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DeSmet 217, St. Charles County 6.

After devouring the three football teams from the Francis Howell School district to the tune of 175-0 in district play, the DeSmet Spartans football team took its first bite out of state playoff competition by defeating Fort Zumwalt West 42-6 at home in a Class 6 sectional Friday.

"This felt good because we like to get started fast," DeSmet junior running back Malcolm Agnew said. "It revs our team up and we just try to keep it boiling at 212 degrees. It’s got to be 212 and not 211 for us to keep going."

The Spartans scored early and often in rolling to victory.

Most specifically, it was Agnew who hit three home runs on his first three touches that weren’t wiped away by penalties. He scored on runs of 31, 65 and 27 yards in the first quarter and after kicker Chris Adams tacked on extra points, DeSmet was up 21-0 with just 7 minutes, 34 seconds gone in the game.

But from that point, DeSmet coach Pat Mahoney wished his team could have kept it together better.

"We get to that 21-0 and after that, it’s just flags, flags, flags," said Mahoney of the penalties his team incurred. "I don’t know what you do about it but it seemed like, obviously, our kids were making a lot of mental errors. It’s hard to play at that (high) level with 250 yards in penalties. Our kids have got to get better at that."

Agnew rushed the ball 10 times for 198 yards and the three first-half scores. He was kept out of the entire second half as a precaution due to an injury.

"The O-line did his job and Malcolm is a special player," Mahoney said. "He’s got a bit of an ankle sprain and that’s why we kept him out of the second half."

While the Spartans (11-0) didn’t score on every drive of the first half — they had to punt once — they also had a missed 38-yard field goal by Adams. The Spartans were easily able to tack onto the lead with a pair of second quarter scores.

First, quarterback Stephen Kaiser helped put DeSmet up 28-0 with 6:29 left before the half when he scored on a 1-yard run and Adams booted the extra point.

Next, Kaiser hit Teddy Corwin with a 4-yard scoring pass with 1:57 left before halftime to put the Spartans up 35-0.

"Steve is just a great leader and he does everything we ask him to do without complaint," Mahoney said. "He just wants to win. At a critical point of the game, which may have just ended it, he hits four guys right in the chest and we don’t catch them."

DeSmet’s final score of the game was another home run. This time Darron Neal ripped off a 77-yard scoring run with just 36 seconds gone in the second half.

Zumwalt West (6-5) rounded out the scoring with an impressive drive in the third quarter that proved too little, too late.

Right after Neal’s score, the Jaguars marched the ball 74 yards on six plays to score. The two biggest plays of the drive were a 53-yard reception off a DeSmet deflection by wideout Kyle Echols to the DeSmet 8-yard line and the subsequent 8-yard scoring run by Ray Harris that finished off the tally at 42-6.

"Our kids played real hard and it was all of them," said Zumwalt West coach Paul Day. "I’m really pleased with how we continued to battle the whole second half."

DeSmet moves on to Friday’s Class 6 quarterfinal at home against Jefferson City. The Jays (9-2) defeated Francis Howell 37-14 at home Friday.

"That’s a tough opponent," Agnew said. "They’re a very good team. They’re physical and they run the ball too. It should be fun."

JFAASEN@YOURJOURNAL,COM