby team coming off the high of finally beating arch-rival Macon and that highly anticipated Centralia home game looming in the distance. Wedged comfortably between those two red letter games is this road trip to Palmyra; a team that is quite literally two plays away from being 2-0 right now but instead finds itself a disgruntled win-less club with some serious anger issues to work out. A mind you, this is a Palmyra team that returns twenty two lettermen who celebrated beating South Shelby 28-14 last fall. Rob Wilt's crew has serious work to do to extricate itself out of the Flower City with a win. The most encouraging sign last week the the Cardinals may well be up to that task was the vastly improved play of the Defense. South Shelby essentially made Wes Mefford's 2nd Quarter rushing touchdown good enough to win. Mefford's second tally of the night came off a pick six interception as time expired. That's a pretty good show of force, particularly when you consider what a nice job Macon (and the weather conditions obviously) did in cutting away the breakaway dynamic of Trace Windsor and Alex Blackford, as well as blanking the Cardinals potent passing game. That owes to some really nice efforts across the board. Andrew Teal was seemingly everywhere on Defense against Macon. Hadley Roberts and Adam Ellyson each posted nine tackles in that cause. The emerging Tucker Harrington has eight stops and a fumble recovery. Again, the speed component of Macon was negated by the weather but I like that South is showing it can play old school defensive football with grit and tenacity beyond just Wes Mefford and Riley Schmitz. Offensively, it wasn't pretty, but South's power guys moved the chains enough to win the ball game. Teal got some nice help in that department from Sophomore Bryce Fifer (3 carries, 56 yards) who gives the Cardinal backfield a dimension of size it hadn't previously displayed. With weather potentially playing a factor this Friday, that's a nice luxury to have against a very physical and imposing P-Town Defense. They say styles make fights. For the ticket dollar, I am not sure there is a more intriguing, revealing game on the Friday night slate especially if you are savvy enough to look past the Panthers 0-2 record.

6) MACOMB (2-0)

Last Week: 7-6 win over Illini West

This Week: at West Hancock (KHQA GAME OF THE WEEK)

THE SKINNY: The line of demarcation on this highly anticipated heavyweight title fight proved to be an extra point. Macomb made theirs after Jarrod Rockhold's first half touchdown rumble. Illini West could not do the the same to punctuate Bryton Smith's scoring sojourn. And ultimately both defenses performed at an incredibly high level the rest of the contest. I ran into Jim Unruh down at White Hall on Saturday and in typical Unruh dry-wit humor he broke it down thusly "I don't know if you've heard or not but Macomb has a couple of pretty good players on their defense." The lion's share of Jim's praise was reserved for Linebacker Brett Taylor, which makes a ton of sense given the conditions. Having not attended Friday's game and having not yet seen final stat numbers, it's still not hard for me to envision Taylor channeling Jack Lambert with mud dripping off his facemask after tackle 16 or so. Kid is a pure throwback and a good one. We pulled the two game swing on Friday night with BPCA and thusly Ross Green's highlights were all largely defensive in nature. Read late second quarter and second half. Both teams displayed great pursuit to the ball and both arrive at the point of impact and get the ball carrier to the ground without fail. Again, two pretty evenly matched football teams. I have no idea how this might have played out on a dry field, or if both teams had been fully healthy (Clay Huston injury sure hurts IW here) but the bottom line here is that given the circumstances, Macomb found a way to win. The defensive challenge will be of a different ilk Friday when the Bombers travel to West Hancock and battle a Titan team that is averaging 31 points per game and has a quarterback in Coy Dorothy throwing for 308 yards and 3 touchdowns per game on average. To be honest, I am not sure what we know about the Bombers ability to defend the pass, or how much it has improved over last season (see also the Orion debacle last August) and given the fact that West Hancock just rolled up 270 yards of total offense at the expense of Monmouth-Roseville, this game rates as wildly interesting. Truth be told, the Titans are a play away from being 2-0 right now and with home field advantage this week and difficult scheme to defend, I am thinking we could have some real Game of the Week Fun in Warsaw Friday Night.

