The St. Louis U. High football seniors leave the field with their heads high after a 2-3 season. The offense took a more passing-centric approach while the defense focused on blitizing for the majority of their games. The seniors look towards their own future football careers and SLUH’s future football program with hope that the next season will be Covid-free. And the next generation of Jr. Bill football is ready to begin anew, filling the shoes of the talented senior class.

The SLUH football team finished its shortened season by beating Vianney and winning due to a forfeit against Kirkwood. They lost to St. Mary’s, De Smet, and then Lindbergh in the District Semifinals. 

On offense, the team stuck to the air, focusing on their talented wide receivers to move the ball downfield. While this worked at times, sometimes the passing game just couldn’t get enough forward momentum during drives, forcing SLUH to run the ball. 

“I think the passing offense worked well this season,” said Brooks. “It had its ups and downs, but with the players we have it should be a big part of our team in the coming year.”

Junior Chris Brooks stood out amongst the offense with 400 yards, 6 touchdowns, and 20 receptions in four games. The junior came back from a gruesome season-ending injury last year and performed as well as any receiver could have been asked.

“This season has been everything I could really ask for,” said Brooks. “I was happy to finally be able to play. It’s something I’ve been looking forward to doing these last two years and finally doing it felt so great. I’m just hoping next year it’ll last longer.”

Another standout on the offense was junior Derick Backer. Backer had 106 rushing yards in three games and helped develop SLUH’s backfield in a split carry situation with senior Kyle Dulick, who had the other half of the team’s yards on the ground. 

Freshman Ryan Wingo finished the season with two touchdowns and 170 receiving yards. The receiver showed great talent on the field and should be an asset for the team in years to come. Senior Luke Ratterman capped off his senior season with three touchdowns and 212 receiving yards, a solid season in the short four-game window. 

Junior quarterback Luke Johnston also had an impressive season. Johnston threw for nearly 1,000 yards (915) and 11 touchdowns and had only three interceptions. The combo assault between Johnston and Brooks is also nothing to scoff at. The pair had six touchdowns over the course of four games.

“Me and Chris have good chemistry because we threw together all offseason,” said Johnston. “We connected the most because I was really comfortable with him and vice versa.”

The Jr. Bills passing offense has its flaws, but ultimately has promise for the next season if the team can get the ball in the hands of receivers more often. With Johnston’s arm and the talent in the receiver corps, the Jr. Bills have an opportunity to make next season one of the best.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Jr. Bills dominated. With 12 sacks over the season, the blitzing defense worked out well for SLUH. The three standouts on the defensive side of the ball were junior Kyland Watson-Brown, senior Logan Newman and senior Dan O’Keefe, who each recorded three sacks. Newman also had eight tackles for a loss, Watson-Brown had four, and O’Keefe had six. Overall the team had 31 tackles for a loss. Junior Philp Bone and senior Courtney Hughes each had one interception, putting them in the spotlight for SLUH.

Junior Dontavion Sullivan led the Jr. Bill’s defense in tackles with 47, followed by Newman with 31.
The defense worked well this season and the blitzing plan held up against several tough offenses. Even with the absence of some key starters, the SLUH defense still has strength in all positions.

With the end of a season comes the departure of the much-loved seniors. This season was a strange one, and Covid it made it difficult for colleges to scout out future prospects. With little to go on from this season, scouts are scrambling for something to assess a player's capabilities. 

The scouts may rely on filming from previous years to make a decision, but if that decision comes to pass they will lose the insight to the growth the player had over the summer. Covid also caused a lot of adaptability that could go unseen to college scouts along with the countless hours of work put in over the summer.

“I definitely have had some issues with recruiting because most colleges were hoping to see my last year to see the growth I have had,” said senior Zack Stevenson. “Me being offered was contingent on my play in my senior year so even though I got some good film, it isn’t enough to compare to my last year.”
    
“As the season progresses so do you as a player,” said senior Kyle Dulick. “It can hurt just going into four games as is and not progressing as much as you could have.”

Some players are confident that scouts will find a way and that they will see what they need to so they can make an informed decision. While there's a shortage of film and opportunities to be noticed, there is still some film available and several players took advantage of the few opportunities.

“I think it was definitely harder for scouts to come to games during the season with the restrictions, and there was definitely less film for coaches to review since fewer games were played,” said senior Jack McClleland. “I think overall coaches were able to see what they needed to see even with the shortened season. If you're a good football player, that will become clear no matter how many games you're able to play as long as you make the most of your opportunities.”

Scouts also had restrictions placed on their attendance to games due to Covid. Along with SLUH’s personal attendance rules, scouts also had to abide by specific rules placed on them. 

“Recruiters had dead period extensions forced on them, and Covid was not too friendly with cancellation,” said senior Dan O’Keefe.

While there is less film available, there is still light at the end of this tunnel. Fortunately, scouts have had several other options and, while slower, are still able to visit the campus and talk with coaches about players.

“Actually recruiting isn’t as bad as one would think. Our guys are being recruited virtually,” said head coach Mike Jones. “We have had 3-4 recruiters come by during the pandemic. It is slower but the recruiting process of on campus visits usually begins this week.”

The seniors will leave the Jr. Bill’s field and will be remembered as the class that held strong and together through the pandemic. 

“Our seniors took on a leadership role, in extremely trying times. The ability to lead is drastically trying at times,” said Jones.