The Bearcats “had a lot to prove” when they opened their varsity 8-man football season Aug. 26 at St. Paul Lutheran in Concordia, according to Orrick coach Kirk Thacker. Orrick was unranked in the Week 1 media poll of Missouri 8-man programs, despite having gone 7-3 in 2021, Thacker said Monday by phone. St. Paul Lutheran, by contrast, was ranked eighth in the top-10 poll. “We thought we had a pretty good team … with what we had coming back, and I guess the sports people that … are doing the poll did not think so,” he said. “And so, we wanted to go out and prove that their No. 8 team we were better than.” The Bearcats proved they could be at least 24 points better than the Saints, cruising to a 54-30 CRC victory. “We did well,” Thacker said. “However, we had a lot of mistakes.” Those miscues included 11 penalties, much to Thacker’s displeasure. Other mistakes included five failed two-point conversion ...