North County Hosts #3 Hannibal In Class 4 State Semifinal Saturday Afternoon On J98

(Bonne Terre) The 12-1 North County Raiders host the 12-0 Hannibal Pirates in the Class 4 State Semifinal Saturday afternoon.

North County has dominated their schedule for the most part. Their only loss was to Hillsboro in week four and the Raiders beat Festus by six a couple weeks later but every other win has been by at least 20 points.

Head coach Brian Jones says his team has gotten this far by playing their brand of football.

Running the ball is exactly what North County does well.

The Raiders average nearly 300 yards a game on the ground led by junior running back Jobe Smith who has over 1,800 of those yards and 27 touchdowns. Senior quarterback Nolan Reed has 900 rushing yards to go with 20 touchdowns.

Despite all the success North County has had, they were never ranked in the top 10 in the state or received top 10 votes. Jones even caught some of our Cole’s Tractor and Equipment Football Roundtables during the season and had some thoughts.

North County is the last team standing in the listening area and deservedly so. But going back to the summer, even Jones wasn’t sure what to expect from his team.