A look at Friday’s matchup as the Houston Tigers (0-0) face the Sarcoxie Bears (0-0):
{{tncms-inline alignment=”right” content=”<p>Houston @ Sarcoxie</p> <p>St. James @ Salem</p> <p>Cabool @ Doniphan</p> <p>Hayti @ Thayer</p> <p>Ava @ Buffalo</p> <p>Willow Springs @ Strafford</p> <p>Fair Grove @ Mountain Grove</p> <p>Richmond @ Liberty</p>” id=”75e01a32-0f6a-400d-b511-d311f517face” style-type=”bio” title=”TONIGHT’S SCA GAMES” type=”relcontent” width=”half”}}
ABOUT SARCOXIE: The drive to the high school in western Missouri is 2 hours, 17 minutes according to Mapquest. The town, which is 144 miles from Houston, is 22 miles east of Joplin on Interstate 44. …The Bears’ football stadium features an astroturf field. Sarcoxie runs triple option from double wing set. …Sarcoxie is a member of the new Southwest Conference that features Diamond, Lockwood, Miller, Pierce City, Ash Grove, Marionville and Pleasant Hope. …The Bears moved up from Class 1 to Class 2 in the latest reclassification released last week by the Missouri State High School Activities Association.
TIGERS’ OFFENSIVE STARTERS: QB – Dakota Burchett; RB – Paydon Dixon; FB – Aiden Sawyer; WR – Daniel Hutcheson; TE – CJ Lee; LT – Chris Cichon; LG – Dawson Koch; C – Brecken Adey; RG – Trevor Mitchell; RT – Devin Wallader; WR – Connor Wilson.
TIGERS’ DEFENSIVE STARTERS: DT – Aiden Sawyer; NG – Chris Cichon; DT – Trevor Mitchell; LB – Triten Lee; LB – CJ Lee; LB – Devin Wallander; LB – Daniel Hutcheson; LB – Chance Mitchell; CB – Connor Wilson; CB – Dakota Burchett; S – Paydon Dixon.
HHS OPENERS: Houston’s last season-opening win was 2015 (coach Eric Sloan’s first year) at Hollister. HHS won 16-7. The last two years were losses to Ash Grove (35-0 in 2016 and 36-14 in 2017). …Before the 2015 win, Houston hadn’t won its first game since a 12-0 win in 2008 at Cabool under coach Chris Edwards. That year’s 6-5 mark was the program’s last winning season. The Tigers started 3-0 (also beat Ash Grove 40-0 and Ava 27-25).
TIGERS’ NEW DISTRICT: Houston’s district was slightly shaken up last week as MSHSAA added Fair Grove and Forsyth to Class 2 District 3. The six other schools – Houston, Ava, Liberty, Mountain Grove, Strafford and Willow Springs – remained the same. Cuba moved to District 2 and Diamond dropped to Class 1 District 3.
WATCH THE GAME LIVE: The entire HHS football season, beginning with Friday’s season opener at Sarcoxie, will be streamed online at www.houstonherald.com/live. The pregame show begins at 6:45 p.m. featuring interviews with head coach Eric Sloan and assistant coach Boulder McKinney.
DOWNLOAD THE APP: The Herald Live is available this year on Roku, Amazon Fire and Android TV. Here are the steps:
1. Search for “Watch CityLinkTV” in the app store.
2. After finding app, click “add channel” or “install.”
3. Go back to home screen and open CityLink TV.
4. Search for the “Houston Herald”
Houston @ Sarcoxie
St. James @ Salem
Cabool @ Doniphan
Hayti @ Thayer
Ava @ Buffalo
Willow Springs @ Strafford
Fair Grove @ Mountain Grove
Richmond @ Liberty