After winning their fifth straight Eastern Missouri Conference title, the Montgomery County Wildcats will look to add a district championship to their trophy case.

The Wildcats’ postseason begins at 7 p.m. on Oct. 20, when they take on the North Callaway Thunderbirds in a quarterfinal match of the Class 2, District 6 tournament at Ballew & Snell Court. The winner of that match plays second-seeded Tolton Catholic in the semifinals at 7 p.m. on Oct. 24.

Hermann, the defending Class 2 state champion, is the top seed in the six-team tournament and will play the winner between fourth-seeded Linn and fifth-seeded Calvary Lutheran in the other semifinal at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 24. Linn and Calvary Lutheran will square off at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 20. The district title match is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Oct. 25.

MCHS is hosting a district tournament for the sixth year in a row. Last year, the Wildcats lost to Centralia in three games in a Class 3, District 7 semifinal match.

“It’s nice to be able to have that home crowd instead of going somewhere far away,” MCHS senior Bailey Fischer said.

The Wildcats are seeded third, while North Callaway is the No. 6 seed. MCHS defeated the Kingdom City school twice this season en route to an undefeated season in EMO play.
The Wildcats finished 8-0 in league play, all of their wins were in three games. They wrapped up their conference season on Oct. 13 with a three-game win over St. Louis Intensity on the road. MCHS extended its conference winning streak to 43 matches.

“I like being able to wear those (EMO championship) shirts over and over again that said the third time, the fourth time and now the fifth time,” Fischer said.

Now, the Wildcats are looking to win their 10th district title in program history and their first since 1998.

Coach Rachel Leu said her team’s goal is to play Hermann in the championship match. The Wildcats began their season on Aug. 30 with a three-game loss to the Bearcats at home.

“We want to play Hermann again,” Leu said. “We know that we didn’t play our best. We know that we have the talent to compete with them. That’s been the goal for the whole season. We’re not scared of them. We have been really working towards reaching that goal at the end. It’s not necessarily about the championship. It’s about being able to play Hermann again because we know we kind of shot ourselves in the foot the first time around.”

If the Wildcats beat North Callaway, they will face a Tolton Catholic team that won 16 matches this year.

MCHS took a 10-12-2 mark into its season finale against Battle on Oct. 17 at home. The Wildcats matched last year’s win total with the victory over Intensity.

The Wildcats celebrated a four-game win over Hallsville in their senior night match on Oct. 10. Fischer, Carson Flake and Addison Schluss were honored before the contest.

“I enjoyed having each and everyone of them and I definitely will miss them because they have been around for a while,” Leu said. “They’re not just seniors who only got playing time in their senior year. They have been playing for us for several years and they have contributed for several years. This will sting a little bit when they graduate because we look to them as leaders and that’s what they have been for us.”