Fort Osage High School football coach Ryan Schartz has a favorite expression.
"Big players, make big plays in big games,” Schartz said leading into Saturday’s Class 5 state quarterfinal game between his undefeated Indians and his alma mater, Raymore-Peculiar.
Following a 30-19 Fort Osage win that puts them into the Class 5 state semifinal at 7 p.m. Friday against Raytown South on the Indians’ home field, Schartz might want to amend that statement to this: “Big teams make big plays in big games.”
While E.J. Gaines again dominated on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball, the Indians used a stellar defensive attack that recorded eight sacks, a special teams unit that blocked a punt in the end for a safety, blocked an extra point that would have given the Panthers a short-lived two-possession lead and an offense that did just enough to come away with the biggest win in Fort Osage history.
“From this point on,” said Gaines, who carried the ball 17 times for 168 yards and three touchdowns and played shutdown corner on Cameron Coffman’s favorite receiver, Jordan Jobes, “every win we get will be the biggest win.
“But this one was sweet. Coach Schartz graduated from here, and we wanted to send him home with a win. We knew how special it was to him.”
It was so special that Schartz couldn’t even get through his emotionally charged post-game talk at midfield. He had to cut it short.
“I was about to tear up,” Schartz said, his eyes misty and red. “This one means the world to me and this team. Man, these kids are special.”
A host of Indians broke free and blocked a punt early in the game to claim a 2-0 lead at the 5:27 mark of the first period.
But Fort Osage’s return team then watched a kickoff bounce into the hands of a Ray-Pec player, and that mental mistake led to a 1-yard touchdown run by Panthers quarterback Cameron Coffman.
A two-point run was stuffed by Gaines and it was 6-2.
Seventeen seconds later, Gaines stiff-armed a would-be tackler, cut a corner and raced 73 yards untouched for the Indians’ first touchdown and a 9-6 lead.
Coffman scored on his second 1-yard run and the Panthers took a 13-9 lead into halftime. Raymore-Peculiar ran off 36 first-half plays to the Indians’ eight and it took an emotionally charged Schartz talk at halftime to light a fire under his 12-0 squad.
“Coach was great at the half,” said quarterback Edward Pearl, who didn’t get into a rhythm until the second half. “The offense didn’t do much the first half and the defense was on the field almost the entire half.
“We had to start taking care of business in the second half.”
Pearl drove the Indians to the Ray-Pec 18, only to be picked off by Marc Harrison on the 10-yard line.
The Panthers could do nothing deep in their own territory as Clayton Jessick, who had three sacks on the afternoon, hit Coffman for a 4-yard loss.
The Panthers had to punt the ball and four plays later, Gaines scored on a 6-yard run to make it 16-13 in favor of the Indians.
But the Panthers weren’t finished. They drove 67 yards on their next possession and Coffman and Trevor Vogelsmeier hooked up on a 7-yard touchdown reception to make it 19-16.
The Indians blocked the extra point, and that seemed to spark the offense as Pearl capped an 89-yard drive with a 1-yard plunge into the end zone that was set up by a 37-yard pass to Kamryn Tillmon.
Trailing 23-19, Coffman looked to air the ball out, only to be drilled by Jessick again, forcing the Panthers to punt.
Gaines capped the most important drive of the game with a 24-yard touchdown run with 4:11 on the clock, and all that was left was the celebration.
“This was just a total team effort,” Jessick said. “I have to give credit to our strong side defensive end Chris Hamilton. He was attracting so much attention, it opened things up for me and the other guys.”
Defensive lineman Tony Tanumai also had three sacks and the Panthers carried the ball 49 times for just 89 yards.
“Unbelievable,” Schartz said when he was relayed that defensive stat. “This was a team effort – and unbelievable team effort. Now, we get a rematch with the Cardinals (Raytown South beat Fort Osage 6-0 in the 2008 state quarterfinals).
“I know our guys will be ready. And if we cut down on some penalties and mistakes, who knows? We just might have a shot at winning that game.”
FORT OSAGE 30, RAYMORE-PECULIAR 19
Fort Osage Raymore-Peculiar
10 First downs 13
34-233 Attempts-Yards Rushing 49-89
104 Yards Passing 75
11 Passes Attempted 19
6 Passes Completed 7
1 Passes Intercepted 0
3-30 Punts-Average 3-32
0-0 Fumbles-Lost 0-0
6-30 Penalties-Yards 4-36
FORT OSAGE 9 0 7 14 - 30
RAYMORE-PECULIAR 6 7 0 6 -- 19
Scoring
First Quarter
FO – Safety, blocked punt out of back of end zone, 5:27.
RP – Cameron Coffman 1 run (run fail), 1:16.
FO – E.J. Gaines 73 run (Tucker Hickey kick), :59.
Second Quarter
RP – Coffman 1 run (Patrick Noyes kick), 8:43.
Third Quarter
FO – Gaines 6 run (Hickey kick), 4:39.
Fourth Quarter
RP – Trevor Vogelsmeier 7 pass from Coffman (blocked kick), 11:13.
FO – Edward Pearl 1 run (Hickey kick), 9:30.
FO – Gaines 24 run (Hickey kick), 4:11.
