Valle Catholic is one of the most storied programs in Missouri High School football with 15 state championships, one behind Webb City. This gives the school plenty of opportunities for anniversary celebrations.
One of those will come this weekend when the Warriors recognize the five-peat State Champs from 1988 to 1992.
This season, Valle Catholic is steamrolling its way to the top seed in Class 3, District 1 after key wins over Park Hills Central and Ste Genevieve the past two weeks.
The Warriors haven’t captured a Class 3 District Title the past two years since moving up after a Class 1 State Championship in 2019.
Valle will host Vianney this weekend, the second Class 6, District 1 opponent on its schedule. The Warriors opened the season with a victory over Seckman. That’s the Jaguars only loss of the season.
Vianney once was a perennial playoff contender, but has fallen on tough times recently.
The Golden Griffins are 0-7 this season with their closest loss being 24 points.
It’s a remarkable drop-off for a program that has won just three of its last 33 games since capturing the Class 5 State Championship in 2018. Vianney also won the 2016 Class 5 title.
The school plays in the rugged Metro Catholic Conference that includes CBC, De Smet, SLUH and Chaminade.
This season the youthful Golden Griffins have scored just 11 offensive touchdowns through seven games. It’s a team that features just seven Seniors.
Junior quarterback Cole Ludwig leads the offense with 639 yards passing. But he has just two touchdown passes and six interceptions. Senior Kel Battle is the leading receiver with 367 yards and two of the team’s three passing scores. Senior Jack Burke leads the modest rushing attack with three touchdowns.
Defensively, Tucker Hunsaker, a Junior, leads the team with 32 total tackles and four behind the line of scrimmage.
Meanwhile, Valle seems to score points at will having scored 59 or more points in five of the first seven games.
Running back Bryce Giesler is just 42 yards away from one thousand on the season. That’s in just 76 carries, an impressive 12.6 yards per carry. He also has 14 rushing touchdowns.
Quarterback Chase Fallert surpassed one thousand yards passing last week and has 15 TD passes. The trio of Sam Drury, Grant Fallert and Giesler have combined to catch 52 passes for 884 yards and 13 touchdowns.
The defense also has plenty of playmakers led by the fearsome foursome of Carson Tucker, Isaac Viox, Tim Okenfuss and Giesler. They’ve combined for 180 tackles, 59 of those for loss and 16 sacks. Tucker has also scored touchdowns on two interceptions and one fumble recovery.
Valle and Vianney will battle it out at Father John Dempsey Field in Ste. Genevieve on Saturday at 1 p.m. and again the festivities include the recognition of the five-peat State Champs from 1988 to 1992.