7) HANNIBAL (2-0)

Last Week: 36-28 win over Quincy High

This Week: vs Boonville

THE SKINNY: The constraints of my job, unfortunately, dictate that I rarely get to stay to the end of a high school football game. Seems the good people here at KHQA want me on set at 10:20pm to anchor the sportscast rather than to see a game reach its conclusion. Sadly, as the Pirates were completing their ridiculous second half comeback on Friday night, I was drying out in the studio. To be honest, after watching Quincy High so completely dominate Hannibal in every phase of the game in the first half, I was left a bit dumb-founded by the final result. The Blue Devils were the faster, tougher team for the first 24 minutes and looked about ready to put the spurs to the Pirates in the third quarter. Which makes me curious as to what exactly it was that Mark St Clair said at halftime to bring his team back. And how it was that Quincy High lost all of its considerable momentum so quickly in the third quarter. Whatever the root cause, it's hard to overstate the fortitude the Pirates displayed in rescuing this game from the trash heap. You can argue all day as to whether the better team won this game. What you can't debate is that the Pirates resolve. Down 28-6 at half...and you don't allow a single point the rest of the night to a team that was running wild against you? That takes some serious doing. Ditto with the jump start Dalton Powell gave the Pirate Offense. It may have taken him 24 minutes to get the proper diagnoses on the Blue Devil defense and in particular, figuring out their linebackers (Mark St Clair told me pre-game that Jaydon Summy at Middle Linebacker was a true difference maker and looked like an absolute ton on film) but once Hannibal Quarterback Dalton Powell found his rhythm, the Pirates Offense had its electricity back. Look around Tri State Football right now. One of the primary reasons teams like Triopia, South Shelby and Hannibal are so good, and teams like West Hancock are surging is that the guys calling the signals are incredibly intelligent and football savvy. Powell scored a 34 on his ACT and gives the Pirates a field general who is a true pigskin problem solver. And that ability netted him three touchdowns, 6 of 8 passing efficiency in the rain, and ultimately a win in a game where his team looked like DOA at halftime. And so here we are, the Pirates off to the good start at 2-0 that Mark St Clair coveted after a couple of years now of experiencing disappointment out of the gate. And more to the point, this is a team proving to be finishers, having now outscored their first two opponents 50-6 in second halves and overtimes. Hard not to like what Hannibal has pulled out of this really difficult scheduling start and it's hard not to envision this team rolling through with more with a struggling Boonville club coming to America's Hometown on Friday Night. The ceiling here is incredibly high.

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THE NEXT LEVEL

8) BEARDSTOWN (2-0)

Big test looms with Elmwood coming to Tiger Country on Friday. Aaron Elmore's crew found their footing at South Fulton with 28 third quarter points, highlighted by Bubba Patterson's 124 yard rushing effort and Gus Vermillion's continued strong play. The real story here may be the stingy play of the Stripes Defense. Again, we will know a lot more about the Tigers after this Friday's contest.

9) JACKSONVILLE (1-1)

Crimsons get high marks for effort and moxie, very low grades for execution. Dropped passes, inopportune penalties, missed tackles, and turnovers plague what very well could have been a successful victory quest at Chatham Sunday night. Instead the Crimsons are still winless in conference play against the Titans since 1994. Elite talent was in evidence all night. Problem is JAX is still its own worst enemy.

10) ILLINI WEST (1-1)

Tough loss at Macomb on Friday but one in which the Chargers acquitted themselves very well. Defense made great strides from Week One and has some serious bite to it. See also Alex Appel's hit of the year nominee on the Bomber Sidelines on Sensational Seven. Don't envy Princeton the long road trip this week, given the angry Charger team they are likely to find waiting to work out their Macomb hostilities on.

11) QUINCY HIGH (1-1)

Was it lack of Big Stage Experience, adverse officiating, the dreaded "playing not to lose" or all of the above that caused the Blue Devils to surrender a seemingly insurmountable 28-6 halftime lead in America's Hometown. Regardless, Rick Little's crew has no time to ponder what might have been and must move forward to build upon the positives of the first two weeks of the year. And there have been plenty of those...

12) QND (1-1)

The Raiders rebound from that fatal second half against Hannibal to blister a pretty good Alton Marquette squad behind Nick Weiman's Toby Gerhart imitation in the muck. Won't lie, incredibly impressed with the job the Raider Defense did in limiting the potency of the Triple Option, a real testament to the discipline and football IQ of that unit. That isn't an easy task. And one completely opposite of this weekend's trip to Helias. Note the new 1:30pm start time at Adkins Stadium.

13) BROWN COUNTY (1-1)

Give ample credit here to Tony Rhoades. The young North Greene Spartans have made considerable progress since last season, particularly on Defense, where they made BC's offense look moribund on Saturday. The Hornets could never develop a rhythm of any kind with their running game and the passing game is a huge question mark without Tim Woodward. This is not where you want to be headed into Triopia week....

