Jags stave off Ray-Pec

Friday night was a microcosm of where the Blue Springs South football team finds itself at this point in the season.

The Jaguars are inexperienced and prone to an occasional lack of discipline. They’re also frequently explosive and obviously packed with potential. But what Friday’s 41-34 Suburban Big Six Conference win over Raymore-Peculiar at Larry Stewart Memorial Stadium proved more than anything, according to South running back Khorey Kilgore, was that this South team isn’t ever going to fold without a fight.

The Class 6 No. 9 Jags (2-1, 1-0 conference) faced a 10-point deficit in the second quarter before rallying, bounced back after losing the lead in the third quarter on a 91-yard touchdown reception, twice answered Ray-Pec drives with touchdowns within a minute and finally escaped with a victory after holding off a final Panther drive that came within a missed tackle of ending in the end zone.

“Perseverance,” said Kilgore, a senior who rushed for 193 yards on 16 carries and scored three touchdowns. “We didn’t get rattled when they got up big on us in the first half. We just persevered through, and I think that’s the big takeaway from this game.”

Kilgore put South up 7-3 at the 1:41 mark of the first period when he snared a perfectly timed option pitch from senior quarterback Dalton Brewer and bolted 61 yards.

But the 10th-ranked Panthers (2-1, 1-1) responded with two scores early in the second quarter – on a 7-yard run by Steve Brown and a 48-yard interception return by Skyler Sims less than a minute later.

That was a sign of things to come in a game that was loaded with big plays – like Brewer’s 71-yard touchdown dash 23 seconds after his pick-6. Brewer bounced off a crowd of Ray-Pec defenders on a QB keeper, broke free and outraced the Panther defense to the end zone.

Brewer completed only 5 of 19 passes for 98 yards and threw three interceptions, but he also connected on touchdowns of 3 yards to Brandin Dandridge and 30 to Kilgore and rushed for 90 yards on 13 carries.

South took a 20-17 lead into halftime after Brewer’s touchdown to Dandridge, but that provided little comfort against a team that posted 19-fourth quarter points in a 38-34 win over Liberty last week.

“We thought this was the most important game of the season,” Kilgore said. “Ray-Pec, they’re a great team and we had to come out fighting. ... We knew they were going to come out swinging in the second half and so we were ready.”

After the Panthers fumbled the second-half kickoff, Brewer hit Kilgore for a 30-yard strike to go up 27-17. But Ray-Pec answered with a five-play, 65-yard drive capped by Hodge’s 5-yard touchdown pass to Scotty Schaffner. A little more than two minutes later, Hodge found a streaking Schaffner again for a 91-yard touchdown.

Schaffner, a 6-foot-4 junior receiver, finished with five receptions for 166 yards.

“They made some big plays,” South coach Greg Oder said. “They fooled our corners a couple of times and ended up with some big plays. But once again, we just had to fight back through.”

Oder said he noticed his squad’s resiliency in last week’s 6-0 loss to Fort Osage. Despite facing a late deficit in a torrential downpour, the Jaguars drove 70 yards late in the fourth quarter and nearly pulled off a dramatic comeback.

This week, they finished the job.

First, Kilgore ripped off a dazzling 68-yard touchdown run in which he took an inside carry, bounced outside and sprinted down the sideline to put the Jags up 34-31 at the 4:20 mark of the third quarter.

Ray-Pec eventually tied it, on Hodges’ 23-yard field goal with 6:28 to play. But 22 second later, Dandridge scored again with a 70-yard run off a double reverse.

While Kilgore starred as the top ball carrier, Oder complimented his offensive line, which helped South rack up 382 rushing yards while averaging more than 11 yards per carry.

“Khorey did have a good game and he’s played well pretty much all year,” Oder said. “When you have a back rush well, then you’ve got something good going on up front. So that’s a tribute to them too.”

South needed a final defensive stand after Ray-Pec started a final drive at its own 27-yard line with 1:46 left. Panther running back Aaron Russel nearly came up with a heroic scoring scamper when he picked up 32 yards on a fourth-and-2 from the Ray-Pec 35. He had just one defender to beat to reach the end zone, but was brought down by senior defensive back Jordan Conaty – who also snagged an interception earlier in the game.

On the following play, Hodges was sacked by senior defensive back Jordan Moon for a loss of 17. Three plays later, the Panther drive ended on an incomplete pass and the Jaguars finally exhaled.

“I just told the kids, they make it awful hard,” said Oder, whose team plays at Class 5 No. 5 Staley (2-1) next week. “The main thing, though, is it felt like we played better this week than we did the first two. And right now, that’s what we’re trying to focus on.”