Jefferson County Rivals Festus and DeSoto Meet in 1st Round of District Playoffs at Tigers Stadium

(FESTUS) The 1st round of the Class 4 District 1 football playoffs takes place Friday night on KJFF with 6th-seeded DeSoto traveling to Festus to take on the 3-seed Tigers.

It’s a rematch from Week 5 between these schools when the Tigers held off the Dragons 28-18. DeSoto enters this game at 5-4 and with a defense that has improved considerably the last three games, holding opponents to just 25 points combined. Head coach Chris Johnson says he went back to basics to help the team turn things around.

Despite the strong defense, DeSoto’s mistakes on the offensive side of the football have held them back. In order for them to beat Festus this time around, coach Johnson says they have to be able to finish drives.

Like DeSoto, Festus is also 5-4, but finished the season with 6 more points than the Dragons and also owned the head-to-head tiebreaker, hence the higher seed. With the playoffs being a win-or-go-home situation, Tigers head coach Russ Schmidt talked to his players about mental preparation.

The Dragons like to throw the ball anywhere between 20 and 40 times a game with junior QB Briar Fischer. Coach Schmidt has complimented Fischer on his quick-throw ability and his accuracy and knows that the DeSoto offense is an experienced group that will be tough to deal with.