Smithville wins Missouri Class 4 football crown with punishing 31-0 win over Hannibal

The Smithville Warriors are state champions in Missouri high school football after walloping unbeaten Hannibal 31-0 Friday in the Class 4 Show Me Bowl at Columbia.

Backed by a sizable turnout of green-clad fans on a sun-splashed day at Mizzou’s Faurot Field, the Warriors completed a perfect season — 13-0 — with the first championship in the history of the school’s football program.

Hannibal came into the game on the University of Missouri campus with a sterling 13-0 record of its own, but Jason Ambroson-coached Smithville was more than up to the challenge.

The Warriors’ defense was stifling from the start and forced a succession of turnovers throughout the contest. Smithville led 14-0 at halftime and 21-0 entering the final quarter of play.

Junior Warriors quarterback Andrew Hedgecorth threw for two touchdowns in the first half. By game’s end, receiver Keltin Nitsche had eight catches for a team-high 81 yards and a score.

Cody Simoncic and Preston Rash rushed for second-half touchdowns as Smithville methodically pounded the ball to use up clock, and Noah Schuetz kicked a 24-yard field goal along the way to help round out the scoring.

Caleb Donnell’s 73 yards rushing was a team high in that statistic as Smithville rolled up nearly 400 yards of offense in Friday afternoon’s convincing victory.

Hannibal had been averaging nearly 50 points per game.

This story was originally published December 3, 2021 at 2:27 PM.