14) WEST HANCOCK (1-1)

Beating the stuffing out of MMA was predictable. Nearly taking out Mon-Rose last week says much more about how far this program has come since last year. Coy Dorothy has already had a hand in nine touchdowns in two weeks and has two wide receivers who have combined for nearly 500 yards in receptions in Austin Hardy and Kolbie Schilson. Suffice it to say, a win over Macomb could be an epic watershed moment.

15) KEOKUK (0-2)

They've played as tough as schedule as anyone in Tri State Football and it has exposed some of the Chiefs soft spots on Defense, clearly. What I can't fathom here is how a team with this much firepower could struggle so mightily to do anything offensively at Mediapolis? Those 14 points? Meaningless Trevor Roth runs in a game that had long been decided. What the heck gives here? Suffice it to say, the Chiefs are in must win territory this week...and pretty much every other week going forward. Time to hit reset...in a hurry.

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The Next Level

16) MACON .

17) FORT MADISON

18) ROUTT

19) RUSHVILLE/INDUSTRY

20) WEST CENTRAL

21) PALMYRA

22) PITTSFIELD-GRIGGSVILLE PERRY

23) BOWLING GREEN

24) MARK TWAIN

25) KNOX COUNTY

26) HIGHLAND

27) LOUISIANA

28) MONROE CITY

29) CENTRAL LEE

30) CLOPTON-ELSBERRY

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WEEK TWO SNAP JUDGEMENTS

1) If we held a WWE Battle Royal Style Elimination Bout between every starting quarterback in Tri State Football, my money is on Mark Twain's Kacey Simmons to be the last man standing. That kid is one tough customer. Nothing flashy or spectacular, but he just runs around like an out of position fullback seeking to level would-be tacklers at the end of every run. Darned fined linebacker too.

2) And while we are on the subject of the Tigers, remind me to check a weather forecast before I make any more fearless predictions. Since he took over at Mark Twain, Matt Hudson has been as tough to beat as any coach in the area when the field turns sloppy. I used to think it was just a function of having Steven Phillips, one of the better "mudders" in memory around. In point of fact, I think it's the Tiger Skipper's play calling. He seems to pare the playbook down to the essentials in bad weather and doggedly runs the plays that work and defies you to stop them, no matter how "vanilla" they may seem. And on that note, a reminder there is rain in the forecast on Friday Night...

3) Either Rushville/Industry's JR Boyd dresses for ball games in a phone booth or his girlfriend is keeping Defensive Stats for the Rockets. Thirty one tackles in a single ball game? That's a good monthly total for some players. And the kid still had the energy to rush for 200 yards and three touchdowns against BPCA? Someone from Farmington might want to bring some Kryptonite with them on Friday. (Correction, the fine folks called from R/I this week to tell me JR's season total of 31 tackles somehow pushed into his game total on MaxPreps, he had 21 tackles last week. Still, that's a pretty darned good work rate)

4) Great quote from Quincy High Nose Guard Clay Finklea on Twitter this weekend vis-à-vis the Hannibal Game: "as much as this loss sucks, and it really sucks. That's one of the games i will remember forever." Amen to that. Hard to imagine what the atmosphere and gate would have been like at Flinn Stadium had Hurricane Isaac not decided to dump two hours of sideways rain on us. Even with the weather issues, Porter Stadium was electric. Those are the nights that embody what high school football is all about. Let's not wait 27 years to do it again.

6) The run of ridiculous, high level talent at Jacksonville won't end with Dalton Keene's pledge to a Division One college sometime this fall (still up in the air as of Saturday, per his pops, by the way) Crimson Junior Tight End Blake Hance is a special player. He had seven catches for 114 yards against 6A Powerhouse Chatham Glenwood and two of those snares came in double coverage. He is just too big and athletic for any high school Defensive Back to cover or any prep Linebacker to run with. Beyond Hance, keep an eye on Massive Sophomore Offensive Tackle Gabe Megginson, who passes the eye test as well as any prospect since Jack Cornell. He's already putting up huge weight room numbers, looks cut straight out of Central Casting for the roll of Collegiate Right Tackle. He's a "skinny" 275 pounds with the frame to easily add another 30-40 pounds. Plus, in Mark Grounds system, the kid is pass blocking roughly 60% of the time...for the next three years. And he's blessed with the type of wing span colleges covet. Suffice it to say, Jacksonville is going to remain a popular recruiting stop for college coaches into the foreseeable future.

