The six teams slated to play today in the Missouri Class 1, Class 3 and Class 5 football championship games at the Edward Jones Dome have a combined record of 79-1.

The only one to take a loss this season, Cassville, is also the only defending champion in today's title-game lineup. The Wildcats, who beat Cardinal Ritter 31-7 to take last year's Class 3 championship, have reeled off 13 consecutive victories since opening the 2009 season with a 42-13 loss to visiting Branson.

Today's schedule: Valle Catholic (14-0) vs. Penney (13-0) in Class 1, 12 p.m.; Bowling Green (14-0) vs. Cassville (13-1) in Class 3, 3:15 p.m.; Webster Groves (12-0) vs. Fort Osage (13-0) in Class 5, 6:30 p.m.

BRENTWOOD FEELS THE LOVE

In their postgame news conference, the Brentwood players took time to thank their community for its support.

"The community supported us 200 percent," Brentwood senior Tywan Brooks said. "They've supported us in school and out of school, even when we go to Walgreens to get a Gatorade."

Junior Andrew Erby hopes the runner-up finish is a sign of things to come.

"We've still got a lot of skill out there," Erby said. "We've just got to feed off of this." (Joe Harris)

DOME SWEET DOME

Before 2008, the 8-man football championship split time between Northwest Missouri's Rickenbrode Stadium, Kyle Field in Tarkio and most recently at Missouri Western's Spratt Stadium in St. Joseph. But even after back-to-back title-game losses to Mound City, the St. Joseph Christian Lions seem to prefer the Edward Jones Dome.

"Missouri Western was awesome, but there's something special about getting to play here, where the pros play,'' said Lions senior David Welchert, who was a freshman on the St. Joe's Christian squad that defeated Worth County to win the 2006 title in St. Joe's. "For the most part, 8-man football is limited to the western part of the state, so this gives us a chance to showcase not only the teams from our area but the 8-man football in general.''

When pushed to talk about playing before a handful of fans in the cavernous Dome, St. Joe's Christian coach Mark Juhl couldn't help taking a shot.

"We're a small school, so there's only so much of crowd we can draw, but our fans see it as sort of a vacation, as part of their Thanksgiving celebration,'' Juhl said. "Besides, with the season the Rams are having, I'm sure this place is used to the empty seats.'' (Joe Lyons)

WHAT'S A SPOOFHOUND?

The story goes that a carnival came to town in the 1920s. While the Maryville coach was walking through the carnival, he noticed that ugly dogs made of plaster of Paris were being sold. Later that week in practice, when his team wasn't playing well, the coach told his team that they were playing like a bunch of Spoofhounds, referring to the ugly dogs. Maryville picked up its play, won the game that week, and the name stuck.

Maryville blew out Brentwood 35-0 in Friday's Class 2 title game, giving the Spoofhounds their second state football title. (Joe Harris)

RECORD-SETTING PASS

In Helias' 27-15 loss to Kearney in the Class 4 title game, the Clint Distler-Conner White combo had an 86-yard TD pass, the longest in Missouri title-game history. The previous record, set by Rockhurst's Marcus Perry to D.J. Hord in 2002, covered 81 yards. Distler threw for 226 yards and two touchdowns but also had three passes picked off. White caught four passes for 110 yards. (Joe Lyons)