Many eyes in southwest Missouri will be focused on central Missouri, as four Ozarks-area teams will be looking to bring home state championship trophies from Columbia.
Marionville, Lamar, Seneca, and Republic will compete Friday and Saturday at the State Football Championships.
For Marionville, they are looking for the program’s second state championship after winning it all in 2003.
It’s the Comets first trip to state since 2006. They will take on North Platte on 3:00 p.m. Friday afternoon in Class 1.
Lamar is all too familiar with the state title game, with 13 championships to its credit, the latest coming in 2020.
The Tigers have fallen short the past two seasons, finishing second in 2021 and ’22.
They will battle state-power Valle Catholic for the Class 2 championship Saturday at 3:00 p.m. at Faurot Field.
In Class 3, the undefeated Seneca Indians battled Central (Park Hills) for the state championship started at 11 a.m. this morning.
It was a back-and-forth affair that saw the Indians put together a tremendous comeback effort.
The comeback fell short, however, as a fumble on 4th and 1 and a late touchdown saw Seneca fall 48-34.
In Class 5, the Republic Tigers are enjoying there first-ever trip to the State Championship game with upset wins over Lebanon, Helias Catholic, and Webb City getting them to Columbia.
They’ll need a fourth to bring home the title, as they’ll face powerhouse Cardinal Ritter.
The Lions are the defending Class 3 State Champions and have won 27 straight games.
Republic plays Friday night at 7:00 p.m.
Four teams at state is the most the Ozarks has seen since the 2019 season.