7) For the first time since the now infamous "We are the Littles" West Hancock/Brown County battles of the early 2000's, the Tri States will play host to a Battle of Brothers on Friday as Steve Gschwender's Louisiana Bulldogs host first year head coach Jeff Gschwender's Bowling Green Bobcats on Friday

8) Too early to start talking Player of the Year race? In my book, yes. But if you are less rigid than I: advantage Dalton Heubner. At this current rate of production, kid may have the award sewn up my October 1st.

9) Palmyra and West Hancock could both (maybe should both) be 2-0 right now. Pittsfield-Griggsville showed great resolve in the slop this weekend against Princeton and finished. And Rushville/Industry rolled up a mind numbing 580 yards of rushing on the road in Bushnell Friday night. And against any other remotely fairer schedule, Highland might well be 2-0, given how hard the Cougars have played (particularly on Defense) If you are looking for proof of parity in Tri State Football, keep an eye on the progress of these five teams going forward.

10) Your primo "fantasy" plays for Tri State High School Football this week? Routt Tailback Nick Lonergan is about as close to a mortal lock as there is against ISD on Saturday Night. Ditto for Bowling Green's Malik McPike against a Louisiana defense that has had a rough go of it. CSE Tailback Dalton Heubner and spread offense Quarterbacks Coy Dorothy of West Hancock and Bryce Schnitker of Jacksonville remain "must play" stat producers regardless of competition. I'd avoid Zach Abney against a stout Rockridge Run Defense and any Hannibal running back, if only because of the shared workload and the short amount of time the first-teamers may be on the field against Boonville. Sneaky good plays for this week? West Central's Austin Boehs against Calhoun seems a natural for 150 yards and a couple of touchdowns. I also love West Prairie's chances of ending their losing streak this week against a ROWVA squad that can't seem to tackle anyone, which means Austin Moore could put up some numbers. Best advice I can give you, buy low on an angry Keokuk Chief offense to get right at the expense of Centerville at Calvert Stadium.

11) Good Quarterbacks are fast becoming endangered species around here. Week One, Brown County star Tim Woodward went down with a torn ACL, his second in 10 months. This week's victim is BPCA Signal Caller Seth Tolley. Our friend Beau Spencer reports Tolley suffered a broken collarbone and is done for the year. Tolley had been a bright spot for the struggling Spartans, with 40 pass attempts and 2 TD last week against R/I.

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KHQA WEEK THREE FEARLESS PREDICTIONS

Last Week: 16 of 19 (84%)

Season to Date: 28 of 34 (82.3%)

QND 14

HELIAS 27

HARLAN 6

QHS 28

PRINCETON 8

ILLINI WEST 43

WEST HANCOCK 20

MACOMB 38

PGP 14

ROCKRIDGE 35

BROWN COUNTY 12

TRIOPIA 27

ISD 0

ROUTT 40

UNITY 7

CSE 36

LANPHIER 7

JACKSONVILLE 48

ELMWOOD/BRIMFIELD 32

BEARDSTOWN 24

BOWLING GREEN 24

LOUISIANA 17

BOONVILLE 0

HANNIBAL 42

CLARK COUNTY 38

HIGHLAND 14

MONROE CITY 10

MACON 30

SOUTH SHELBY 28

PALMYRA 20

CENTRALIA 28

TWAIN 7

FAYETTE 14

KNOX COUNTY 16

CENTERVILLE 21

KEOKUK 56

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RANDOM MUSINGS

The General is coming to Illinois College in October. Legendary Basketball Coach Bobby Knight is slated to be part of the festivities on October 19th as IC kicks off its Varsity Club with a fundraiser dinner and golf tournament at the Jacksonville Country Club on October 19th. For more information, or to join the Illinois College Varsity Club, visit www.illinoiscollegeathletics.com/varsityclub<http://www.illinoiscollegeathletics.com/varsityclub> or contact the Illinois College Office of Development and Alumni Relations at 217.245.3046.

Quincy Notre Dame Alum Pat Smith is your Missouri Valley Conference Special Teams Player of the Week after a strong junior year debut to help Western Illinois to 23-15 win over Butler last Thursday. Smith converted all three field goals (29, 19, 29 yards), went 2-for-2 on extra points, averaged 43.7 yards on three punts, and put three of his six kickoffs into the end zone. Pat was also an Honorable Mention selection for the College Football Performer Weekly Awards as well.

