I have been with the Standard Democrat sports department since 2007. I took over as sports editor in May of 2011 and have been slightly crazy about sports since I can remember. I attended Southeast Missouri State University and Scott County Central High School. I co-created our sports web show "The Last Word" and my two children, Elijah and CJ. I was married to my wife, Angie, in May of 2014. I love to golf, I am an avid NBA2K gamer and root for the Fighting Irish on Saturdays.

2014 Media Football Pick 'Em Week 1

Posted Thursday, August 21, 2014, at 12:19 AM

The Media Football Pick 'Em contest is back for the 2014 High School football season. This is a friendly competition between your local sports journalists who provide stories, pictures and everything in between from your area sports world. Each week we will try to predict who will win almost every football game from the Semoball coverage area as well as the final score. I'll keep a running total throughout the season and we'll eventually crown the Pick 'Em champion.

We have old faces, new faces and a slight twist to this year's fun-filled Pick 'Em.

The twist is something I'm very excited about. This year the panel has decided to raise the stakes a bit by offering a worthy prize at the end of the season. The lucky panelist who wins will pick a charity of his choice and the rest of the panel will pay an already agreed upon amount to that charity.

This year's panel includes veterans from the Standard Democrat sports team such as myself, David Jenkins, Brent Shipman and Derek James. We introduce our "Last Word" camera man Charlie Ziegenhorn as a first-time member. We also bring back the Daily American Republic's Rob Tate and Scott Borkgren. We have two other newcomers in the newest member of the Southeast Missourian sports team, Trent Singer as well as ESPN Radio's Todd Bonacki.

We're all looking forward to this year's Pick 'Em but most importantly we're glad to get the new football season underway. If you'd like to question our picks, be sure to do it in the comment section below. If you'd like to play along, feel free to post your picks as well.