Eureka scored all of the points it would need in the first half Thursday night to claim the Class 5 District 1 championship over Summit, 16-14.

The game was originally scheduled to be played at Summit but due to the rain, moved to Oakville.

The win was its third straight and improved Eureka to 5-4 as it waits for the winner of Friday's Webster Groves-Chaminade winner, who it will host on Nov. 9.

"Tonight, we reached our goal," Eureka senior Cole Toti said. "No matter what happened during the regular season, in districts everyone is 0-0. Now we're 3-0."

Summit (3-7) will also move on in the playoffs, hosting the loser of Friday's Webster Grove-Chaminade showdown on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

"I thought we outplayed them in a lot of ways," Summit coach Mike Bellers said. "We missed out on a couple of fumbles and dropped three interceptions. It's a frustrating situation to be in but at least we get to host another playoff game."

The Wildcats made the most of all the opportunities handed to them in the first half.

After recovering a Falcons' fumble on their opening possession near midfield, junior QB Sean Strehl scrambled 24 yards to help set up his 14-yard touchdown strike to Aaron Schnurbush to make it 7-0 with 4:39 left in the first quarter.

Summit quickly responded as QB Myles Robinson hooked up with Jermon Watson for a 14-yard gain down to the goal line which led to Andrew Beisel's two-yard touchdown run out with 1:47 left in the first to tie the game at 7-7.

Defense took over from that point as both teams knocked on the door during the second quarter. Summit missed a 34-yard field goal attempt while Strehl booted a 40-yard punt that pinned the Falcons at their own seven yard line. On second-and-eight, Robinson was stripped of the ball after being flushed out of the pocket. The ball was recovered by Summit in the end zone for a safety to make it 9-7 with 3:50 left in the first half.

With the Wildcats getting the ball back, Strehl guided the team down the field, which included a nice pass and catch to Andy McNeel, who fumbled, but the ball was recovered by Eureka's Elijah Jackson at the Summit nine-yard line. Toti would eventually run it in from 11-yards out to make it 16-7 with 1:09 left in the half.

Early in the second half, Beisel recovered a Wildcat fumble at the Eureka 47. Robinson completed a 33-yard pass to Nick Hartman that set up a 12-yard touchdown pass to Watson with 6:34 left in the third quarter.

But from that point on, the Wildcat defense was on lock down and the offense controlled the line of scrimmage.

"Our defense really stuck together," Toti said. "Our receivers came up big tonight and the line was making big holes. Everyone was doing their job."

bauten@yourjournal.com