Blue Springs football coach Kelly Donohoe and his staff watched hours of film in preparation for Friday night’s Class 6 Show-Me Bowl state championship game against Hazelwood Central.
“We didn’t see on the film we watched the team we played tonight,” Donohoe said after the 13-1 Hawks downed his Wildcats 35-24 at the Edward Jones Dome.
Hazelwood Central has now denied Blue Springs teams the state championship in consecutive seasons, defeating Blue Springs South 25-20 last year. Central also avenged a lopsided 53-0 defeat to the Wildcats in the 2003 championship.
Blue Springs ran off 88 plays to the Hawks 41 and controlled the clock 34:32 to 13:28, but the 12-2 Wildcats did not have an answer to Hazelwood Central’s speed.
“They made us do a lot of things we didn’t want to do,” Donohoe said. “This is a tough, tough way for 41 seniors to end their playing career at Blue Springs High School. But that team in the other locker room deserves to be celebrating tonight. They were a very, very good team.”
A 30-yard Cody Best field goal at 1:56 of the third quarter gave Blue Springs its last lead, 24-21, going into the final quarter. But Alonzo Chappelle scored on a 5-yard run and Spencer Davis iced the victory with a 76-yard punt return that featured his blazing speed.
“I asked that No. 12 (Davis) after the game what he ran a 40 in,” Blue Springs quarterback and punter Jared Lanpher said, “and he told me 4.2. The way he blew by me on that punt, I couldn’t believe it. I had the angle and everything and I couldn’t come close to him. They were by far the fastest team we’ve faced this year.”
