Francis Howell High School: An Introduction

F

FHgrad99

New member
Hello from Missouri. I'm a graduate of Francis Howell and seeing that Francis Howell is playing Elder in a couple of weeks, I figured I would share with you some things about Francis Howell.

Some basic facts:

Name: Francis Howell High School, also known as Howell. (I'll refer to it as Howell during the rest of this post)
Founded: 1881, making it one of the oldest High Schools west of the Mississippi River.
Mascot: Vikings, up until the late 60's the mascot was the Dragoon.
Colors: Royal Blue and Gold, think of the St. Louis Rams colors of the late 90's.

More info:

Howell is located about 40 miles west of St. Louis in St. Charles, MO. The school district has grown a lot in the last 25-30 years because of urban sprawl, which forced the Francis Howell School District to build 2 more high schools, Francis Howell North and Francis Howell Central.

In football, Howell is a class 6 school, which consists of the largest schools in Missouri. Howell plays in the Gateway Athletic Conference (GAC) South. Their toughest conference rival is Fort Zumwalt West, who had a down year, by their standards last year. The way the season is setup in Missouri, there aren't many opportunities to schedule non-conference games since the last 3 games are district playoff games. Howell's non-conference opponents, besides Elder are Webster Groves, a class 5 team who is always a threat to make a deep run in the playoffs year in and year out and CBC, who Howell came very, very close to beating last year.

Howell plays in a tough district with teams like Jefferson City, who might have the richest football tradition in Missouri, Columbia-Hickman and Columbia-Rockbridge, who were both tough teams last year. Last year was Howell's first appearance in the state title game. The year before was Howell's first appearance in the final four.

Even though, Howell's football team has had a lot of success in the last couple of years, it might not be their strongest sport. Their baseball team has won 3 state titles in the last decade, including 2 out of the last 3. The Reds have a Howell alum pitching in their farm system. James Allen, graduated from Howell in 2008.

Here's to a great game in a couple of weeks.
 
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Hello Mr FHgrad99.

Elder is a Catholic all male High School on the Westside of Cincinnati. The school was started in 1923. Right now I would say they have about 900 students.

Since I am an Elder grad of 99, I will try to give you some history. The best way to do that is with this website http://media.elderhs.net/EHSportsArchives/FootballArchives/index.htm


It has a recap of every Elder football game ever played. The highlights of the school are the 2002 and 2003 State titles.

Elder Stadium is probably the only Stadium you will ever see like it. It is in a neighborhood on the side of a hill. Some of the houses have erected decks sort of like Wrigley Field.

OHSAA has a point system called the Harbins. Because of this the smart Elder fans will be rooting for a win, but they will be hoping you go 9-1 to maximize our Harbin Points. Elder is in The GCL-South (Greater Catholic League). Moeller, St. Xavier, and LaSalle High Schools are the other three members. We have a rivalry with each of those schools. Because the league is so small we only have three league games. That leaves 7 games to fill. Because of the harbin system a lot of schools won't play Elder because it is a winner take all system. This has resulted in Elder traveling around the Mid West to find games. We have played teams from Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florida, Illinois, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and California.

Hopefully you are coming to the game. If so I would suggest staying at a hotel in Florence, KY, Harrison, Ohio, or Blue Ash, Ohio. I hate to say it, but the area around Elder isn't the best neighborhood.

While you are here try some Skyline Chilli, and LaRosa's Pizza. That weekend the Reds are out of town, and Kings Island is closed for a private event. One of our rivials Moeller has a game on Saturday at 1PM. The Banks is a cool hangout between the Reds and Bengals Stadium.

If you need anything, let us know and we can give you the info.
 
FHgrad99 said:
Hello from Missouri. I'm a graduate of Francis Howell and seeing that Francis Howell is playing Elder in a couple of weeks, I figured I would share with you some things about Francis Howell.

Some basic facts:

Name: Francis Howell High School, also known as Howell. (I'll refer to it as Howell during the rest of this post)
Founded: 1881, making it one of the oldest High Schools west of the Mississippi River.
Mascot: Vikings, up until the late 60's the mascot was the Dragoon.
Colors: Royal Blue and Gold, think of the St. Louis Rams colors of the late 90's.

