The Missouri River Valley Conference East is one of the better Class 1 and 2 conferences in Missouri. It always has teams good enough for deep runs with teams that will run through cycles of struggles and success.
This season the league could be as strong as its been in a long time. Teams that have struggled have a lot of starters returning along with higher overall numbers. The conference top dogs aren’t taking any steps back so there will be a lot of competitive football every Friday night.
Let’s take a look at the MRVC East with previews and the Virtual Media Day.
Head Coach: Andy Frerking, 2nd season
2023 record (overall/conference): 0-10/0-5
Returning Starters (Off/Def): 9/9
Biggest Challenge: It was a tough year for the Trojans in 2023. Carrollton was very young and had no wins to show for the work it was putting in. This year with almost the whole starting group back the Trojans should be in more games. Now is the time to finish games and put a few in the win column.
Outlook: Carrollton should be improved with the experience that is back and a second year under head Coach Andy Frerking. The Trojans are doing and saying the right things so it should be a much better season than last.
Coach’s thoughts: “I think for us the big thing is that that our kids are buying into to doing things the way we want as coaches. The biggest when you come in as a new coach and you can't show credibility immediately by wins on the field it takes a great deal of trust by the community and by the parents and the kids to come back for a second year. I think we've got great buy in and good turnout. Our kids had a good summer we started learning last year we were really good at being in the weight room I think this year we started learning how to work in the weight room a little bit differently and I think that that is that will help us on the field.”
2024 Schedule:
8/30 Fayette
9/6 @ Northeast
9/13 @ Lone Jack
9/20 Southeast
9/27 Knob Noster
10/4 @ Richmond
10/11 Lexington
10/18 @ Holden
10/25 @ Lafayette County
Head Coach: David Diener, 4th season
2023 record (overall/conference): 8-4/5-1
Returning Starters (Off/Def): 6/7
Biggest Challenge: Holden has gotten better each of Diener’s first three seasons. Continuing that momentum through a tough non-conference schedule and the regular MRVC East schedule will be this year’s challenge.
Outlook: The Eagles should be a good team again. Staying healthy and relying on their size up front will help determine how the season will go.
Coach’s thoughts: “Tt's it just it it's amazing how just you know me being in the in the weight room 4 years seeing those kids grow from freshman to now and then how it just kind of trickle-down effect. Our freshmen are stronger than freshmen have ever been coming in just because they've seen how strong kids are in front of them. It's just that that's just a huge part of making sure you got enough varsity athletes is to be varsity strong. We really feel like that's been one of the things that's really helped turn this program around and now just hopefully being four years of lifting with me we and our system hopefully the wins keep coming.”
2024 Schedule:
8/30 Crest Ridge
9/6 @ Pembroke Hill
9/13 Adrian
9/20 Lincoln
9/27 @ Lexington
10/4 Lafayette County
10/11 @ Richmond
10/18 Carrollton
10/25 @ Knob Noster
Head Coach: Michael Franklin, 3rd season
2023 record (overall/conference): 5-6/2-3
Returning Starters (Off/Def): 8/8
Biggest Challenge: There isn’t much to replace but quarterback is one of those spots. There is depth and talent at the other offensive positions so that should help the transition.
Outlook: The Panthers program is on good footing heading into Coach Franklin’s third year. For a program that had four coaches in seven years before Franklin things are starting to settle down. Franklin and his staff have the Panthers pointed in the right direction and that should continue this year.
Coach’s thoughts: “One of those things I was talking about my first year is if we can if we can stay the course and continue being consistent for these kids our numbers will build and we'll get more enthusiasm around the program. We're really starting to see that in that third year for sure.”
2024 Schedule:
8/30 Versailles
9/6 @ Oak Grove
9/13 @ Festus St. Pius X
9/20 Northeast
9/27 @ Carrollton
10/4 Lexington
10/11 @ Lafayette County
10/18 Richmond
10/25 Holden
Head Coach: Steve Cook, 18th season
2023 record (overall/conference): 12-1/5-0
Returning Starters (Off/Def): 8/8
Biggest Challenge: It was another year with another deep run by the Huskers. This was a junior heavy team that are now seniors. Complacency shouldn’t be a problem but being focused in the regular season is always important.
Outlook: Stop if you’ve heard this before but Lafayette County should be good, very good. There are some key players to replace but the Huskers have been down this road before and usually just reload and make deep runs and this could be what happens again.
Coach’s thoughts: “We had an exceptionally small senior class last year that was extremely talented, and we only had I believe five seniors last year on the team. This year we have 16 seniors on the team, so you know we had a lot of a lot of junior leadership out up there. It's great to have some of those guys returning the pieces that we did lose were big time players for us but we also feel like we're going to be able to replace them with a lot of the skill set that we have coming back.”
2024 Schedule:
8/30 @ Penney
9/6 Lawson
9/13 @ Warsaw
9/20 @ Aurora
9/27 Richmond
10/4 @ Holden
10/11 Knob Noster
10/18 @ Lexington
10/25 Carrollton
Head Coach: Chris Brooks, 4th season
2023 record (overall/conference): 2-8/1-4
Returning Starters (Off/Def): 6/8
Biggest Challenge: It’s been a struggle for Lexington the last few years with just enough numbers to field a team. This year numbers are up and there is a good amount of returning players with returning experience. Now the Minutemen need to turn the positives they have into wins on the field.
Outlook: This could be a year where Lexington takes a step back forward after struggling for the last few seasons. It’s a tough league and the non-conference schedule isn’t easy but Lexington has a chance to be a better team in 2024.
Coach’s thoughts: “Last year we had to rotate between only six lineman and that's offense and defense. This year our depth is on the line. We've got at least 12 kids at the D line O line where we can actually get kids to come out of the game and get rest and know he doesn't have to play every play. I had kids playing 120 and 130 snaps last year. The skill positions the depth is a little down this year. We have good kids in those spots we just don't have a lot of depth. If we can keep the O line going and the D line good we can kind of fit in behind that because we all know the heart of football is up front, so if we can battle up front that will keep us in games and give us a chance to win.”
2024 Schedule:
8/30 @ Lathrop
9/6 @ Mid Buchanan
9/13 South Callaway
9/20 Open
9/27 Holden
10/4 @ Knob Noster
10/11 @ Carrollton
10/18 Lafayette County
10/25 Richmond
Head Coach: Nick Persell, 8th season
2023 record (overall/conference): 4-6/3-2
Returning Starters (Off/Def): 9/8
Biggest Challenge: The Spartans have a lot of starters back, but this team is still young. How Richmond turns potential into results will what defines this season.
Outlook: The coaching staff has a history of shepherding young talented players from promise to big time results. The Spartans could be on the verge of another run of big time success.
Coach’s thoughts: “Last year it was a lot of growing pains for a group of guys who had just hadn't been on varsity field. We've seen that fruits of that labor this summer already a lot of kids playing faster way more comfortable from where they were a year ago. I think as we continue to get older, we're just going to continue to get better. We were kind of in that boat a few years back and our group in 21 as freshman had a tough freshman year and in four years had had developed into a pretty good team, I think that's kind of where we're at right now, still some young kids playing and a good senior group but a lot of young kids still on the field for us. As those kids continue to get older, we're going to continue to see that that level of play increase.”
2024 Schedule:
8/30 Harrisonville
9/6 St. Joseph Lafayette
9/13 Marshall
9/20 @ Center
9/27 @ Lafayette County
10/4 Carrollton
10/11 Holden
10/18 @ Knob Noster
10/25 @ Lexington
