COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A pair of rising programs in the Central Missouri Activities Conference (CMAC) will clash in Week 5 of the high school football season.
Hickman (3-1) will host Smith-Cotton (3-1) on Friday at Alumni Stadium, representing a showdown between two CMAC teams with just one loss in league play.
The Tigers and Kewpies are our SportsZone Football Friday Game of the Week. You can watch the game live over the air channel 17.3 on KZOU. Here is a look at other local listings:
DirecTV – Channel 18
Dish Network – Channel 32
Mediacom – Channel 12 & 709
Centurylink – Channel 12
Spectrum – Channel 183
After earning a 41-point win over Battle, Hickman clinched its best four-game start to a season in 13 years, beating three opponents by an average of 28 points. The Kewpies have entered the heart of the middle-third of their 2025 campaign, a portion of the season that holds immense importance.
“This middle-third of our season for us at Hickman High School is all about hitting our stride and hitting our stride in many ways. Not just on Friday nights, but hitting our stride in how we prepare on Monday through Thursday, hitting our stride in how we watch film on Saturdays to review our game film and get those corrections made and be ready for the next week, how we flush moments whenever we can’t let adversity run over two and three and four plays,” Hickman head coach Justin Conyers said. “I want weeks four, five and six to lead us into weeks seven, eight and nine to where we’re starting to peak and play some of our best football, so we’re rolling as strong as we can be, right into district play.”
Smith-Cotton is also riding a two-game winning streak, fresh off defeating Jefferson City for the first time since 1955. The Tigers overcame an eight-point deficit with less than six minutes remaining in their win over the Jays, scoring a 46-yard touchdown and converting a 28-yard field goal in less three minutes to capture a three-point victory.
“I think any win is great, right? For us, it was about just getting over that hump of the belief that we can do well in the CMAC and compete and do what we need to do. That just solidifies what we’ve been preaching now for four years and developing our guys,” Smith-Cotton head coach Josh Gray said. “When you’re coachable and you work hard and you buy-in, then the fruits of the labor will start to shine. Taking this momentum, you got to stay grounded with that, right? You got to be a mountain, but yet, a roaring river, all in the same piece.”
Coach Conyers described Friday’s game as a pivotal opportunity for his program. Hickman has a chance to match last year’s win total in just five games and become the program’s third team to hit four victories in a single season in more than a decade.
“It’s a pivotal moment in our program this week for us. Can we go out and can we handle business? Can we be business-like and do all the things that it’s going to take to go out and win this football game on Friday night and set the tone of who we are and where our program is going right now?” Conyers said. “Can we go out and go through this maturation process of not just being up-and-down all the time, but be steady, taking a step up each week? That’s where we got to be if we’re going to be able to compete in Class 6 and compete in the CMAC.”
For Smith-Cotton, who just secured its best record through four games since its undefeated 2017 regular season, this conference showdown also represents another chance to make a statement to the league. Since the CMAC was founded in 2020, the Tigers have yet to beat three league opponents in the same season but could end that trend with a victory on Friday night.
Moving forward, Smith-Cotton’s focus is on staying steady throughout the remainder of the year.
“For us, it’s about the consistency. Consistently doing what we need to do. We’ve gotten better at that, but I think that’s always something that you can improve on as you go through the season, the consistent play, eliminating turnovers, eliminating penalties, all those things you know that we can control,” Gray said. “It’s about us. What do we need to do to get better and what do we need to clean up? We’re going to have a strong opponent every week. There’s not one week where you can kind of take a breath and just kind of relax, so we stress that quite a bit to keep them grounded and make sure that we control what we can improve on.”
Not only do both teams understand the importance of Friday’s game, they also recognize the talent that will be present on both sidelines.
“They are big and physical on both sides of the football,” Conyers said. “They are firing on all cylinders right now, and they’re flat running the football at people. They’re playing really good defense. The way they play the three-three stack, it proposes some problems and some confusion.”
“They’re well-coached. I think they run the ball really well. They’ve got some size on them. They’re a very athletic, physical football team. Coach Conyers does a great job of getting his guys ready, as he always has,” Gray said. “I think our kids understand that we’ve faced some great competition, and hopefully, we’ve learned from those times. They do a great job over there at Hickman, and we’re going to have to be well-prepared.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Alumni Stadium.