Bluejay FB bringing 'grit,' and it'll need it with challenging road ahead

Charleston High School football coach Justin Hutchings speaks with his team during the second half of its game on Friday with Caruthersville in Charleston.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

The followers of Charleston High School football feel positive about the direction of this year’s squad as it enters week five of the season.

The Bluejays (2-2, 1-1 SEMO Conference South) have already matched their 2023 number of victories (2-8 last season), and they are a mere field goal (after losing to Kelly 22-20 to start the year) from being 3-1.

“I like our grit,” Bluejay coach Justin Hutchings said. “A lot of our guys don’t want to give up. We want to play to the end.”

That attitude will be a necessity throughout the remainder of this season, because Charleston faces a daunting rest of the fall, beginning this Friday.

The Bluejays will host Portageville (3-1, 1-1 SEMO Conference South) at 7 p.m., and there isn’t a team left on their schedule which currently has a losing record.

“We want to keep playing,” Hutchings continued. “We want to do the right things.”

The Bluejays showed that during the first half of its game on Friday against Class 2 No. 9-ranked Caruthersville (4-0, 2-0 SEMO Conference South). After falling behind 13-0 quickly, Charleston’s kids battled back to score for a 13-6 margin, as well as get a couple of key defensive stops inside its five-yard line.

“We got those big stops in the red zone,” Hutchings said, “and that lit a fire in us. We came out and fumbled the ball, and we deflated.

“We just couldn’t recover from that.”

The Tigers dominated the second half and ultimately prevailed 34-6, but the young Bluejays showed – in spurts – that they could make plays against one of the best teams in Southeast Missouri.

“We are very eager to learn,” Hutchings said of his roster, which has 31 athletes who will return at least one more season, if not two or three more. “I thought we were very, very prepared going into this (game with Caruthersville).

“Caruthersville is obviously a great team.”

The Bluejays will hit the road for tests at Hayti (2-2, 1-1 SEMO Conference South) on October 4 and Scott City (3-1, 1-1 SEMO Conference South) on Oct. 11. Charleston will close the regular season with home games against East Prairie (2-2, 1-1 SEMO Conference Central) on Oct. 18 and Sikeston (2-2, 0-1 SEMO Conference North) on Oct. 25.

Charleston is currently in fifth place in the MSHSAA Class 1 District 1 standings with 36.08 points behind St. Vincent (4-0, 68.25 points), Van-Far (4-0, 46.92), Crystal City (1-3, 44.25), and Hayti (2-2, 39.52).

Malden (0-4, 28.67), Veritas Christian (1-2, 24.92), Chaffee (0-4, 19.12), and Louisiana (0-4, 17) round out the nine-team District.