OSAGE BEACH, Mo. - Things didn't go well when the St. James Tigers took on the top seed in Missouri Class 3 District 3 earlier this season.
St. James will see if it goes any better against the No. 2 seed tonight.
In first round play of Class 3 District 3, seventh-seeded St. James travels to second-seeded School of the Osage tonight. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
The Osage Indians, ranked No. 8 in this week's Missouri Media Class 3 state poll, comes in 8-1 after blasting California 40-19 last week in their Tri-County Conference finale. St. James is 4-5 after its second-straight victory last week, a 56-12 thrashing of Pacific in its final Four Rivers Conference outing.
The Osage/St. James winner will take on the winner of third-seeded Springfield Catholic/sixth-seeded Eldon next week in district semifinal action. The Class 3 District 3 championship game is scheduled for Nov. 4 at the location of the highest seed.
Unbeaten Owensville, a Four Rivers Conference rival of St. James, is the district's top-seeded team. Earlier this fall St. James was shut out by Owensville 41-0 in the midst of a five-game Tiger losing streak, which was sandwiched between two wins to start the campaign and a pair of victories to close out the regular season.
"For a seventh-seed matchup they're a good team," Osage coach Devin Johnson said of St. James. "They have played very well at the end of the year. It's a game where we've got to be at our best."
Like Osage in the Tri-County, St. James gets battle-tested coming out of the Four Rivers.
As the second-smallest school in the league playing football, St. James has had just four winning seasons in program history. But the Tigers were close to having a winning regular-season mark this year, having lost a couple of one-TD decisions, including a 20-14 overtime setback to Sullivan.
"We've had a couple of games that could have gone either way; we could easily be 6-3," said St. James coach Greg Harlan. "Our biggest thing going into this season was we knew we had inexperience and was hoping to see improvement as the season progressed, and we have. We've had a couple of receivers who have stepped up and our running back is on pace to rush for 1,000 yards."
The Tigers can be explosive, averaging 25.4 points per game.
The trigger is junior quarterback Ryan Harlan, the coach's son.
Ryan Harlan has completed 111-of-197 passes for 1,423 yards with three interceptions and 10 touchdowns. He is a dual threat, having rushed for 522 yards on 109 carries and seven touchdowns.
Harlan has several solid receivers to throw to, including junior wideout Cade Snitker (35 receptions, 361 yards); junior wideout Carter Keeney (25 receptions, 320 yards, five touchdowns); junior slotback Gunnar Seams (21 receptions, 345 yards), and senior running back Dawson Lynch (19 receptions, 300 yards).
Dawson has rushed for 933 yards on 126 carries and 11 touchdowns. Dawson has 13 total TDs and is also the team's top kickoff returner, averaging 27.8 yards.
Junior lineman Drake Oritz paces the Tiger defense with 85 tackles (47 solo) while junior linebacker Colton Morris has 62 tackles (52 solo); Lynch, a defensive back, 49 (42 solo); junior defensive back Ty Lewis 48 (28 solo); junior linebacker Zach Koons 45 (28 solo), and junior lineman Cole Petty 45 (27 solo).
"We're playing very competitively right now," Greg Harlan said. "If we were ever going to sneak up on somebody and knock them off it would be now. That will be determined (tonight)."
"(Ryan Harlan) is a good athlete and does a good job extending plays with his legs," Johnson said. "Having him is like having two running backs lined up in the backfield, and he does a good job of understanding football. And (Lynch) is a very explosive player; very fast.
"Defensively they run a three-man front and are aggressive. They have two very good inside linebackers and do a good job in the secondary in keeping everything in front of them."
St. James will have to combat a very balanced Osage offense that is averaging 34.1 points per game.
Junior quarterback Zach Wheeler has completed 109-of-187 passes for 1,563 yards, seven interceptions and 17 touchdowns while rushing for 110 yards and four touchdowns.
He has a pair of rangy wideouts to throw to in senior Jason Edwards (34 receptions, 510 yards, seven touchdowns) and junior Drake Gaines (29 receptions, 443 yards, four touchdowns). Also for the Indians junior tight end James McCann has 16 catches for 242 yards and sophomore wideout Dalton Depee has 10 catches for 177 yards and four touchdowns.
Junior running back Nick Riley paces Osage in rushing with 735 yards on 87 carries while senior Dylan Riley has 280 yards on 59 carries and eight touchdowns.
The Osage defense has been stingy, allowing just 17.1 points. However, the Indians lost their third player to an ACL tear of the knee in standout linebacker Max Drier, who has 32 solo tackles, including 14 for losses and three sacks this fall.
Leading the Indian defense in tackles is junior linebacker Austin Magnuson with 102 (46 solo), including nine for losses. Also, Dylan Riley, a linebacker, has 81 tackles (31 solo); senior defensive back Max Maples 80 (38 solo), and Depee, a linebacker, 76 (43 solo), including seven for losses.
As a team, Osage has intercepted a whopping 16 passes, including five by junior defensive back Ian Riley and three by Edwards, a linebacker.
"Osage is very comparable to the best teams in our conference," Harlan said. "They're very aggressive offensively and defensively, particularly their linemen. They have good athletes at the skill positions and are a very well-rounded team. Statistically they are about even as far as run and pass, which affects what you feel you can call defensively."
"It seems like every week we've scrapped and fought to be 8-1," Johnson said. "Drier tore his ACL and is out and a couple of other kids are questionable. We've just got to do what we do best; try to chunk away yards."
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