Nate Schneider
Sports Scene
No matter what happened on that fateful night, one thing was certain – the St. Louis senior football class was going to hold nothing back on the field.
Playing for a program that has never reached the postseason ever since the MHSAA adopted a playoff format in 1974 and expanded it in the 1990s, the 12 seniors on the Sharks roster knew what was at stake October 20 at rival Breckenridge.
Win and you’re in.
St. Louis’ coaches and players knew the foolproof way to qualify for the playoffs a first time in school history would be to win a sixth game, an automatic qualifier.
But as it turned out, a late touchdown by the Huskies sent the Sharks to a 12-7 defeat that left them with a 5-4 record and at the mercy of the system that decides who is in and who is out.
“Those kids will all be walking off the field for the last time whenever that is,” St. Louis head coach Aaron Munderloh said prior to the Breckenridge game. “I hope it’s a couple more weeks, but we’ll see. When you’ve coached kids for four years and seen them through, it’s always an emotional time when it’s their last time on the field. And this year is a unique situation, because we’re not 100 percent sure when that is.”
Despite the loss, the Sharks were still prognosticated by MHSAA football playoffs mapetology website Snooze2You.com to be in the Division 7 playoffs with a 5-4 record.
St. Louis found out for sure whether it was in Sunday night when the brackets were announced. The Sharks were announced as in the 32-team Division 7 field, told they will be traveling to Beaverton for a first-ever postseason experience.
It set off jubilation within the St. Louis football program and on social media.
The last time the Sharks had finished 5-4 was in 2009 under previous head coach Paul Reid, but were left out of the postseason.
This year’s version of St. Louis football held a much better case for being included in the field as it has outscored opponents a combined 223-185 and suffered narrow defeats to a pair of playoff-bound teams in Hemlock (27-20) and Breckenridge.
This is only the second time the Sharks have finished above .500 since 1996.
“We’ve really tried to push it with these kids and they’ve really responded,” Munderloh said. “They have pride in everything they do and want nothing more than to be the first St. Louis team to participate in the playoffs.”
Senior quarterback Travis Courter has thrown for 1,134 yards with 15 touchdowns and eight interceptions through the first eight games this season. Senior running back Dylan Weller leads the team in rushing with 440 yards and four TDs on 97 carries through eight games. Senior Mic Munderloh, the son of the head coach, has made a team-best 27 catches for 419 yards and seven scores. Senior Jake Davis has 17 receptions for 353 yards and four touchdowns.
Defensively is where the Sharks have shined all year and again it is the seniors who have a lot of the counting stats.
Munderloh leads the way with 83 tackles including 13 for a loss and two forced fumbles. Senior Jayce Kuehnlein has contributed 80 tackles, 17 going for a loss, and three interceptions. Senior Ernie Diaz has contributed 59 tackles including 10 for a loss. Davis has racked up 49 tackles, eight for a loss, two interceptions and two fumble recoveries.
Two other seniors, Maverick Giles and Dylan McCloskey, could not play this season due to medical issues. Giles suffered a cardiac arrest during a basketball practice last winter, while McCloskey suffered a brain injury.
But the duo still had roles carved out to keep them as integral parts of the team.
“Dylan and Mav help us with daily drill activities,” Munderloh explained. “Mav helps us out a lot with drills. He’s almost like a student-coach or grad assistant type of position. Same with Dylan, who also helps us with a lot of film breakdown and tagging data. They’re both on the sideline every Friday helping us with ball management stuff. You try to involve them in every single way possible, especially when you know how tough it is for those kids knowing how much they want to be out there.”
St. Louis’ playoff game at 8-1 Beaverton will be Friday night at 7 p.m.