More info:

Howell is located about 40 miles west of St. Louis in St. Charles, MO. The school district has grown a lot in the last 25-30 years because of urban sprawl, which forced the Francis Howell School District to build 2 more high schools, Francis Howell North and Francis Howell Central.

In football, Howell is a class 6 school, which consists of the largest schools in Missouri. Howell plays in the Gateway Athletic Conference (GAC) South. Their toughest conference rival is Fort Zumwalt West, who had a down year, by their standards last year. The way the season is setup in Missouri, there aren't many opportunities to schedule non-conference games since the last 3 games are district playoff games. Howell's non-conference opponents, besides Elder are Webster Groves, a class 5 team who is always a threat to make a deep run in the playoffs year in and year out and CBC, who Howell came very, very close to beating last year.

Howell plays in a tough district with teams like Jefferson City, who might have the richest football tradition in Missouri, Columbia-Hickman and Columbia-Rockbridge, who were both tough teams last year. Last year was Howell's first appearance in the state title game. The year before was Howell's first appearance in the final four.

Even though, Howell's football team has had a lot of success in the last couple of years, it might not be their strongest sport. Their baseball team has won 3 state titles in the last decade, including 2 out of the last 3. The Reds have a Howell alum pitching in their farm system. James Allen, graduated from Howell in 2008.

Here's to a great game in a couple of weeks.
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Thanks a lot and you should make the trip and watch a game at The Pit if you can!! Arrive early for an excellent Tailgating and Game atmosphere!!
 
I won't be able to attend the game but I'll do my best to follow it online. I've seen the USA Today article about the kind of stadium Elder has. It sounds like it's a very cool place to watch a game at. None of the schools in St. Louis has a field like that. The closest field that might be anything close to that as far as size goes is Jefferson City.

If this ends up being a home-and-home series, Howell is easy to get to but if you come by car, there could be some construction on I-64 as you cross into St. Charles County, since they're replacing a bridge.

Here is an overhead picture of the school.

http://goo.gl/maps/YfxYa

There isn't much near the school, since it's surrounded by a conservation area. The best places to find hotels along I-64 are either in Chesterfield, in St. Louis County before you get to the bridge into St. Charles County, or at Highway K, the exit right after 94.
 
FH grad,

The schools have something in common because Elder is also a big baseball school....actually leads the state in total state baseball titles. Elder has won a state baseball title in every decade since the 1940's. They're biggest rival is Moeller high school who is in our league but also a state baseball power....Buddy Bell, Barry Larkin and Ken Griffey Jr are alums of Moeller.

Elder is rich in tradition much like your school....If you attend the game, you definite will get a neighborhood feel. The stadium which is known as "The Pit" seats about 10,000. The seating is unique because the home crowd sits on both sides of the field and the visitors are given certain allotment of tickets. The stands are extremely close to the field, and you can hear much of what the coaches are saying to the kids on the sidelines.....There is a feeling of being surrounded ( in a friendly way), but it can be intimidating. Hopefully you are able to come an enjoy the environment.

Elder is in the Price Hill neighborhood of Cincinnati, which is up the hill and about a 10 minute drive from downtown Cincinnati....If your going to the game...hotels in downtown Cincy or across the Ohio River into Covington, Ky. would be the closest locations. I would definite recommend the Banks for any entertainment- food or drink. Can walk to the Banks from the hotels even from Covington...the bridges provide pedestrian walk ways from Covington and Newport, Kentucky to Cincinnati.
 
Howell has always been in a tough conference for baseball. It seems like every year there are 3 or more teams fighting it out for the conference title, which always seems to come down to the last game. Oddly, they've never produced a player that made it to the majors while a couple of their rivals have. Mark Buehrle of the Blue Jays graduated from Francis Howell North in 1997. Cody Asche of the Phillies graduated from Fort Zumwalt West in 2008.

As far as entertainment goes, there isn't a lot that's very close to Howell. There are 2 malls within 20 minutes but that's about it. St. Louis has a great zoo, which is right off I-64 in Forest Park just outside of downtown St. Louis. They only charge for parking, but admission into the zoo is free. The St. Louis Science Center is close to the zoo. If you have kids, it's a good place to visit.
 
