Boonville determined to keep raising expectations ahead of 2025 season
BOONVILLE, Mo. (KMIZ)
Boonville Football continues to raise the bar of the program.
The Pirates are preparing for its eighth year under head coach Greg Hough, following a successful 2024 campaign.
Coach Hough's team is working to build on its first nine-win season in more than a decade. The Pirates posted a 9-3 record last year, representing the first time that the program has hit that mark since finishing the 2011 season with a 10-2 record. Boonville also finished as the Class 3 District 4 runner-up, losing to eventual MSHSAA Class 3 State Champion Blair Oaks in the district title game.
The 2024 season is just part of a success-filled run for the Pirates. Coach Hough has guided Boonville to winning seasons in six of the last seven years, including four campaigns of seven victories or more and a district championship in 2022. The sustained success has been the product of a strong, collective work ethic.
"Our commitment to work," Hough said. "Our kids have done a fantastic job, each summer I've been here, of pushing the bar higher and higher, if that's in attendance, if that's in our fundraising, if that's in our community service, we keep getting better and better."
Despite their past successes, the Pirates remain fueled by a desire to set and exceed higher expectations for themselves. Boonville believes the team is ready to keep taking the next step.
"We want to compete each Friday night with everybody that we play with," Hough said. "We're going to worry about us. We're going to commit to our kids. They're going to commit to our program and work through it together."
The Pirates have plenty of returning talent this season, including Mizzou commit Braylon Ellison, who is one of three starters from last year's offensive line, and All-State defensive honorees Clayton Schuster and Bryce Newham.
However, Boonville will also have some fresh faces at key positions after graduating an accomplished senior class last year. Most notably, Coach Hough says junior quarterback Tatum Hough will be taking the varsity snaps during the 2025 season after leading Boonville's junior varsity squad to a 8-1 record last year. Along with a hard-working mindset, the culture that the program's returners and varsity newcomers have embraced is also driving the team's winning ways.
"I think that's what's made us successful. All of our kids that have had individual success are still team-first guys," Hough said. "I truly believe the only teams that are remembered are championship teams, so we're going to compete to win a conference championship and a district championship and put our year on the banner. That's the goal, and again, it's going to take a lot of great individual efforts to maximize our team ability."
Boonville begins the 2025 season on Friday, August 29th with a road trip to Quincy, Illinois.
