E.J. Gaines walked off the Fort Osage football field with a smile that lit up Eastern Jackson County.
“At last,” the all-state cornerback said after picking off two passes, rushing for 117 yards and scoring three touchdowns in the Indians 29-6 Class 5 sectional victory over Park Hill Monday night. “Maybe now the coaches will get off my back about me being the only guy in the secondary to not have a pick.”
He was laughing.
So was head coach Ryan Schartz, who added, “I can’t believe they threw at him – twice. No one has thrown in his direction all year. You know that old saying, ‘Big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games’? Well, that was E.J. tonight. He’s a big-time player.”
The University of Missouri-bound star’s performance helped the 11-0 Indians remain undefeated while advancing to a 1:30 p.m. Saturday state quarterfinal game at Raymore-Peculiar, a 42-14 winner over Winnetonka Monday night.
Schartz is a 1992 graduate of Raymore-Peculiar and he remembers his senior season – which was pretty special until the postseason rolled around.
“We were undefeated, then lost our first playoff game,” Schartz said. “There are still a couple of defensive coaches there from when I played football at Ray-Pec. It’s going to be pretty special to take this team back to Ray-Pec.”
And it will be even more special to return to Independence with an elusive state quarterfinal victory. The Indians were knocked out of the playoffs last year, losing a 6-0 heartbreaker to Raytown South.
“We all know that Coach went to Ray-Pec, and we’re going to do everything we can to win that game,” said Gaines, whose 117 yards rushing upped his season total to 1,075 yards on the ground and 14 touchdowns. “We have to make this like any other week. We can’t get too high or too excited. It’s going to be a short week, but it’s going to be a week where we watch a lot of film. Our coaches are so good, we’re going to know everything there is to know about Ray-Pec before that game Saturday.”
The Indians believed that the team that made the fewest errors would win Monday’s game, and they were right.
“We have a saying of the day,” Schartz said, “and one of our sayings heading into this game was ‘The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win this game.’ Our guys really came to play tonight.”
The Indians took a 2-0 lead on a first-quarter safety, then added a 3-yard Gaines touchdown run following a blocked punt by Nathan Hancock. A 10-yard pass from Edward Pearl to Kamryn Tillmon – following another bad snap to the Park Hill punter – gave the Indians a 16-0 lead at halftime.
Trace Norfleet scored on a 7-yard run early in the third period, but the Indians turned the game into a rout on touchdown runs of 37 and 3 yards by Gaines.
“This has been a special season,” said Pearl, who was 7 of 12 passing for 123 yards and a score. “This was the biggest game of the season – and from this point on, they’re going to get bigger and bigger.”
Added Hancock: “I feel like I’m sharing this season with my brothers, with my family. None of us ever want this to end.”
CLASS 5 STATE SECTIONAL BOX SCORE
FORT OSAGE 29, PARK HILL 6
Park Hill Fort Osage
12 First downs 10
41-138 Attempts-Yards Rushing 38-144
60 Yards Passing 123
15 Passes Attempted 12
4 Passes Completed 7
3 Passes Intercepted 3
4-41 Punts-Average 4-46
0-0 Fumbles-Lost 1-1
3-25 Penalties-Yards 3-10
PARK HILL 0 0 6 0 — 6
FORT OSAGE 2 14 6 7 — 29
Scoring
First Quarter
FO — safety, punter Will Brazil kicks ball out of end zone after bad snap, 6:38.
Second Quarter
FO — E.J. Gaines 3 run (Tucker Hickey kick), 4:25.
FO — Kamryn Tillmon 10 pass from Edward Pearl (Hickey kick), :11.
Third Quarter
PH — Trace Norfleet 7 run (pass fail), 10:03.
FO — Gaines 37 run (kick fail), 3:13.
Fourth Quarter
PH — Gaines 3 run (Hickey kick), 1:40.
