The last time the Montgomery County football team celebrated a victory at South Callaway High School, Twitter made its debut, “The Departed” won the Oscar for Best Picture and the St. Louis Cardinals won their 10th World Series championship, snapping a 24-year drought.

That year was 2006.

At 9:12 p.m. on Sept. 18, the Wildcats’ long drought at South Callaway ended after coming from behind to beat the Bulldogs 8-6, making it a happy bus ride from Mokane.

“This is huge,” MCHS senior Isaac Hinkel said. “South Callaway was a difficult opponent. We knew that. They’re a very well-coached and disciplined team. We were coming off of two losses leading up to this game. We knew that we had to change our season around. If we’re going to do that, this was the game to do it. We didn’t want to go into Week 5 with a 1-3 start and losing to South Callaway.”

MCHS’ last victory at South Callaway was on Oct. 20, 2006, when it defeated the Mokane school 64-14 in a Class 2, District 5 quarterfinal game. The Wildcats lost 10 consecutive games at South Callaway before snapping that streak on Sept. 18.

“The last time I was here, we lost as well,” Hinkel said. “I played here in my sophomore year. It was a big game for us. This (victory) was a huge momentum shift and I think it’s going to carry through. I’m really excited that we won.”

With the win, MCHS improved to 2-2 and snapped a two-game losing streak in which it was outscored 87-12 to California and North Callaway.

“I like their fight,” MCHS coach Matt Smith said. “Their fight is good. They work their butts off. When you’re a 16, 17 and 18-year old kid, sometimes it’s hard to see the silver lining when they’re struggling. But these kids stayed with us. They didn’t quit. They kept working hard. I love them.”

Now, the Wildcats are hoping to continue their momentum in their Week 5 road game with the Van-Far Indians on Sept. 25. They will take on a squad that is coming off its first win of the season in Week 4, knocking off Mark Twain 38-34.

“We’re just going to focus on us,” Smith said. “We’re just trying to win every day at practice. That’s kind of what we talked about. I don’t want to get too invested in their record or anything like that and have a big letdown.”

Last year, MCHS defeated Van-Far 28-14 at Jim Blacklock Field. But the Wildcats lost their last two road meetings with the Indians, falling 34-7 in 2024 and 14-12 in 2022.

A year ago, Van-Far finished 7-5 and won a Class 1 district title. The Indians were eliminated by Hayti in the state quarterfinals.

Also in 2025, the Wildcats won 9-3 and captured a Class 2 district championship. They were knocked out by St. Pius X in the state quarterfinals.
One of those wins was a 46-6 victory over South Callaway at Jim Blacklock Field. It was MCHS’ first win over the Bulldogs since 2020.

In the Week 4 game, MCHS senior Lafe McCurdy provided the game-winning points, scoring a two-yard touchdown run and a two-point conversion with 38 seconds left in the fourth quarter. McCurdy now has five touchdowns on the season. He scored touchdowns in all four games this season.

“What a tough kid,” Smith said. “We gave it to him all night.”

An interception by junior Lucas Bender with 4:25 left in the fourth set up the game-winning points for MCHS. He picked off a pass by South Callaway’s Aiden Jenkins and gave his team possession at its 43-yard line.

McCurdy’s touchdown ended a 10-play, 57-yard drive.

The Wildcats began their season with a 36-6 win over Hermann before losing 33-6 to California and 54-6 to North Callaway in their next two games.
MCHS held South Callaway to its season-low point total. The Bulldogs came into the contest averaging 37 points per game.

“I’m very proud of these guys,” McCurdy said. “We didn’t give up. We didn’t stop after those last two. We kept fighting. We fought at practice all week. We knew we had to do something. We had to get back on track.”