WRIGHT CITY - South Callaway Bulldogs head coach Zack Hess had to suppress the conversation, exciting as it was, when it began to circulate among his assistants.
South Callaway had not quite concluded a 41-21 Eastern Missouri Conference victory over the Wright City Wildcats on Friday night when news arrived that the North Callaway Thunderbirds had lost their EMO home game to Mark Twain 24-22.
When senior quarterback Peyton Leeper took a knee at Wright City's 10-yard line to run the clock out, the Bulldogs finally had permission to celebrate. South Callaway's win - coupled with North Callaway's second straight conference loss - clinched the EMO championship for the Bulldogs.
South Callaway (7-1, 6-0 EMO) - which owns a seven-game winning streak - secured its first conference championship since 2016 and its third in five seasons.
"Some of the other coaches were kind of talking about it during the game and that's the wrong time to do it," Hess said. "Fortunately, the players had no idea, so the coaches were kind of keeping an eye on it, but it didn't matter to us because we had to play better than we did tonight.
"Ultimately, we're really excited that we were the EMO champs, and I know the players are really excited about that. At the same time, we don't want that to diminish the exciting game that is coming up next week."
Next Friday night's annual Callaway Cup showdown between the Bulldogs and Thunderbirds in Mokane did lose a little bit of its shine with the title factor being removed from the equation. Still, district seeds will be at stake when the Callaway rivals clash.
The two teams swapped spots in the Class 2, District 5 standings after Friday night's outcomes, with South Callaway moving up to the No. 2 seed with 44.38 points. North Callaway (6-2, 4-2 EMO) slipped to the No. 3 seed with 41.2 points.
"I'd almost rather they had not lost," Hess said. "I know (head) coach (Kevin) O'Neal is going to have those guys pumped up and ready to go. They have a bad taste in their mouth right now and so it's even more of a challenge for us.
"We're excited about it, but it should be a lot of fun. There's still a lot on the line. For us, we don't want it to define our season. We know it's a big game and we'll be ready, and whatever happens, happens."
South Callaway and Wright City appeared to be well on their way to a shootout Friday night when they combined for 41 points in a wild first quarter. The Bulldogs struck quickly, scoring on the game's opening possession on Leeper's 7-yard touchdown run with 10 minutes, 13 seconds remaining.
Wright City countered on its first series when junior wide receiver Will Janowski took a screen pass from freshman quarterback Hayden Beck and darted 67 yards down the Wildcats' sideline for a touchdown. Wright City (2-6, 1-5) missed the extra point, leaving South Callaway with a 7-6 edge at the 7:20 mark.
The Bulldogs promptly extended their lead just 12 seconds later when junior running back Devin Borghardt returned the ensuing kickoff 78 yards for a score. South Callaway then made it 21-6 on a Leeper screen pass to senior running back Bradyn Belcher that went for a 51-yard touchdown with 1:58 to go.
The Wildcats came right back with almost a duplicate of their first score, this one occurring along the Bulldogs' sideline. Janowski gathered in another screen pass from Beck and navigated his way 71 yards to the end zone at the 1:37 mark.
The Bulldogs answered instantly when Belcher topped off a fast four-play, 52-yard drive on a 3-yard touchdown run with :13.8 left, putting South Callaway up 27-14. Wright City blocked senior kicker Tyklen Salmons' extra-point attempt and suddenly everything went dark as all the lights at the stadium went out.
Play resumed after about a 25-minute delay and the two teams slogged their way through a scoreless second quarter. Senior running back Wyatt Hager gave the Bulldogs a three-score lead on a 1-yard touchdown run with 5:51 to go in the third quarter.
Junior linebacker Nick Mealy then put South Callaway up 41-14 when he recovered a blocked punt in the end zone for a touchdown with 11:53 remaining in the game.
The Wildcats added their final score on a Beck 12-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Jeremy Cundiff with 3:47 to play.
"When we needed energy and needed some excitement, we had some guys make some plays," Hess said.
Ryan Boland can be reached at (573) 826-2422, or on Twitter @FultonSunSports.