Line leads way as Jaguars fend off feisty Patriots

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Just ask Blue Springs South football coach Greg Oder, whose reigning Class 6 state champion Jaguars return just three starters from last year’s team, yet were able to claim a 47-14 victory over Truman Friday night at Larry Stewart Memorial Stadium.

Those three starters are offensive linemen, and the line paved the way for 397 yards of offense as Khorey Kilgore scored on runs of 65, 25 and 6 yards and added a 40-yard screen pass from Dalton Brewer.

“It all starts up front,” said Kilgore, who carried the ball 13 times for 157 yards and the four overall touchdowns. “We’re a new team, but we have some great linemen back and they played a big role in tonight’s win.”

The score might be a bit deceiving as Truman trailed just 20-7 at halftime and 26-14 midway through the third quarter, and seven of the Jaguars’ points came on a 65-yard fumble return for a score by Jordan Moon (please see related story).

“It took a while to get the offense started,” said senior center Alex McClain, one of those three returning starters. “But once we got in a flow, we really clicked as a group. We have such great coaches and a lot of talent in the backfield. No one is trying to be Steven Sullivan or Connor Harris (the standout running back/quarterback combination from the state championship team), but we don’t need guys to be anything but themselves.

“Khorey and Trey (Ervin) had great games running the ball and Dalton did a nice job at quarterback. We were challenged early, stood up to the challenge and won our first game.”

Moon got the Class 6 seventh-ranked Jaguars on the scoreboard when Kris Butts stripped the ball from Truman running back Demetric Dinwiddie, and Moon picked it up and raced 65 yards for the score.

Kilgore then capped a 61-yard drive with a 25-yard touchdown run.

Last week, he scored on a 40-yard run to open the Friday night jamboree against Park Hill. After that score he said he would rather “score a touchdown that counts.”

“The touchdowns I scored tonight felt much better than the one I scored at the jamboree,” Kilgore said. “But tonight, I give all the credit to God and my offensive line. They were there for me all night long.”

Truman came back and scored on a 3-yard run by quarterback J.T. Hayes to cut the deficit to 13-7 as South missed the extra point.

 “We made it a close game for a while,” said Hayes, who was 13 of 24 passing for 138 yards and a touchdown. “But they are a very good team. We did some good things tonight and saw a lot of areas we need to work on.”

Hayes threw a 24-yard touchdown to Scott Agee to account for the second Truman touchdown to cut the deficit to 12 with 10:16 left in the third quarter.

The Jaguars were just getting warmed up as Kilgore scored three more times and reserve quarterback Chris Swingle scored on a 5-yard run with just over a minute left in the fourth quarter.

“That is probably the best coached team in the state,” Truman coach Jeff Floyd said of the Jaguars. “We addressed some things after the game. Our guys never gave up, never gave in. We battled them all night long. The fumble return for a touchdown was a big play, but great teams like South are going to make big plays – you just have to come up with some big plays of your own.”