Ryan Schartz wanted to apologize.
For three quarters, his Fort Osage High School football team was able to keep things close against top-ranked Webster Groves in its Class 5 Show-Me Bowl state championship Saturday at the Edward Jones Dome.
But the fourth quarter was a different matter as the Statesmen exploded for two touchdowns to claim a 31-14 victory and put an end to the Indians’ dream season.
“We’re sorry Eastern Jack didn’t do better at state,” Fort Osage coach Ryan Schartz said after his 13-1 Indians followed a Blue Springs loss to Hazelwood Central in Friday night’s Class 6 championship game. “We ran into a very good team tonight, and a couple of mistakes and our return game just killed us.”
Senior linebacker Steven Snyder said the way it ended was disheartening.
“The game came down to mistakes, and we made too many,” Snyder said. “It’s hard right now to think about anything good, but it was a good season – just not a good way to end it.”
Schartz said his team will be happy with itself in time. It was just difficult to feel that way on Saturday night.
“In a couple of weeks, these guys are going to realize they had a pretty good season,” Schartz said, “but right now, that’s hard. This is a tough way to end the season.”
Twice the undefeated Statesmen scored following long punt returns, and they answered each of Fort Osage’s touchdowns with scores on their next possession.
“That was very big for us,” Webster Groves coach Clifford Ice said. “We typically shot ourselves in the foot in the first half and then came out played pretty well in the second half. That was a quality Fort Osage team, and we did everything we could to stop (E.J.) Gaines. He got in a couple of big runs, but we were able to shut them down and make some big plays of our own.”
Conor Barker opened the game with a 28-yard field goal to give the Statesmen a 3-0 lead with 2:25 left in the first quarter.
Fort Osage answered with a long drive that resulted in a 1-yard quarterback sneak touchdown by Edward Pearl.
On their next possession, Webster Groves quarterback Derrick Dilworth hit David Scanlon for a 53-yard scoring strike to make it 10-7.
The Indians proved they had plenty of firepower left as Pearl connected with Garry Frisk on a 79-yard touchdown that gave the Indians a short-lived 14-10 lead.
