Kickapoo player picks Missouri State

Kickapoo (Springfield) forward Christian Kirk lifted a heavy burden off of his shoulders Wednesday, committing to play basketball at Missouri State beginning in 2011-12. Now he is ready for a little family time.

Kirk played for Kickapoo as a freshman before moving to the St. Louis area. During his sophomore and junior seasons, Kirk competed for St. Charles West.

Now, due to the health of his father, Kirk has moved back to Springfield and will compete for the Chiefs his senior season as long as the Missouri State High School Activities Association gives him the go-ahead to do so.

"I feel it's my duty to be there for my dad and support him like he's always supported me,” Kirk told the Springfield-News Leader. "I've been thinking about my family and about what I wanted to do. The last couple of days, I came firmly to a decision I want to go to Missouri State."

Kirk chose the Bears over Iowa, Southern Illinois, Loyola (Chicago), Murray State, St. Louis University and Creighton.

Once Kirk signs a letter of intent to play at Missouri State, the 6-foot-7, 215-pound forward will be following in the footsteps of his sister Hannah, who played for the Bears in the 1990s. Kirk's brother Kyle played at MSU as a freshman before transferring to Southwestern Illinois Junior College.

While playing for St. Charles West, Kirk averaged 16.3 points per outing in 56 contests, and 7.2 rebounds. A year ago, he poured in 17.9 points a game and ripped down 8.8 rebounds.

Kirk is known to have great instincts and a built in toughness. He is long and runs the floor well with a soft touch around the basket. The 2009-10 first team All-Gateway North forward shot 59.7-percent (377 of 631) from the field with St. Charles West, and blocked a total of 73 shots collectively in two seasons there.

A LOT OF AIR
Cameron Coffman and his Raymore-Peculiar (Peculiar) teammates evened the Panthers' season record at 1-1 last weekend with a thrilling 53-49 win against Lee's Summit and Missouri quarterback recruit Corbin Berkstresser. Coffman out-dueled Berkstresser in the contest, throwing for 536 yards and six touchdowns on 32 of 48 passing.

Berkstresser completed 20 of 34 passes for 319 yards and a pair of scores as the Tigers rolled up 625 total yards. Raymore-Peculiar threw and ran for 597 yards combined, bringing the game total to 1,222 yards of offense.

TIGERS GET WIN No. 1
Just two games into its first varsity football season, Hollister triumphed over Buffalo 44-6 in its home opener last weekend to net the school's first varsity football win. Seth Haynes raced to paydirt from 20 yards out to open the scoring. Then, Chris Maric secured the win when he hauled in a 36-yard strike from Hollister signal caller Brandon Mahoney.

Devin Riley scored Buffalo's only points late in the opening quarter when he found the end zone on a 90-yard punt return. Hollister scored the final 29 points of the contest to even its record at 1-1 after a 51-12 season-opening loss to Marshfield.

LAST WEEKEND'S TOP FOOTBALL PERFORMANCES
RUSHING
Trent Davis of Wright City rushed for 321 yards and four touchdowns on 26 carries in a 55-22 win over Clopton/Elsberry (Clarksville)…Tim Nelson of Lafayette (St. Joseph) ran for 294 yards and four scores on 27 carries in a 55-40 win over Odessa…Deion Lewis of Belton ran the ball for 285 yards and four scores on 44 totes in a 25-19 win over Truman (Independence)…Orrick's Logan Eubank carried the ball 41 times for 282 yards and three touchdowns in a 32-26 win over St. Paul Lutheran (Concordia)…T.C. Shippy of Odessa ran for 253 yards and a touchdown on 33 carries in a 55-40 loss to Lafayette…Westran (Huntsville) back Tyler Hunt rushed for 244 yards and four touchdowns on 18 carries in a 43-0 blanking of Eldon…Delante Blanks of Wright City ran the ball 10 times for 231 yards and a pair of scores in a 55-22 win over Clopton/Elsberry…Windsor (Imperial) back Tyler Dawidowski ran the ball for 209 yards and three touchdowns in a 28-14 win over St. Mary's (Independence).

PASSING
Grain Valley's Jeramey Maynard connected on 10 of 17 passes for 325 yards and three touchdowns in a 48-8 win over Blair Oaks (Jefferson City)…Lebanon's Cole Matlock connected on 21 of 32 passes for 289 yards and a pair of scores in a 17-6 win over Hillcrest (Springfield)…Peter Simpson of Lindbergh (St. Louis) completed 11 of 25 passes for 283 yards and three touchdowns in a 48-10 win over Lafayette (Wildwood)…Benton (St. Joseph) quarterback Matt Pritchett connected on 15 of 18 passes for 264 yards and four touchdowns in a 39-6 win over Bishop LeBlond (St. Joseph)…Grant Gavin of St. Pius X (Kansas City, Mo.) completed 18 of 32 aerials for 243 yards and three touchdowns in a 30-23 win over Center (Kansas City, Mo.)…Clark County (Kahoka) quarterback Seth Williams completed 15 of 26 passes for 242 yards and a touchdown in a 34-12 win over Scotland County (Memphis, Mo.)…Luke Hasenjaeger of Washington connected on 30 of 41 passes for 239 yards in a 16-0 win over Fort Zumwalt South (St. Peters)…Trey Hill of Hazelwood East (St. Louis, Mo.) completed seven of 18 passes for 238 yards and four touchdowns in a 44-24 loss to DeSmet Jesuit (St. Louis, Mo.).