FHgrad99 said:
I won't be able to attend the game but I'll do my best to follow it online. I've seen the USA Today article about the kind of stadium Elder has. It sounds like it's a very cool place to watch a game at. None of the schools in St. Louis has a field like that. The closest field that might be anything close to that as far as size goes is Jefferson City.

If this ends up being a home-and-home series, Howell is easy to get to but if you come by car, there could be some construction on I-64 as you cross into St. Charles County, since they're replacing a bridge.

Here is an overhead picture of the school.

http://goo.gl/maps/YfxYa

There isn't much near the school, since it's surrounded by a conservation area. The best places to find hotels along I-64 are either in Chesterfield, in St. Louis County before you get to the bridge into St. Charles County, or at Highway K, the exit right after 94.
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ehsports.com will have a webcast of the game. The announcers favor Elder, but it is a decent video of the game. Don't forget we are an hour in front of you so game time is really 6pm for you.
 
I'll have to find out if and when ESPN is covering the game. I might try ehsports.com, if needed. Howell doesn't have an outlet that covers them exclusively. I think Washington HS in Washington, MO might be the only school in the St. Louis area that has their own radio coverage for games. St. Louis has prepcasts.com and stlsportsproductions.com that does HS games online. Prepcasts is more like a radio station and stlsports has streaming video. Stlsports also makes highlight videos of the games and posts them on youtube.
 
FHgrad99 said:
I'll have to find out if and when ESPN is covering the game. I might try ehsports.com, if needed. Howell doesn't have an outlet that covers them exclusively. I think Washington HS in Washington, MO might be the only school in the St. Louis area that has their own radio coverage for games. St. Louis has prepcasts.com and stlsportsproductions.com that does HS games online. Prepcasts is more like a radio station and stlsports has streaming video. Stlsports also makes highlight videos of the games and posts them on youtube.
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You should be able to get Audio broadcast on Sacred Heart radio.com still as far as I know!!! Sounds like these 2 schools would make for a Great baseball game as well!
 
A baseball game would be interesting because it sounds like both schools have good baseball programs. Howell hosts a 16 team baseball tournament every spring that always seems to have a tough field. The last couple of years they've had two teams come from Chicago and another from the Kansas City area come play in it. In years past, they've had teams come from South Dakota, California and even Canada to play in it.

I'll try to find a way to watch of listen to the game, if I can. I might be stuck at work that night, for all I know.
 
FHgrad99 said:
I'll have to find out if and when ESPN is covering the game. I might try ehsports.com, if needed. Howell doesn't have an outlet that covers them exclusively. I think Washington HS in Washington, MO might be the only school in the St. Louis area that has their own radio coverage for games. St. Louis has prepcasts.com and stlsportsproductions.com that does HS games online. Prepcasts is more like a radio station and stlsports has streaming video. Stlsports also makes highlight videos of the games and posts them on youtube.
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Cincinnati is one of the biggest HS football towns in the country. On a typical Friday night, the local news does news and weather for maybe 15 minuwtes. Then they do a 20 minute "Sportscenter" on HS football.

Elder has a radio team, and that feed is picked up by the local Catholic radio plus two smaller fm stations. It is also available on all of their websites and ehsports.com. A group of students run camera's to go along with the stream on ehsports.com.

I bet you are wishing you were coming to the game.
 
Vincent and Regina said:
Cincinnati is one of the biggest HS football towns in the country. On a typical Friday night, the local news does news and weather for maybe 15 minuwtes. Then they do a 20 minute "Sportscenter" on HS football.

Elder has a radio team, and that feed is picked up by the local Catholic radio plus two smaller fm stations. It is also available on all of their websites and ehsports.com. A group of students run camera's to go along with the stream on ehsports.com.

I bet you are wishing you were coming to the game.
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The local stations covers HS football a lot on Friday Nights. The Fox and NBC affiliates in St. Louis usually dedicate a segment during their newscasts on Friday nights for HS football. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch does a very good job covering High School Sports. They have their own website dedicated to High School Sports with a ton of content not found in the paper.
 
Francis Howell beat the #10 ranked St. Louis team, Webster Groves 44-21 after trailing 21-17 at one point in the 3rd quarter. Should be a fun one next week. I'll try to listen to it online.
 
