The St. Mary’s football team is celebrating a conference title.
St. Mary’s clinched the first Crossroad Conference championship with a 35-19 victory over host Sherwood Friday night.
The Trojans, Lone Jack and Sherwood each finished 2-1 in the conference.
“But we are champions because we allowed the fewest number of points in conference play,” St. Mary’s coach John Gresham said. Gresham also said it was the Trojans’ first ever conference title in the sport.
The coach added Henry Handley set a school record by rushing for 267 yards on only 13 carries and scoring two touchdowns as the Trojans improved to 5-2. Sherwood had won the last five meetings with the Trojans.
The Trojans rushed for 375 yards and passed for another 98.
The Trojans led 14-13 after one quarter. Handley ran 88 yards and Kyle Willms 3 yards for TDs and Brian Erstad kicked the first two of five extra points.
Sherwood’s Belk had scoring runs of 41 and 33 yards.
In the second quarter the Trojans’ Paul Baker scored his 17th touchdown of the season on 12-yard run. Belk rambled 50 yards for his third TD for Sherwood.
The Trojans put the game out of reach on two second-half touchdowns. Handley rambled 59 yards and Eric Dennison returned a recovered fumble 45 yards.
PLEASANT HILL 42, GRAIN VALLEY 26: David Richards caught seven passes for 176 yards and two touchdowns, Robbie Sodano had 104 yards on 17 carries and one touchdown, Trace Goade 117 yards on 20 carries and Austin Gouldsmith passed for 219 yards.
But their great offensive efforts weren’t enough to prevent a Grain Valley loss to host Pleasant Hall in a Missouri River Valley Conference West Division game.
“We continue to find a way to lose,” Grain Valley coach Forrest Rovello said. “We had a lot of offense, but we had turnovers coupled with no defense and we get beat.”
The Eagles (3-4 overall, 1-3 conference), totaled 475 yards. But Pleasant Hill (6-1, 3-1) amassed 466.
Matt Hertzog led the Rosters with scoring runs of 23, 6 and 11 yards. Cody Todd passed 10 yards to Tyler Idel and 6 yards to Clint Ederer and Tyler Crotty ran 5 yards for the other Pleasant Hill touchdowns.
A 20- point second quarter for a 27-20 halftime lead put the Roosters ahead to stay.
Gouldsmith passed 11 and 17 yards to Richards and ran 10 yards for first-half Grain Valley touchdowns. Robbie Sodano ran for a two-point conversion.
The final Grain Valley touchdown came on Sodano’s 2-yard run in the fourth quarter.
LEE’S SUMMIT WEST 38, NORTH KANSAS CITY 6: B.J. Jackson completed 19 of 22 passes for 249 yards and three touchdowns and the West defense shut down North Kansas City in the second half for a Suburban Middle Six win.
The Titans, who led just 14-6 at halftime, held North Kansas City to minus-7 total yards in the second half to improve to 5-2 overall and 3-1 in the conference.
Jackson’s 21-yard TD pass to Turner Davis and Andrew Holt’s extra-point kick with 7:10 left in the first half put the Titans ahead for good at 7-6. Jackson also connected with Alec Hall on a 7- and 25-yard TD passes.
