North Kansas City football advances with big home victory over William Chrisman

North Kansas City took full advantage of each positive special-teams play and beat William Chrisman 49-20 Friday night at home in the first round of Missouri Class 5, District 8 play.

Holding a nine-point lead early in the third quarter, the Hornets recovered a fumble on a punt at William Chrisman’s 25.

North Kansas City wasted little time turning the turnover into points. Senior quarterback J.J. Johnson tossed a 25-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Chase Porter, increasing the Hornets’ lead to 28-12.

“If I was on track, everyone was on track,” said Porter, who finished with three touchdowns. “It was touchdown, and we all did it together. We make big plays as a team. I felt like when I got the touchdown, everybody just wanted to play harder.”

Less than 2 minutes later, North Kansas City put the game away after an interception. Junior running back J’Len Friar scored on an 8-yard run. The fifth extra point of the evening by Tannavin Williams made it 35-12.

Even though there was more than a quarter of football left, North Kansas City, 4-6, knew it was advancing to the District 8 semifinals. The Hornets will play at Platte County.

“I am looking forward to playing at Platte County,” Porter said.

In the first half, North Kansas City scored three rushing touchdowns, but the gold star belonged to the special teams for helping the Hornets take a 21-12 lead into halftime.

“They got us in really good field position,” Johnson said. “It gave us momentum push.”

One player taking advantage of the short field was running back Mahki Staten, who scored two touchdowns.

Two of the Hornets’ touchdowns were set up by blocked punts. North Kansas City also blocked an extra point and created enough of a distraction to cause another missed extra point.

“The guys were definitely able to pressure kicks,” North Kansas City coach Leon Douglas said. “We got two of them, and that definitely gave us a short field to respond offensively.”

The plays by the special teams helped North Kansas City overcome two deficits in the first half.

William Chrisman started strong. Only 18 seconds clicked off the clock when the Bears scored the first points of the game, a 65-yard touchdown run by senior quarterback Dayne Herl for a 6-0 lead.

The Bears held that lead until North Kansas City blocked a punt and got the ball at Chrisman’s 27. Six plays later, the Hornets punched it in on a 2-yard run by Johnson. The extra point gave North Kansas City a 7-6 lead.

Early in the second quarter, William Chrisman regained the lead on a 12-yard run by senior running back Kameron Thompson, making it 12-7 lead.

The second blocked punt of the half with just over 5 minutes left in the second quarter gave the Hornets excellent field position at the 13.

A minute later, North Kansas City took the lead for good at 14-12 on a 6-yard touchdown run by Porter with 4 minutes remaining in the second quarter.

“We had confidence going into halftime, but we knew we had to get it done in the second half,” Johnson said.

This story was originally published October 29, 2021 at 10:28 PM.