This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

MRH Prepares for Ste. Genevieve's Passing Game

The school's quarterback is a three-year starter who can throw the long ball. The Maplewood Richmond Heights football team will travel south for the event.

football will travel south on Friday for the second time in two weeks in the Blue Devils' game against Ste. Genevieve (2-1).

(Keep updated with real-time stats from the game on our new Blue Devils Facebook page: www.facebook.com/MRHBlueDevils. We'll have reaction and photos from the game on Friday and Saturday too.)

The Ste. Genevieve Dragons lost to Dexter 6-28, then beat no. 1 ranked and class 1 state champion Valle Catholic 38-27, and last week defeated Fredericktown 46-20.

The preseason talk was that either MRH or Ste. Genevieve would win the conference title, and MRH coach Brandon Gregory said that after watching film of the Dragons in action, MRH had better be ready to defend against the pass.

“They run a spread offense, similar to us. They run out of it, throw out of it as well,” he said. “They have a real nice quarterback. He’s got some good receivers to get the ball to. Our DBs (defensive backs) are going to have a big challenge at hand, this week.”

Brendan Weiler is that quarterback. Here's a YouTube video of Weiler in action.

“He’s a three-year starter,” Ste. Genevieve coach Bob Stolzer said. “He returns for his senior season, and so far he’s been doing pretty well throwing the ball.”

Stolzer said they didn’t play very well in the Dragons' first game, plus they had some injuries.

He said their kids rose to the occasion to defeat Valle Catholic. “It’s a private school in our community,” he said. “It’s always a big game, and we were able to come out on top."

The Dragons continued to improve in game three and scored big against Fredericktown. “We gave up a few big plays in that game, but that’s one thing we’re trying to eliminate,” he said.

Stolzer has obviously seen film of the Blue Devils. “We’re going to have to really kick it up a couple of notches this week to be able to defend Maplewood,” he said. “Maplewood is a very explosive offense. They’re not a one-dimensional team.”

Find out what's happening in Clayton-Richmond Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Freshman running back Elijah Keely, with six touchdowns, is the Devil’s leading scorer going into the game. He's tallied 244 yards in 26 carries. Junior quarterback Kahlid Hagens has completed 34 passes in 58 attempts for 510 yards. He's second in MRH rushing with 202 yards in 29 carries. On defense, senior Kashon Hagens and junior Wes Williams each have 18 tackles.

Kicker/soccer player senior John Barron will be able to make it to the game. He had a 30-yard field goal against .

Find out what's happening in Clayton-Richmond Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

MRH players have heard Gregory's booming voice plenty during practices this week.

"We try and teach our kids when you have good practices you have good games," Gregory said. "We’re going to treat each practice this week like it’s’ a game and hopefully that intensity stays together for us on Friday night against Ste. Gen."

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Clayton-Richmond Heights