Illinois College Tailback Cecil Brimmage earn Midwest Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors after leading the Blueboys to a season opening 51-28 win over Hanover. Brimmage shattered Phil Pohlman's 29 year old school record for single game rushing yards by tallying 341 yards on 28 carries and three touchdowns. Brimmage's outing ranks as the third-highest single-game rushing total in Midwest Conference history. I am guessing that effort would have gotten more play had Sam Durley and his NCAA record 736 passing yards at Eureka College not stolen so much of the national spotlight.

Tri-State Native Jody Ford lost his College Coaching Debut at Central Methodist 34-14 to #5 Evangel on Saturday.

Monroe City native Joe Chinn made four tackles for Quincy University in his Hawk debut on Friday night at Northwoods, but the Hawks fell behind early and dropped a 54-31 decision to spoil Tom Pajic's coaching debut.

Rochester Alum and noted QND tormentor Wes Lunt made his first career start at Oklahoma State as a true freshman on Saturday. And our guy Zach Kerker from 1450 AM in Springfield road tripped it to Stillwater for all the football fun. If you have four minutes, check out this great story the guys turned from their travels: http://channel1450.com/Road-Trip-to-Stillwater-Wes-Lunt-s-1st-OSU-Game/14151396

It's easy to be football centric this time of the year but in terms of pure matchup excitement, it's time to recognize that volleyball provides the single most compelling game of this week with the undefeated Quincy High Blue Devils (8-0) traveling to Jacksonville to tangle with an undefeated Crimson squad (3-0) that is coming off a huge red letter win over Springfield. The marquee attraction here will most certainly be about the frontline hitters with Crimson Junior Sensation Jaelyn Keene (coming off a 14 kill effort Tuesday) going heads-up with Monica Bumbry and Alex Dietrich. The subtler story line here will be the chess match that plays out between two of the region's elite setters in Bentley Stewart and India Green, who is coming off a MVP Performance at the Early Bird Classic. Look for highlights here Thursday at 10pm.

Speaking of emerging volleyball forces, Illini West ran the table this week at the Lady Suns Classic going a perfect 5-0 to take the title at Southeastern, the first such championship for the program. Holly McDowell was named Tournament MVP for her efforts in the middle, while Holly Jones made the All Tournament Team as well. Maddie Owak has quite a resurgence brewing here. By the way, the rest of the Suns Classic All Tourney Team included Erin Flesner and Massie Musick of Central, Harlee Flesner and Kristin Loos of Payson, Jill Harris of Beardstown, Meredith Hyer at Liberty, Brooklyn Moore at Unity, Rachel Motley at Western, Shelli Ormand at Liberty and Bethany Tindall and Kara Twaddell - Southeastern.

We should get out best gauge yet on the undefeated West Prairie Cyclone Volleyball program when Teri Paul's crew treks to Mendon on Monday night.

Record setting performance on Tuesday from Macomb Golfer Hailea Hadsall, who fired a program low 35 in the Bombers win at Illini West. Haliea actually broke a share of her own record in doing so as she fired a low market tying 37 back in late August. Now, she owns the mark outright.

Trying to back track here but has Quincy High's Cory Boots been over par in any round in the last two weeks? And he's your reputed "number two?" Must be good to be Doug Bruner these days...

Surprise team championship on Thursday for the Illini West Girls Cross Country team, which beat out QND at Rushville/Industry for the team title. Why were the Chargers so far off everybody's radar? Because this group is made up largely of Fresh/Sophs...and according to our guy Andy Edgar at QND, very good ones. Just something to keep an eye on going forward.

The Courtship of Kenny Lesley has begun. Elsberry Basketball Coach Ryan Parker tweeted out this week that his school would entertain its first Division One Scouting visit next week, though he did not say what school was coming to see the Indians lithe Sophomore Big Man in action. But if you had any doubts why we pushed so hard to get Elsberry into the mix for this February for the KHQA SUBWAY Superfan Shootout (and into a marquee dual with West Hancock and POY Frontrunner Paxton Harmon) the cat is out of the bag. Lesley's combination of size at 6'7" (and reputedly still growing) and athleticism is going to keep him on radar for a long time to come.

It becomes very easy for we in the television business to justify long road trips to cover teams when said teams so consistently deliver us unfailingly outstanding highlights. We are greedy that way. And yes I am looking at you Knox County Softball. Is this team averaging a Home Run a night? Goodness, talk about shooting fish in a barrel.