Week 4 area football preview: Parkway Central renews rivalry with Parkway West

Parkway Central Mark Goldenberg is adamant when it comes to playing Friday (Sept. 14) at Parkway West.

The Colts are off to an undefeated start. Parkway Central defeated Ladue 41-17 and followed that with a 31-15 win over Clayton before stopping Seckman 49-7 for a homecoming triumph last week.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Longhorns off to a rough start at 0-3. Parkway West has sustained losses to Timberland, Ladue and Kirkwood by scores of 20-6, 41-7 and 49-14 respectively.

Toss all that out, Goldenberg said. What has happened before and what the records of the teams are mean nothing.

“When we Parkway West, we throw out the records,” Goldenberg said. “If they come into the game and beat us, it’s a successful year for them. We have to be ready to play because I guarantee Parkway West will be ready to play.”

Parkway West coach Jeff Duncan agreed a win by his Longhorns would mean plenty.

“It would be huge,” Duncan said. “This is a big game for our kids. They are all big for me. I can’t wait to see our kids have success. We are excited about the opportunity to play a great program like Parkway Central.”

Last year, the Colts won 41-3. Two years ago, Parkway Central won 50-7. In 2009, the Colts blanked the Longhorns 17-0. In 2008, Parkway West earned a 33-10 victory.

The Colts, Goldenberg said, are ready to play the Longhorns.

“This is a big one around here,” Goldenberg said. “We’ve done pretty well recently against them. But I tell the kids that every year is a new one. You can saw we’ve won whatever but the reality is it’s a new team for us and new team for Parkway West this year

“It’s going to be a battle as the game has tradition and it’s a good rivalry. You definitely can feel it out there. We tell them they know all those kids over there. They want the bragging rights that come with winning.”

The Colts are coming off a homecoming victory over Seckman. The game was delayed last Friday by 90 minutes as a bad storm zoomed through the area, forcing most games to be postponed a day.

“It was a big win for us,” Goldenberg said. “You always want to win your homecoming game. We had a long time to wait for that win. When we got stated, at that point it was beautiful. We were one lightning strike away from playing on Saturday. It was cool when we started playing and it was nice.

“Homecoming can be a distraction. We always try to keep the boys focused. We keep that week to week. We tell them we have one job to do and that’s win a football game. They’re buying into that pretty well.”

It’s been a frustrating start for his squad but Duncan no one is giving up on the season.

“We are not excited to be 0-3 but our kids continue to work hard each week and prepare to compete each week,” Duncan said. “For us to compete each week, we have to play mistake-free football. We are still trying to do that. We have had a rough start, but we are a young football team and each week we continue to gain experience. Our boys work well together and believe in each other.

“It’s tough to start out the way that we have. We play a tough schedule and our players know what is in store each week and what we must do to win.”

The Colts know what they have to do, Goldenberg said.

“We need to control both lines of scrimmage,” Goldenberg said. “If we do that, we have a good chance to win. You have to be physical. We have to win those one-on-one battles and we have to win in the team concept.

“So far, so good. We get better every week and that’s what you want. You don’t want to be playing our best football in Week 4.”

For the Longhorns, Duncan said the keys to victory are simple.

“We have to stop the run and not give up big plays on defense,” Duncan said. “We can’t turn the ball over on offense. We must play tough, fundamental football in order to win.

“Central is a great team, well coached and a good football program.”

Here are the other games, all with 7 p.m. kickoffs, scheduled for Friday:

* Lutheran St. Charles at Kennedy.

* Principia at Clopton.

*   Lafayette at Northwest.

*   CBC at Lindbergh.

*   De Smet at Chaminade.

Here are the games scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday:

* Parkway North at University City.

*  MICDS at Priory.

Playing at 6 p.m. Saturday at Edward Jones Dome in the Great American Football Classic is the Eureka Wildcats. The Wildcats will play Oakville. It marks the second year Eureka has been invited to play in the event downtown.