Plenty of push-ups in the cards for Cardinal Ritter: No. 1 small school (2024)

When Brennan Spain led the 2024 Cardinal Ritter Lions out to the field for their first practice of the season, he immediately called for 25 push-ups.

For the whole team.

The two-time defending state champions read the press clippings, saw the messages on social media, and Spain's coaching staff was going to make sure his team lived up to the hype.

"Our motto is that if we hear or read something good about us, we drop down and get an extra 25 push-ups," Spain said. "We don't want those press clippings to get through."

If Cardinal Ritter continues its storied rampage, there will be plenty of extra push-ups in the future.

And nobody wearing a Lions' uniform minds the extra work.

"Because you have to humble yourself," Cardinal Ritter assistant coach Sean Morris said. "It's important when you hear how good you are. We don't get caught up reading whatever is in the paper and the media. When we hear that we're ranked No. 1, or this or that, you'll see us doing 25 push-ups."

Adding to its push-up totals, Cardinal Ritter is the No. 1 small school in the STLhighschoolsports.com preseason rankings after back-to-back undefeated state championship seasons — 2022 in Class 3 and last season in Class 5.

The Lions are looking to go undefeated for three consecutive seasons, a feat that a St. Louis-area school hasn't accomplished since East St. Louis completed an undefeated three-peat in 1983-85.

According to the Missouri State High School Activities Association, no St. Louis school has ever achieved such a feat.

"As a team goal, I know that the only thing that is on their mind is three-peating," Spain said. "We're trying to do something no school in the St. Louis area has ever done and have those bragging rights. We're doing what we're doing in the first week of August so we're still playing in that first week of December."

When Cardinal Ritter kicks off its 2024 season at home at 7 p.m. Friday against Jackson, it will be more than 1,000 days since it suffered a loss. The last time the Lions were on the wrong side of the scoreboard was a 21-20 loss to St. Pius X out of Kansas City in the 2021 Class 3 semifinal round.

It's been an age, but Anotonio Parker still vividly remembers that feeling when he was a freshman.

"I saw my seniors that year," Parker said. "I wasn't really playing at that time, but I still felt that (hurt)."

From that moment on, the returning players bought in to ensure they'd never experience that kind of pain again.

"It really hurt, hurt me," Cardinal Ritter senior defensive lineman Charles Brooks said. "It hit differently, really."

Even the coaching staff admitted changes were necessary to improve.

"What I learned about that particular game and that year is to make sure everything and everybody is on the same page," Spain said. "It was a feeling they didn't want to feel. I told them, I shared this message with them, 'If you don't want to feel like this again, we will have to do things differently.' That wasn't just for the players but for us coaches."

Message received.

Spain and his coaching staff saw exponential growth in participation in offseason workouts.

And he continued to share the same message day in and day out in the halls of Cardinal Ritter.

"I told them that if they do those things, good things won't just come their way, but come our way," Spain said.

Cardinal Ritter captured the 2022 Class 3 state championship on the backs of players like University of Missouri defensive back Marvin Burks and University of Michigan wideout Frederick Moore. Last year's Class 5 state championship was captured with a host of juniors like Carson Boyd, Dejerrian Miller and Jamarion Parker on the offensive side of the ball.

Boyd takes over full-time duties as quarterback after throwing for 2,224 yards and 29 scores, splitting time with Antwon McKay. Parker rolled up 1,644 yards on the ground and scored 22 touchdowns while Miller hauled in 66 receptions for 1,361 yards and 24 TDs.

On the defensive side, they were led by Parker, Brooks, Vi'Naz Cobb and Tyron Steed.

Cobb totaled 58 tackles and two picks, while Brooks recorded 33 tackles and two sacks. Steed and Parker combined for 55 tackles and two picks.

And much to the terror of all of Class 5— they're all back.

And they're all beating on each other week in and week out.

"Some days it's frustrating because they get the best of me," Steed said. "It's great competition, though. Iron sharpens iron."

With a loaded schedule that starts with perennial state power Jackson and ends with title contender Lutheran North, Spain hopes it prepares them for another deep postseason run.

"Those regular season games, I always look at them as practice tests to get us ready for the test, which is Week 10— the first week of the playoffs," Spain said.