Health & Fitness
Familiar Foes Kirkwood and Hazelwood East Set to Meet in the Playoffs
Top-Ranked Kirkwood will take on Hazelwood East at 7:00pm on Wednesday, October 31 at Kirkwood High School. The winner will face Webster or McCluer on Monday, November 5.
The Kirkwood Pioneers (8-0) will take on the Hazelwood East Spartans at 7:00pm on Halloween night (Wednesday, October 31) at Kirkwood High School. The game is a rematch of the highly contested 32-22 comeback Kirkwood win at East St. Louis High School earlier this season. Kirkwood also beat Hazelwood East 41-20 in the semifinal round of last season's playoffs.
In the September 2 matchup earlier this season, Hazelwood East jumped out to a 22-6 halftime lead by holding the Pioneer offense to 78 yards in the first half. Kirkwood answered with 26 unanswered points and almost 200 yards of offense in the second half. QB Jordan Bishop lead the Pioneers in the comeback win with five touchdowns (2 passing & 3 rushing).
Kirkwood had a first round by in the playoffs while the Spartans beat McCluer North 14-7. On paper, Hazelwood East has appeared to play a tougher schedule, but is only 1-4 against teams with winning records. Their offense skews heavily towards their rushing attack which has topped 400 yards twice this year. The Spartans average 43 rushes per game compared to less than 13 passes.
Key Spartan Players:
- Running Backs #1 Ahmad Huddleston (757 yards & 10 TDs), #22 Dallas Vaughn (511 yards & 5 TDs), #33 Jimmy Jones (388 yards & 6 TDs)
- LB Nicholas Turner (#66) - 81 total tackles, 4 sacks & 3 fumble recoveries
- DB Sean Radford (#4) - 9 sacks
Team Comparison Kirkwood Hazelwood East** Points Scored (per game) 41.1 27.1 Points Against (per game) 11.5 16.9 Yards Offense (per game) 381.1 309.8 Rushing Offense (per game) 226.1 230.6 Passing Offense (per game) 155 79.2 Interceptions (total) 9 12 Fumble Recoveries (total) 3 10 Sacks (total) 20 25 Turnover Differential (total) +5 +5 **Hazelwood East has not reported stats for their game vs. McCluer
Radio Information: The game will be broadcast by the High School Sports Caravan on 590AM. The broadcast can also be listened to online here. The pre-game show will be live from outside the stadium starting at 6:00pm.
Online Video Telecast Information: FoxSportsMidwest.com Prep Zone is streaming a live telecast of the game. The broadcast and video highlights can be watched here.
Playoff Bracket: The winner will face the Webster or McCluer on Monday, November 5. A full playoff bracket can be viewed on MSHSAA.org
For in-game updates, follow @KirkwoodFB on Twitter or like Kirkwood Football on Facebook.
After the game, the scoring summary and standout performances will be posted here on Kirkwood Patch!