The Montgomery County Wildcats made sure the Steelville Cardinals weren’t going to pull off an upset over them when they square off in a Class 3 boys sectional game on Monday at Fulton High School.

The Wildcats earned a trip to the state quarterfinals for the second straight year after beating the Cardinals 62-33. MCHS will play the Principia Panthers in a quarterfinal game  at 7 p.m.  Friday at Webster Groves High School. Principia will be the host of the contest.

The Wildcats stormed to an 8-0 lead over Steelville and never trailed the rest of the way. The Cardinals cut MCHS’ lead to 16-11 after the first quarter, but that was as close it would get.

The Wildcats qualified for sectional play after beating Hermann 58-41 in the Class 3, District 7 finals on Feb. 28. With the win over Steelville, MCHS improved to 28-1 and is one victory shy from tying the school record of 29 that was set by the 1971-72 team that won the state championship.

The Cardinals ended their season at 15-11. Steelville punched its ticket to sectionals by upsetting No. 2 seeded Fatima in the District 8 finals at Belle High School on Feb. 28. The Crawford County school knocked off top-seeded Dixon in the district semifinals two days before.

MCHS was the host of the sectional contest, which was held at Fulton due to the larger seating capacity. Its gymnasium holds a maximum of 1,450 fans.

Senior Clayton Parker was the Wildcats’ leading scorer with 31 points. He scored the first eight points of the game. He scored all of MCHS’ points after the first quarter and by halftime, he was at 22 points.

Andrew Moore finished with 16 points with three 3-pointers. He hit all of his treys in the second quarter. In the final seconds of the third quarter, Moore rebounded a missed shot by senior Isaiah Thomas and scored a basket to increase the Wildcats’ lead to 41-22.

Senior Jay Rodgers scored all seven of his points in the second half. Senior Tatum Wessel, junior Adrian Combs and freshman Jackson Benney each had two points.

The Wildcats will look to qualify for the Class 3 Show-Me Showdown for the second year in a row. Last year, they made their first trip to the state Final Four since 1974 and placed fourth.

But first, MCHS has to knock off Principia in a matchup between the top two teams in the Class 3 Missouri Basketball Coaches Association poll. The Panthers are No. 1, while the Wildcats are No. 2. No MCHS team has ever competed in the state Final Four in back-to-back years.

Principia will also take a 28-1 record into Friday’s quarterfinal contest. The Panthers, who moved to Class 3 after participating in Class 4 a year ago, advanced to the next round by rolling past Palmyra 67-35 in a sectional game on Monday at Principia.

The quarterfinal winner advances to play in the semifinals at 10 a.m. on March 12. MCHS has a 17-game winning streak and hasn’t lost since Dec. 28. Principia, which won its first 21 games, will take a seven-game winning streak into its matchup with the Wildcats.

The other three quarterfinal matchups will also be played on Friday. They are Woodland vs. Jefferson High School of Festus, Thayer vs. Lamar and KIPP KC Legacy vs. East Buchanan.

Editor's note: A print version will be published in the March 12 edition of the Montgomery Standard.