John Burroughs put up a fight against undefeated Mary Institute/Country Day School last week, trailing only 7-3 midway through the third quarter before falling 26-3 to Missouri's second-ranked Class 3A team.

The Bombers are considerably shorter on ammo, however, for their game at 7:30 tonight at Perryville.

Three John Burroughs starters -- fullback Matt Kraft, linebacker Ted Albrecht and receiver Rodney Prather -- will miss the game due to injuries, further dilapidating a 1-4 Bombers team which is not exactly in the midst of one of its glory seasons.

"We're hurting a little bit," John Burroughs coach Jim Lemen said.

Perryville is a team which has proven it can put the hurt on. The Pirates are 5-1 after trouncing Festus 42-7 last Friday. They play physically on both sides of the ball and are especially strong running the ball and stopping the run.

"Their inside running game is very good," Lemen said. "They are very physical, but I think we've played physical in four of our five games."

John Burroughs' top defensive stopper is middle linebacker Graham Goldwasser. He anchors the Bombers' 4-3 defense, which will likely adjust to stack up the run.

"I would find it hard to believe if they come out and play a 4-3," Perryville coach Jerry Tucker said.

Offensively, junior quarterback Alex Robinson gives the Bombers the capability of mixing it up. He runs the option efficiently, with tailback Tim Mack receiving the bulk of the carries.

John Burroughs has more first-year varsity players than usual and subsequently has committed more turnovers, but the Bombers are athletic, disciplined and accustomed to playing top competition.

"They've got some nice speed, and they can throw the ball a little bit, which is something we're not used to," Tucker said. "They're a solid football team, and we've had a couple of weeks where we played teams on a lower level than us. It's time to crank it back up."

St. Vincent at Grandview

This is not the time for St. Vincent to let down.

The Indians, who clinched at least a tie for the Jefferson County Conference Small title with a 47-28 victory over St. Pius last week, play at Grandview at 7:30 tonight.

It is the final conference game of the season for St. Vincent, which is 6-0. Grandview is 2-4.

"Right now we want to be a little greedy," St. Vincent coach Paul Sauer said. "We haven't won this title before, and we want to win it outright."

Like St. Pius, which lost last week's game in the final five minutes, Grandview likes to pass.

The Indians picked off three passes last week. Dusty Cattoor, Trent Sauer and Cory Strattman start in the secondary for the Indians.

"They can hurt you in a hurry," Sauer said. "We have to put pressure on the quarterback like we did last week and play well in the secondary."

Chaffee at Malden

Don't be fooled by the 2-4 record. Malden is not a bad football team.

The Green Wave hosts 0-6 Chaffee at 7:30 tonight.

"The thing that concerns me is that they have improved from early in the season," Chaffee coach Brian Horrell said. "They're well-coached and they're not looking past us."

Malden is still smarting from a tough 18-13 loss to Kennett last week.

Chaffee lost to East Prairie 27-14 after falling behind 19-0. Nick Cook ran for 80 yards in relief of Tommy Stidham, who sprained his ankle.

"Our kids did show character in coming back," Horrell said. "But we've continued to make mistakes."

North County at Fredericktown

Fredericktown's line play has picked up the play of the entire team in recent weeks.

The Black Cats' line will be up against it tonight at 7:30, when Fredericktown hosts North County.

"The last three weeks in particular we've played good football," Fredericktown coach Kent Gibbs said. "To be honest, this team has probably improved as much as any I've had, but we also know who we have to play."

The Raiders are 5-1 and ranked 10th in the state in the recent Class 4A media poll. They are led by huge offensive and defensive lines, running back Brian Lotz and quarterback Jeremy McDowell.

North County passes the ball often.

"We're going to try to bring it at them," Gibbs said. "But we have to be careful, because McDowell changes a lot of plays at the line of scrimmage."

Black Cats running back Jeremy Penwell ran for 236 yards in a 35-15 victory over Potosi last week. Offensive linemen Jeremy Parson, Chris Reagan, Dan Bowman, Tim Pirtle and John Crowe had a lot to do with that success as they will have this week.

Paul Graham is added to that same group defensively for Fredericktown, which has not beaten North County in four previous tries under Gibbs.

"We've got our work cut out for us," Gibbs said.

Hayti at Scott City

Scott City is in the midst of the easiest portion of the schedule physically, and perhaps one of the most challenging mentally.

"If you come out there against a lesser opponent, it can be harder to play every play," Scott City coach Terry Flannigan said. "We're trying to retain our focus. The last couple of weeks offensively, we haven't done what we've wanted to do."

Scott City is 2-0 in those games anyway, and 5-1 for the season. The Rams are ranked seventh in the state in Class 2A.

Hayti is 0-6.

"They're kind of a two-headed monster," Flannigan said. "They've got a lot of young kids, and when you've got that, you can give somebody trouble on any given night.

"Of course there's a flip side to that too."

The Rams will try to get their running game, featuring running backs Matt Underwood, Terry Enderle and Dale Burger, back on track while continuing to play solid defense.

"Our goal every week is to get a shutout and dominate our opponent," Flannigan said.