Friday night football notebook: Blue Springs turns back rally by Ray-Pec
The bus ride from St. Joseph lasted nearly two hours for the Blue Springs football team on a mild evening in September, but Wildcats coach Kelly Donohoe remembers it being longer. Over the previous three hours, St. Joseph Central had picked apart his defense to the tune of 49 points, dropping Blue Springs to 0-4.
“We got home, and it was like a morgue in the coach’s office,” Donohoe said. “We were probably at school until 2 a.m., trying to figure out something we could do to turn the tide.”
The tide has turned.
The Wildcats responded with six wins in seven games, culminating in a 14-12 victory at Raymore-Peculiar on Friday.
Blue Springs will travel to face Springfield Kickapoo next week in the Missouri Class 6, District 4 title game.
“It’s amazing the pride we have in these kids,” Donohoe said. “They could’ve gone the route of packing this in, but they never did. That’s what makes this thing pretty special.”
Blue Springs, 6-5, fell behind 6-0 on Friday before Dylan Cowling found Caleb Marquez for a 27-yard touchdown on a fourth-down play. Tresten Spruell added to the lead with an 8-yard touchdown run. Raymore-Peculiar answered in the fourth quarter, with a 20-yard touchdown from Kory Linaweaver to Baylee Custer, but the Panthers failed to convert the potential game-tying two-point conversion.
Park Hill 10, Liberty North 7
As the clock dwindled under 2 minutes on Friday, the Liberty North Eagles moved to the ball to the 1-yard line. And that provided them with four chances to punch the ball into the end zone for a game-winning score.
Park Hill stopped every one of them.
The Trojans used the late goal-line stand for a 10-7 win against Liberty North in the Missouri Class 5, District 8 semifinals.
“Their preparation was spectacular all week, so we were still confident at that point, but, yeah, we were already drawing up plays for a two-minute drill on offense,” Park Hill coach Josh Hood said.
Park Hill will play Staley in the district championship game.
Kansas districts
▪ A week after its hopes for an undefeated season ended, Olathe North bounced back for a 19-13 win against Olathe Northwest on Friday.
▪ In a match-up of one-loss teams, Blue Valley North turned a seven-point halftime lead into a 49-21 victory over SM West. Josh Pederson caught four touchdown passes from Joey Dolan.
Blue Springs South 48, Jefferson City 21
Blue Springs South’s path to a third state title rolls through some of the best competition in Missouri Class 6, including two opponents ranked in the top-four in the state poll.
One down, one to go.
Blue Springs South dispensed of fourth-ranked Jefferson City 48-21 on Friday, handing Jefferson City only its second loss of the season.
Now the Jaguars, 11-0, travel next Friday to face Francis Howell, 10-0 and ranked second in the state poll. Blue Springs South is ranked third.
This story was originally published October 30, 2015 at 11:43 PM with the headline "Friday night football notebook: Blue Springs turns back rally by Ray-Pec."