Thumbs up to the area’s high school football players, coaches and supporters. It’s been a good year, but two teams really stand out.
Those two teams – Fort Osage and Blue Springs – both won Friday, and both are headed for the state championship, the Show-Me Bowl.
Fort Osage, No. 2 in the state, will play No. 1 Webster Groves in the Class 5 championship next Saturday at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.
No. 3 Blue Springs – having beaten Nos. 1 and 2 in the playoffs already – will play either Hazelwood Central or Oakville for the Class 6 title on Friday at the dome.
Good luck to both. You’ve already made your schools proud. Now go get a couple of trophies.
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It’s refreshing to see the enthusiasm the Missouri Mavericks have generated locally for themselves, their new home at the Independence Events Center and for hockey generally.
The Mavericks are also settling nicely into the community. As one of the players put it, there’s more to it than signing autographs after a game. Most of the players and some others connected with the team came out one afternoon this week for a Habitat for Humanity project in Independence. One family’s life will be a little better because of it.
Independence is a friendly place, and it shows at the Events Center. At one end hangs a large American flag, and next to it a somewhat smaller Canadian flag. It’s a hockey thing, right? Seems fitting, right?
Wait. All of the teams in the Central Hockey League – from South Dakota to Texas to Missouri – are from the USA. No matter. Most of the Mavs players are from Canada. Thumbs up for that nice touch. Welcome to town, fellas.
