Varsity football is a part of class five, whereas the past years were in class six. Classes have nothing to do with skill, it is just the measure of how many students are enrolled in the school. Howell was about 45 students short of class 6.

“The changing of classes has no effect on us at all,” senior JB Ney said. “I don’t think any of the teams care too much about it since we all play each other during the regular season regardless of our class.”

According to Stl High School Sports, varsity football is ranked fourth in the state for class five. However, according to Missouri State Football Rankings, the boys are ranked first in the state for class five. This is the highest Howell football has been ranked since 2015.

“At the end of the day, we are chasing the ring whether we are in class one or class five,” Ney said.