Rockhurst wins a ‘classic’ playoff game over rival Blue Springs

As Dasta Memorial Stadium rocked in anticipation, Rockhurst standout running back A.J. Taylor felt like his all but do-or-die final rushing attempt played out in slow motion. Blue Springs coach Kelly Donohoe, meanwhile, couldn’t wait to see the video of it later.

This much is certain, however: Rockhurst ensured there is not going to be a replay for Blue Springs later this month.

With their back-and-forth, edge-of-your-seat comeback 34-29 victory on Friday night in the Missouri Class 6 quarterfinals, the Rockhurst Hawklets prevented the Blue Springs Wildcats from a shot at recording their third consecutive state championship.

“That was unreal,” was the first sentence to come out of Rockhurst Coach Tony Severino’s mouth after this one on his home field.

Taylor used the gridiron as his playground. Taylor, a junior who already has received an offer from Kansas State University, notched five touchdowns. The biggest one, though,came with only 2 minutes, 16 seconds remaining in the game. It erased Blue Springs’ one-point advantage.

Facing fourth-and-goal just inside the Wildcats’ 2, Severino passed on a potential go-ahead field goal to allow Taylor a shot. Taylor took the handoff from quarterback T.J. Green, eyed the left tackle and made his move. It just didn’t happen as quickly as Taylor hoped.

“In my head, it felt like I was in slow motion,” Taylor said. “It seemed like it took forever to get it across. I just put my head down when I got the ball and ran as hard as I could.”

Donohoe never said that Taylor did not score; he simply was eager to get back to Blue Springs and take a second look at the video.

“I think if he got in, he got in by an inch,” Donohoe said. “We’ve been involved in some classics with them. This was one of the best.”

Blue Springs, 8-4, began its final drive from its own 23, but on fourth-and-11 from their own 22 the Wildcats threw an incompletion with 80 seconds left.

Rockhurst, 11-1 and winner of 10 in a row, rallied from a 21-7 deficit to remain alive for a chance to win the school’s 10th state title.

“We never give up,” Rockhurst linebacker Luke Ritter said. On their last play, the defense said, Give it all you’ve got. We’re never broken.”

The Hawklets scored 21 straight points to move in front 28-21 when Taylor was on the receiving end of a 21-yard scoring pass from Green late in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Donohoe proved that Severino wasn’t the lone risk taker.

Blue Springs was within one point of tying the Hawklets after running back Cobi Bissell scored on a 1-yard run with 6:51 left. As Blue Springs lined up to kick the extra point to tie it, Rockhurst was whistled for a penalty. Now, instead of the ball being at the 3, Blue Springs was only 1 1/2 yards away. Donohoe sent his offense back out. Quarterback Ian Brown rolled out, looked for receivers, then tucked it in and rolled into the end zone to push the Wildcats on top 29-28.

But Rockhurst didn’t flinch. The Hawklets marched down the field. A key play in the drive was a 32-yard pass from Green to split end Lance Boehm that put the Hawklets in business at the Wildcats’ 18.

It helped set the stage for Taylor, whose final act was painful for Blue Springs to watch.

“I told A.J. before the week that we were going to ride him,” Severino said. “He was nursing a groin pull, but I said, ‘We’re going to ride you tonight, baby.’ He made the plays. He put us on his back and took us there.”

This story was originally published November 7, 2014 at 11:28 PM.