Sep 1, 2008                        Check Out previous Blogs

 The unique excitement of week 1 of high school football. All the teams, parents, fans, alumni are anxious to see "their" team and usually have high hopes.  Take a look around the State at some special games..

What is this taste ? It's been a long, long time since the Harrisonville Wildcats Football team tasted defeat-- Sept 1, 2005 to be exact! Winning 3 consecutive State titles in class 3 during that time. Webb City Cardinals, frequent visitors to the Dome, handed the Wildcats a 27-21 defeat with a terrific ending. Seemingly marching in to ice the game, Harrisonville stripped the WC QB of the ball on their own 11 yard line with just 58 seconds left. 89 yards seemed too far.....but wait....Wildcat QB Sam Cooper hit Seth Bailey for a quick 43 yarder ! Hopes jumped up immediately ! Could the streak continue ?  The Cardinals defense stepped up and forced a wobbly pass that was picked off to end this thrilling game that lived up the the very high expectations of both communities. Congrats to each school for scheduling this tremendous season opener !! Cardinal and Wildcat fans...tell us where each team is headed this year ?   bryan@prepcasts.com

2 point conversion in secret ? Blue Spring's Coach Kelly Donahue saw his team fight back from a 35-21 deficit and cut the margin to a 35-34 when Jared Lanpher found Keeston Terry for a 5 yard TD strike. Coach Donahue had spotted a hard charging right side of the Lee Summit West line on the PAT. Donahue confided in Lanpher that he should go for the game winner but NOT make it known to the entire team...he wanted all of them to act as if it was a customary PAT.... the snap came, the charge came hard, Lanpher was under pressure. He couldn't find his #1 receiver when he spotted Nick Halterman across the middle, he let it fly. Halterman had to fight hard to cross the goal line after his reception for the winning 36-35 margin over a very talented yet stunned Lee Summit West team. The Titans were rated as the #1 team of Class 5 after moving up from class 4 this year. Who was there? Give us your thoughts on this terrific game ?  bryan@prepcasts.com

Just a win baby ! Holding QB Jordan Webb of the explosive Union Wildcat team to "only" 236 yards seemed like it was a recipe for upset for the Summit Falcons. Webb, adjusted and ran for 3 TD's after the slow 1st quarter that saw Summit hold the Wildcats to 35 total yards.  Union, unveiling an aggressive defense of their own, recovered from their sluggish start and  went on to beat the Falcons 21-7 in non-league action.

Question buzzing around these parts on Friday...will Jordan Webb be over/under 4500 passing yards? Your thoughts... bryan@prepcasts.com

Maybe assuming the #1 class 5 ranking will be the Eureka  Wildcats. Eureka was tangling with fellow Rockwood school Lafayette for the 1st time. Coach Ferrell Shelton used a spread formation for the first time. Using Luke Thuston, converted FB as the QB, Eureka still played ram-jam with Thuston plunging through the line between the tackles for good gains as the Wildcats won 12-7 in front of 4000+ frenzied and friendly fans

Should Eureka be #1 class 5, your thoughts...bryan@prepcasts.com

Stats don's win games.. Running back, Johnny Hall, ran wild for 310 yards for his Lincoln Prep Team against Grain Valley on Friday. However, when the final buzzer sounded, he had to be very disappointed to read the scoreboard! Grain Valley was on top in a wild 59-41 win! A roller coaster affair, you needed your best theme park attitude to withstand all the ups and downs of this affair. After falling behind, Grain Valley scored 28 points in 2nd quarter, only to fall behind again for a brief time. Finally, the depth of running backs and defense gave Grain Valley this wild and entertaining game. Do you know of more 300 yard games from last week ?  Shoot them to us, we'll publish..bryan@prepcasts.com

Ahh..the sweet taste of revenge. Carthage Tigers lost their 07 quarterfinal game to the Ozark Tigers as Ozark rallied with 27 unanswered points to rally for a 27-20 win. After scoring on the very 1st play of the year, Trey Dreyberry's 85 yard run, Carthage learned their lesson and kept scoring and keeping Ozark at bay. Trey Dreyberry, All-State QB of 07 led the way with 9 of 19 passing as well as his long run. The 54-33 victory should strengthen the #1 rated Class 4 team in the rankings. Isn't it great when teams have the ability to face each other early in the year following a huge post season game in the previous year ? Do you know of any teams avenging an 07 loss on Friday, let me know and we'll let others know too with your info on a link here   bryan@prepcasts.com

Upset of the night?  Coming in as huge underdogs against a strong class 5 team-the Jackson Indians, Riverview Gardens QB Joe Williams shredded the Indian secondary for 355 passing yards and 3 long pass strikes to win a 32-31 victory. This game was really special. Jackson scored with :30 seconds remaining on a 11 run by Cole Rogers to pull Jackson within a single point. Jackson decided to go for the win! It failed but our congrats to their staff on a gutsy call to try to win this non-conference game. Do you know of more upsets....let us all know

bryan@prepcasts.com

Taking the other side of the coin, in game against the Ladue Rams St Charles West  scored at the 5:44 mark of final quarter to pull within a single point of the Rams. Coach Gary Strauss decided to have Brandon Champaign kick the PAT to tie the game and play for the win later. It worked perfectly as the Warriors Damien Eichelberger ran for the winning TD in the 2nd OT to give SCW a great 34-28 win. Each game is different, Coach Strauss played the percentages for his team. He had pressure to go for the win...congrats to him for his gutsy call.  Sure....I can take both sides of the coin !!

Your thoughts on going for win or tie ? We'll publish them... bryan@prepcasts.com

How did some coaches fare for their 1st game ?

Josh Smith (MICDS) beat a strong Festus team 22-3. MICDS, now a class 4 team rode the strong arm of Jeremiah Oteh (18 of 28 for 336 yards, 3 TD passes including one on 3rd play of the game!).

Richard Rehagan (Nixa) converted one of his QB to running back and already reaped the dividends as Jordan Keeney led the Eagles to a 17-16 win over Republic.

In a game featuring two well known programs and 1st year coaches, Hazelwood East (MIke Jones-yes THE TACKLE Mike Jones) saw his Spartans pull away from the CBC Cadets 34-14. Coach Scott Pingel was making his debut at the helm for the Cadets.

Jim May (Perryville) saw his Pirates beat Pacific 23-2 by rolling up big rushing yardage and a stout defense.

Whew....what a week...and we've only just begun !

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