Last year’s Montgomery County football team got back on the winning track as it finished with a 6-4 record, tripling its win total of two from the year before.

The only thing that put a sting in the Wildcats’ successful season was a 27-14 loss to the Hermann Bearcats in a Class 2 district quarterfinal game at Hermann.

With two returning all-Eastern Missouri Conference performers, MCHS will look to finish with its fifth winning season in six years and its seventh in John Klekamp’s 15-year tenure as head coach.

The Wildcats begin their season at 7 p.m. on Aug. 30 against Hermann at Jim Blacklock Field. Last year, they started their season with a 27-21 win over the Bearcats at Hermann.

“They’re a good football team,” Klekamp said. “We split games with them last year. They got some guys coming back who have a lot of experience on the defensive and offensive sides of the ball. We’re a little bit more inexperienced. So we’ll have to see how it plays out. We have a long week of practice to get ready. Hopefully, we’ll play our best game on Mother’s Night.”

MCHS has just six seniors, two of them earned all-conference honors last year. Tatum Wessel was selected first-team linebacker after recording a team-high 106 tackles and Trenton Birkner was voted second-team defensive back after finishing with 52 tackles and 6.5 sacks. They are part of a senior class that also includes returners Jacob Hogue and Jordan Hicks and newcomers Tyler Erwin and Bryson Nichols.

Hogue shared quarterback duties with now-graduated Jace Ellis last year and threw 768 yards with six touchdowns and rushed for 337 yards with five TDs.

“I’m excited for what they’re going to bring as a senior group,” Klekamp said. “But I’m excited about these juniors and sophomores who look ready to help support them this season.”

Returning juniors include Landyn Bender, Aiden Christian, Adrian Combs, Colby Ellis, Tim Emily, Ashton Johnson, Lyric Kemp, Cameron Knapp and Chase Queathem. Sophomores Attis Bartlett, Dallas Hans, Matthew Lincoln, Conor Mays, Lafe McCurdy, Troy Quesenberry, Tyler Rodgers, Owen See and Paul Surls are back on the team this year after being on the varsity as freshmen.

Klekamp has high expectations for Colby Ellis, who had 53 tackles in 2023.

“Colby Ellis is a leader for us defensively,” Klekamp said. “He brings a whole different level of experience and physicality to our defense. He’s nursing a little bit of an injury. We’re hoping he’s ready to go on Friday.”

The Wildcats participated in a jamboree at Winfield High School on Aug. 23 and won all three games over Francis Howell North, Priory and Fort Zumwalt South.

“It’s a small sample size, but we got to play with a lot of kids,” Klekamp said. “We have 53 kids. We got to play a lot of different guys defensively and offensively tonight. I thought the guys responded really well. They didn’t worry too much about, ‘I’m not getting this or I’m not getting that.’ They worked together as a team. What we talked about all year long with this group since we started back in the summer was we have to be grinders. We have to be those hockey grinders. We have to do the little things and the small things and compete together as a unit. We did that tonight.”

The Wildcats will start their EMO play on Sept. 13 at North Callaway. They finished in a tie for second with South Callaway and Wright City with a 5-2 record in league play last year.

MCHS lost 13 players to graduation, including two-time all-state performer Mason Leu, who is continuing his football career at Culver-Stockton this fall.