Mason Leu was playing a basketball game at Silex High School on Dec. 8 when he received some good news.

The Montgomery County senior was named to the Missouri Football Coaches Association Class 2 all-state team for the second year in a row as he was voted third-team defensive back. It’s the fourth consecutive year a Wildcat football player was named on the all-state team.

“It wasn’t necessarily a surprise because statistically, I had a better season than last year,” Leu said. “But in the end, I kind of expected it because I worked so hard to get here and get there last year. This year, we won a lot of games. Really, that means more than all-state.”

Leu was also one of four MCHS players named to the MFCA all-district team. The others were junior Tatum Wessel and seniors Dayton Simmons and Weston Marshall.

Leu said he found out about his all-state award from Wessel while they were at the basketball game at Silex.

“He was waiting for (the all-state team) to come out and he was in the Silex gym,” Leu said. “He was trying to find it, but there was no (internet) service or anything. He went outside and made me hold the door for him. He looked at it there.”

Leu received his all-state award exactly six weeks after his high school football career came to an end. He helped the Wildcats finish 6-4, tripling their win total from 2022.

“I’m going to miss it a lot,” Leu said. “I get to play with a lot of my childhood friends and a lot of friends I made throughout school and I spend a lot of time with. It sucks that it’s not going to be the same. It’s bittersweet because we won a lot of games and we ended it better than what we did last year. But at the same time, a lot of those people I played with are some of my best friends.”

This year, the 6-foot-tall, 175-pound Leu had 74 tackles with three interceptions on defense. He also finished with a strong offensive season, catching 776 yards with eight touchdowns.

Leu was part of an all-state football team that included six Bowling Green players and three Hermann players. Other defensive backs who earned all-state honors include Nolan Bruner of Hermann, Mikell Burton of Lift for Life, Drew Dalton of Bowling Green and Aron Vasquez of Lafayette County.

“It’s nice,” said Leu, who also earned first-team all-Eastern Missouri Conference honors on both sides of the ball. “When you work hard, you hope you get rewarded for your work. This was a good way to get that reward.”

Last year, Leu finished with 56 tackles and two interceptions to earn his first all-state award. He was named third-team defensive back.
Next year, Leu will continue his football career at Culver-Stockton College and will join his older brother, Ty, on the team. Ty graduated from MCHS in 2022.

“Not a lot of people get a chance to go to college and play football with their brother,” said Leu, who signed a letter of intent to play for Culver-Stockton on Nov. 13.