Jaguars close out losing year

One play Friday night summed up Blue Springs South’s football season for South coach Greg Oder.
The Jaguars had taken a 15-14 lead over Liberty with 3:59 left in the third quarter. Needing at least a 10-point victory to advance from Class 6 District 8 to sectionals, they tried an onside kick. The ball bounced to Garrett Ragland on the front line of Liberty’s return team.
Ragland raced for a 50-yard touchdown, ending South’s only lead of the game in 8 seconds. Liberty outscored South 22-13 the rest of the way to hand the Jaguars a 42-28 season-ending loss at William Jewell College. The Jaguars finished 4-6 overall, their first losing season since their inaugural season in 1992, and 0-3 in district play.
“This year, anything that could go wrong went wrong,” Oder said. “And so, of course, the kid catches it (in) full stride (and) runs it in for a touchdown.”
To Blue Jays coach Joel Wells, the return summed up Ragland as a person and an athlete.
“He’s probably the most intelligent person in our school,” Wells said. “I think he’s No. 1 in the senior class, as far as grade point average (is concerned). He’s a student-athlete. He recognized the approach, got a great bounce, made a great play.”
Ragland’s return “was the play of the game,” Wells said.
Ragland suggested the play also was resulted from a calculated risk.
“Usually, I just kind of block (on kickoff returns), but I noticed that the kicker (Connor Harris) took a different approach to the ball,” he said. “So I just kind of took a chance and ran up on it. It took a perfect bounce right up into my torso, so I just grabbed it and ran. There was a perfect opening.”
 Until the return, the Jaguars seemed poised to pull off a comeback win. Trailing 14-3 at halftime, they launched a seven-play, 81-yard scoring drive, capped by Calvin Jacobson’s 43-yard TD pass to Dominique Wright with 8:14 left in the third quarter.
“(The) O-line did a really good job blocking and Calvin just put it on the right spot,” Wright said. “It was just a good job overall.”
A fumble recovery set up South’s go-ahead score, a 4-yard TD pass from Jacobson to Logan Moon.
After Ragland’s return and Kevin VanEgdom’s two-point conversion pass to Bryan Adams, Jacobson was intercepted, which set up Liberty’s 13-play, 76-yard scoring drive, capped by Garrett White’s 7-yard TD run with 9:13 left in the fourth quarter. Jared Haferbier’s 20-yard TD run and Christian Brinser’s extra-point kick made it 35-15 Liberty with 5:57 left.
Jacobson’s 32-yard TD pass to Wright cut Liberty’s lead to 35-21 with 3:33 left. Liberty answered on its next possession with White’s 36-yard scoring run and Brinser’s point after.
Jacobson threw the last of his four touchdowns and got the last of his 338 passing yards with his 1-yard strike to Moon with 1:11 left.
Jacobson, who was held to 58 yards through the first half, praised South’s second-half passing game.
“The line held up perfectly,” said Jacobson, who completed 25 of 36 passes overall. “They set up, they kept a pocket open for me and the receivers ran great routes. They were just getting open for me. They all made it easy.”
Liberty (8-2, 2-1) will continue its season next Friday at Rockhurst in the Class 6 sectionals. South, no doubt, will start focusing on turning around its program.
“Everything happens for a reason, I think,” Wright said. “Hopefully, the Jaguars will be back on top next year.”
If they are, they’ll be there without Wright. He’s one of 15 seniors South will lose to graduation.