Sports

 

 

Friday, October 18, 2002

By Douglas Hamm
Pantagraph staff

St. Louis U High-BHS

The Big 12 West Division champion Purple Raiders (7-0, 4-0), ranked No. 3 in Class 6A, will face a bit of an unknown in University High (2-4). The all-male school has an enrollment of 1,000 and is a member of the Metro Blue Catholic Conference.

Senior quarterback Dossie Jennings is a returning starter for the Junior Billikens, and junior Brent Harvey is the team's leading rusher. Three of the team's losses have come by a total of 17 points.

"We exchanged films by mail, and we've had a good week to analyze it and get ready for them," said BHS coach Rigo Schmelzer. "They were 10-0 last year which was why we picked them up. They are a wide-open team, they have some good size and they full platoon.

"Their quarterback is quick with a pretty good throwing arm, and he's supposedly being looked at (by college scouts). They play in a much better conference game in and game out than ours, and they're used to being in games and being competitive. Our players will have to adjust to stuff we maybe don't typically see in our conference."

The Raiders ran their regular-season winning streak to 32 games against Eisenhower behind a potent attack and an unforgiving defense. Senior quarterback Andre Brown threw 40-yard TD passes Rodney Hursey and Brandon Hughes on BHS' first two play from scrimmage. Eisenhower was held to 113 total yards.

"It's been a long time since we've had what could be called a contest," Schmelzer said. "It will be interesting to see how our kids respond to the idea maybe they have to play four quarters."