Another Football Weekend for KHMO’s Bill Shuler

It's Thursday. Homework day ahead of this weekend's football. Today's homework includes Hannibal, Bolivar, Culver Stockton, Missouri Valley, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Oakland Raiders. 

Terry Ahern and I have the call for the Hannibal Pirates as they visit Bolivar Friday night. Air time is 6:30 on 97.9 KICK FM. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.  The Pirates are looking to get into the win column with an uncharacteristic 0-2 start. Losses at Helias and at Porter Stadium last Friday against Jefferson City opened the schedule. Improvement was evident last Friday. But, two Pirate mistakes led directly to a pair of Jays touchdowns in a 27-12 Jeff City win. Hannibal rolled the Bolivar Liberators a year ago at Porter Stadium. The Liberators are off to a 2-0 start with wins comfortable wins over Eldon and Liberty Mountain View. Both teams return a lot on defense. Pregame is at 6:30 on KICK FM. I’ll be looking for continued improvement on offense and an increased comfort  level.

After some sleep somewhere and four hours (or more) of windshield time, it’s up to Canton on Saturday for public address work on the Culver Stockton/Missouri Valley Vikings game. Kickoff is shortly after 11 a.m.  Culver is 1-1 after an overtime win at Central Methodist last Saturday. Baker was too much for the Wildcats in the second half in week 1.  The Vikings are 2-0 with a 27-14 win at Peru State and a 44-6 win in Marshall over Clarke.  Fundamentally sound football in all three phases is a must. The Wildcats haven’t beaten Missouri Valley since 2004.

Sunday it’s the Kansas City Chiefs at Oakland. Air time is 2 p.m. on 97.9 KICK FM. The Chiefs started the season by overpowering a solid Jacksonville Jaguars defense.  Patrick Mahomes threw for 300+ yards in the first half against a quality defense with top grade defenders at all three levels.  Oakland won their not ready for prime time Monday night game over a Denver Bronco team that did not live up to the preseason expectations on opening night.  The Raiders don’t have the defensive personnel Jacksonville does. I look for another busy afternoon for Travis Kelce. Would not surprise me if Mecole Hardman makes some waves. And it says here that the Chiefs defense will give Derek Carr another tough afternoon. Chiefs go to 2-0.