I like Elder 28 FH 24! GO ELDER! Hope all the FH fans that attend the game have safe travels and a great time!!
 
Just curious as to how you come to that prediction given you have never seen FH play and don't know anything about them other than they beat another St. Louis team by 23?
 
wildcatbuckeye95 said:
Just curious as to how you come to that prediction given you have never seen FH play and don't know anything about them other than they beat another St. Louis team by 23?
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This is why its called a "Prediction" and I have read a few articles on St. Louis Newspaper about them.
 
From what I've seen, it sounds like a lot of people at Francis Howell are excited for Friday night's game. I'm not sure how many people from Francis Howell are going to be making the trip.
 
FHgrad99 said:
From what I've seen, it sounds like a lot of people at Francis Howell are excited for Friday night's game. I'm not sure how many people from Francis Howell are going to be making the trip.
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Is there a St. Louis or MO high school football forum similar to what we have with yappi and jjhuddle?

I understand if there is not. A lot of states are not as passionate about high school football as we are in Ohio, especially Cincinnati, especially the westside of Cincinnati, and further especially Elder High School. Venture over to the Moeller and St. Xavier boards and you will not see much chatter like you do on this Elder board. We typically say it's a purple thing, you wouldn't understand.
 
I am still waiting to see a complete game from Elder. The front 7 and Schroer have been lights out, but I've come away underwhelmed as a whole. There's no easy games left, other than maybe Chatard, this team has a high ceiling, but they've got a lot of work left to do.
 
You mean the Chatard team that beat Elder by 1 in 2OTs in the Pit two years ago? No easy games left IMO. The first two were fairly easy in their own way, even though they were much closer than they should have been. Give the other teams credit for fighting and hanging around, but from here on out Elder is going to have to play near perfect to have a chance to win every game.
 
adselder09 said:
You mean the Chatard team that beat Elder by 1 in 2OTs in the Pit two years ago? No easy games left IMO. The first two were fairly easy in their own way, even though they were much closer than they should have been. Give the other teams credit for fighting and hanging around, but from here on out Elder is going to have to play near perfect to have a chance to win every game.
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That's a fair point, but Chatard is down this year and Elder winning easily last year is probably more indicative of what you will see this year. I agree Elder is going to have to step up their game if they want to have a chance at winning the rest of their games. If they play like they have the last 6 qtrs, they're a 5 win team.
 
ElderHSfan02 said:
Is there a St. Louis or MO high school football forum similar to what we have with yappi and jjhuddle?

I understand if there is not. A lot of states are not as passionate about high school football as we are in Ohio, especially Cincinnati, especially the westside of Cincinnati, and further especially Elder High School. Venture over to the Moeller and St. Xavier boards and you will not see much chatter like you do on this Elder board. We typically say it's a purple thing, you wouldn't understand.
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I don't think there are any HS football forums quite like this, where each school has their own boards. The closest thing is the football forum at mosports.rivals.com but most of the talk on there centers around Webb City and some other schools outside of St. Louis.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a forum for High School Sports but it's a forum for all HS sports, not just football.

St. Louis does have a lot of HS football fans. One of the longest-standing HS football rivalries in the country exists in St. Louis. The annual "Turkey Day Game" between Kirkwood and Webster Groves dates back to either 1898 or 1907, based on records.

Francis Howell doesn't have a rivalry quite like that since most of the schools they usually play haven't been around as long as Howell. Recently, their most competitive rivalry has been with Fort Zumwalt West. They've had some wild, high-scoring games in the last few years. In 2010 and 2011, Howell and Zumwalt West played each other 4 times. Each team won twice, with 3 of them being decided by a TD or less. In 2010 Zumwalt West knocked Howell out of the playoffs in the state quarter-finals. In 2011, Howell returned the favor.
 
I hope the good folks of St. Louis have a safe trip. It is fun for the kids to play a powerhouse that they know little about. It will be exciting for us too. May the best team win!
 
Vincent and Regina said:
Has Francis Howell had any other trips like the one they are going to take on Friday? How far have they traveled for an away game before?
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I don't believe Francis Howell has ever had a trip like this before. There used to be a full listing of W-L records vs. opponent on their website. The farthest distance that they've travelled that I know of is to Columbia, MO, which is about 90 miles away.
 
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