November 26, 2007                               Check Out Previous Blogs

Class 5 Championship game between Waynesville and Belton was the best of the six games. Behind 7-3 at the end of 3 quarters, the Waynesville Tigers rode the wide shoulders of AJ Fort as he carried ball 11 times in the 4^th quarter ALONE and crossed the goal line twice in the final stanza to lead the Tigers to a 17-7 victory. He broke loose for 2 long runs (including one for a TD) after pounding and pounding the tough Belton Pirates Defense. Waynesville Coach Vernon wasn't going to deviate from the horse that had brought him to the house. These were two teams that clearly preferred to run the ball. Despite the low score, the game was very entertaining as each offense moved the ball on many possessions. The "long" field often caught up to the offense and the defense would tighten as the shadows of the goal post became closer and closer. Another winner for fan involvement was the highly vocal Waynesville (all orange clad). These fans were waving their rally towels even BEFORE the teams were announced! Sometimes, loud fans are obnoxious fans. Not in this case-congrats to the Tigers and the Tiger fans !!

Tell us your favorite game of the weekend !

Lawson Cardinals won the Class 2 title tilt over the defending State Champs-Blair Oaks Falcons 38-17. This game was very competitive for the first half. Surprisingly, the Falcons turned the ball over in 5 consecutive possessions and Lawson capitalized on several short fields to break in wide open. QB Joseph Kassanavoid was the best player on the field in this game despite his rather pedestrian numbers of 7 of 13 for 99 yards. You just really can't hide talent. Kassanavoid, recruited heavily for his signal calling, is reportedly waiting the MLB draft. If his dreams come to fruition and he is drafted high, he could turn his talents to the diamond rather than the gridiron. This was the first game of the Show-Me Bowl 2007 and several thousand fans were waiting outside the doors prior to game time. It really was tremendous experience for both schools and communities as they really supported their teams. Lawson followers were still talking about the super district game against the Maryville Spoofhounds' that propelled the Cardinals into post season play! Class 2, Lawson, Blair Oaks-your take ?

Harrisonville Wildcats, currently riding a 41 game win streak, used the talents of QB Sean Ransberg in a variety of ways to upend the MICDS Rams 49-14 in Class 3 action. Ransberg is a master at running the option, he was part of several "gadget" plays (they really aren't trick plays) and ran the show for the Wildcats. The game was as one sided as the score as the Cats scored their first 6 of their first 7 possessions. Only the halftime buzzer prevented the other score! Routs like this make me wonder how this talented team would compete against larger, very successful, teams ? What if schools could petition to play "up" in a higher classification for a 2 year cycle? I would think that if a school desired to do that in one sport, it would have to be done in all sports for that school. Your thoughts ?

Class 6 was a good ballgame for a half. It seemed that the strength, numbers, skill of the Rockhurst Hawklets wore down the determined Mehlville Panthers 28-9. For much of the first half, the Panther defense seemed to put the Rock offense "out of kilter"as they were flying to the ball, pressuring QB Nathan Scheelhaase and were blitzing. As the game unfolded, Rock adjusted to speed, made some HUGE special team returns and used wide toss plays to combat inside blitz. It may not seem like it but early in the 3rd quarter was really "the magic moment"of the game. After Rock had just scored to take a 14-9 lead and regained possession, Rockhurst QB Scheelhaase was hit as he was flushed from the pocket deep in his own territory on a key 3rd down and 12 yards to go. The ball bounced 10-15 yards behind the LOS, Drew Temple grabbed the ball off the turf, eluded one defender and raced down the sideline past the first down marker to keep possession for the Hawklets. Rockhurst went on to score again on the drive and it was over. There's a great example of a "big time" player making a play on his own! It wasn't the excellent coaching of Coach Severino on this play-it was the player! Soph Sal Bonfonte's had two returns that were fabulous! Another was called back to a penalty. George Allen is probably nodding his head in agreement upstairs on the tremendous special team play of the Hawklets. Class 6 action ?

I'm wondering if the QB had to have last names of 10+ letters in this Show-Me Bowl?

Joseph Kassanavoid and Nathan Scheelhaase have all of us checking and double checking the spelling !!

Announcing the roster of the Lee Summit West may have seemed like it when on forever. Actually, how fast can you announce 103 players ! This Class 4 school has almost one-third of its male population playing football!!! Kudo's to the Lee Summit West staff and school for establishing, in a very short time, a great program that has quantity and quality. The Titans handled the Parkway Central Colts easily 35-0. Overall yardage of 432-186 confirms that the Titans controlled both sides of the LOS. After reaching the semifinal round the last 2 years and being bounced by Camdenton and Webb City, the Titans touch the Dome in only their 4th year of existence! Bryant Jackson, came in off the bench to jump start the stagnant offense early in the game. By halftime, the superiority the line play had been established. Tell us about Class 4!

Class 1 play saw full house backfields much of the time. Orrick out muscled the Thayer Bobcats 20-8. Each team ran the ball over 40 times in a speedy game (2 hours 15 min) in the opening game of day 2 at the Dome. Your take on Class 1 ?

Now that football equipment is or has been collected, award banquets/ceremonies are concluded, the next big football news will be the classifications and districts for the next 2 year cycle. We'll keep you posted.

MISSOURI ATHLETIC CLUB

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