RECEIVING
Trevor Vogelsmeier of Raymore-Peculiar caught 13 passes for 192 yards and four touchdowns in a 53-49 win over Lee’s Summit…Grain Valley's Zach Hoover latched on to three passes for 174 yards and a pair of scores in a 48-8 win over Blair Oaks…Nick Stockdale of North Kansas City (Mo.) caught eight balls for 152 yards and a touchdowns in a 40-20 loss to Liberty…Lindbergh's Adam Schremp caught five passes for 141 yards and a pair of scores in a 48-10 win over Lafayette (Wildwood)…Chris Young of St. Joseph-Benton caught six aerials for 134 yards in a 39-6 win over Bishop LeBlond…Lafayette County (Higginsville) player Tyrell Thirkield latched on to four passes for 134 yards and a pair of scores in a 41-13 win over El Dorado Springs…Aaron Russell of Raymore-Peculiar caught five passes for 130 yards and a touchdown in a 53-49 win over Lee's Summit…Hillcrest (Springfield) star Dorial Green-beckham caught six balls for 123 yards and a touchdown in a 17-6 loss to Lebanon.

MISSOURI FOOTBALL RANKINGS
(Team, record, points scored, points allowed, last week's rank)
Top 10
1. Hazelwood Central (Florissant) (2-0) 34 26 1
2. Rockhurst (Kansas City, Mo.) (2-0) 36 34 2
3. Webster Groves (2-0) 96 21 3
4. DeSmet Jesuit (1-1) 63 44 5
5. Staley (Kansas City North, Mo.) (2-0) 71 29 –
6. Liberty (2-0) 75 34 8
7. Blue Springs South (2-0) 83 14 9
8. Chaminade (St. Louis) (2-0) 77 26 7
9. Howell (St. Charles) (2-0) 87 35 –
10. Blue Springs (0-2) 22 34 4

CLASS 6
1. Hazelwood Central (2-0) 34 26 1
2. Rockhurst (2-0) 36 34 2
3. DeSmet Jesuit (1-1) 63 44 4
4. Liberty (2-0) 75 34 6
5. Blue Springs South (2-0) 83 14 7
6. Howell (2-0) 87 35 8
7. Blue Springs (0-2) 22 34 3
8. Jefferson City (1-1) 55 45 5
9. St. Louis University (2-0) 70 35 9
10.Fort Zumwalt West (O'Fallon) (2-0) 90 48 10

CLASS 5
1. Webster Groves (2-0) 96 21 1
2. Staley (2-0) 71 29 4
3. Chaminade (2-0) 77 26 2
4. Fort Osage (Independence) (2-0) 47 17 3
5. Lee's Summit West (2-0) 51 13 5
6. Parkway North (St. Louis) (1-1) 70 59 7
7. Nixa (2-0) 48 27 8
8. Kirkwood (1-0) 34 14 10
9. Lebanon (2-0) 66 12 –
10. Lee’s Summit (1-1) 106 76 9

CLASS 4
1. Kearney (2-0) 83 0 1
2. Webb City (2-0) 97 7 2
3. Carthage (2-0) 99 28 7
4. Helias (Jefferson City) (1-1) 42 44 3
5. Bolivar (2-0) 88 19 4
6. Harrisonville (1-1) 35 23 6
7. Ladue Horton Watkins (St. Louis) (1-1) 48 64 5
8. Hannibal (1-1) 72 49 8
9. Sikeston (2-0) 93 40 9
10. Savannah (2-0) 84 13 10

CLASS 3
1. Cassville (2-0) 54 14 1
2. Logan-Rogersville (Rogersville) (2-0) 65 39 2
3. Chillicothe (2-0) 52 27 4
4. Maryville (1-1) 35 17 5
5. Aurora (2-0) 46 9 –
6. Bowling Green (1-1) 51 20 3
7. Cardinal Ritter (St. Louis) (1-1) 46 13 6
8. Boonville (2-0) 61 14 8
9. Burroughs (St. Louis) (2-0) 91 14 9
10. Richmond (2-0) 65 27 10

CLASS 2
1. Penney (Hamilton) (2-0) 107 16 1
2. Maplewood-Richmond Heights (Maplewood) (2-0) 65 23 2
3. Lawson (2-0) 54 15 4
4. Centralia (2-0) 68 7 6
5. Clark County (2-0) 91 30 7
6. Hogan Prep Charter (Kansas City, Mo.) (1-1) 36 35 3
7. Brookfield (2-0) 45 7 –
8. Warsaw (1-1) 13 46 8
9. Macon (2-0) 95 7 –
10. Liberty (Mountain View) (1-1) 61 28 –

CLASS 1
1. Valle Catholic (Ste. Genevieve) (2-0) 104 0 1
2. South Shelby (Shelbina) (2-0) 39 13 2
3. Orrick (2-0) 78 53 3
4. Wellington-Napoleon (Wellington) (2-0) 83 8 5
5. Tipton (2-0) 82 16 6
6. Miller (2-0) 97 7 7
7. Westran (2-0) 98 12 8
8. North Platte (Dearborn) (2-0) 46 7 –
9. Concordia (2-0) 88 18 –
10. South Harrison (Bethany) (1-1) 33 33 4