For as bad as the first two offensive plays went, West Platte found itself in a competitive game early on against Lawson.
Then, the Class 2 No. 5-ranked Cardinals pulled way with four unanswered scores on the way to a 43-21 victory at Rudolph Eskridge Stadium on Friday, Sept 7.
“They are a good football team and we knew that coming in,” West Platte coach Paul Thomas said. “We made them turn the ball over a few times. I felt happy with our defensive effort early.”
Lawson (3-0, 1-0 KCI) got the ball first and proceeded to march down the field with seven straight rushing plays as rain pelted down onto the rubber playing surface.
On the eighth play, Lawson quarterback Andrew Stephens lost the ball and West Platte’s Cole Vandel picked up at the 1-yard line.
One play later, Lawson had a 2-0 lead when James McCutcheon tackled a West Platte running back in the end zone on the Bluejays’ first play.
Lawson got the free kick and again started moving the ball without issues against West Platte. A 15-yard pass from Stephens to Clayton Siebert moved the Cardinals to the West Platte 24-yard line.
On the next play, another fumble occurred and Thomas Tharp picked it up for the Bluejays (1-2, 0-1).
“That was one thing we were disappointed in,” Lawson coach Todd Dunn said. “We had been really good, in what we call score zone, this year. To come out with two fumbles … that really ticked us off.”
The Cardinals got the ball right back when West Platte fumbled its second play of the game. Siebert picked it up for Lawson at the West Platte 20-yard line.
Three plays later, Joseph Kessler’s 11-yard run gave Lawson a 9-0 advantage.
After gifting the Cardinals an early lead, West Platte got the ball at the 50 after recovering an onside kick.
On 3rd-and-5 from the 45, quarterback Noah Johnson hit Trent Taylor for a 10-yard gain. On the next play, Gavin Davis dashed his way down the West Platte sideline for a 35-yard touchdown.
He booted the extra point to make it 9-7 with 3 minutes, 37 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Cardinals got on the board late in the frame going 80 yards in a little less than three minutes. Remington Killingsworth had a 27-yard run into West Platte territory. At the 38-yard line, Stephens hit Seibert for a touchdown on a play action fake with 42.2 seconds left. The conversion attempt failed, making it 15-7.
The Cardinals boosted the lead to 22-7 when Kessler scored his second touchdown with 2:07 left in the second quarter. He had a 12-yard run on the first play of the drive, while a face mask penalty on West Platte moved the ball from the Bluejays’ 38- to 15-yard line. Two plays later, Kessler scored.
Lawson scored on its first two possession of the second half to make it 37-7.
On 4th-and-1 from the 40, Dalton Cook took a handoff to the end zone with 7:30 left in the third quarter. With 4:40 left in the frame, Killingsworth ran the ball in for a 15-yard score on a drive that started at the West Platte 22-yard line after a bad snap/3-yard punt combo.
West Platte scored with 1:06 left in the frame when Johnson hit Vandel for a 44-yard touchdown, capping a six-play drive.
Each team had a score in the final 12 minutes of action.
Patrick Hand ran for a 33-yard touchdown to cap the scoring for the Cardinals with 10:47 left in the fourth quarter.
Johnson hit Davis for a 11-yard gain on the next possession and then the left-handed quarterback had a pair of 9-yard runs. Johnson hit Brayden Cogan for a 9-yard gain and three plays later, Davis ran in for a 14-yard score with 6:15 left.
That made it 43-21, which was the final score.
“What they do is tough to defend,” Dunn said of West Platte. “They throw the ball well enough you gotta be able to cover, you can’t have everyone stacked in the box, but run the option well enough you got to have guys in the box. It is tough to defend. Coach Thomas is an old friend of mine and he does a great job of maximizing the talents he has and putting guys in position to put ball in their hands. They were right there … we couldn’t put them away until the second half.”
Johnson passed for 133 yards and ran for another 15 — though sacks hurt his rushing total. Davis led the way with 82 yards on 17 totes.
Vandel had 59 yards receiving, while Cogan had 53 on six catches.
“I like the way we played on offense,” Thomas said. “We are getting better.”
Stephens completed two passes — one for a touchdown — for 55 yards and ran for another 40. Overall, the Cardinals ground game rolled up 387 yards. Cook led the way with nine carries for 93 yards, while Kessler had eight for 89.
Looking ahead
West Platte dropped a second straight game, after losing a first-half lead in Week 2 against South Harrison.
Now, the test will be East Buchanan, ranked No. 3 in Class 1.
The Bulldogs are coming off a victory against Hamilton, then ranked No. 3 in Class 1, last week.
East Buchanan is led by quarterback Tyler Schottel, who has 695 yards passing and eight touchdowns. Three different receivers have gained more than 100 yards.
East Buchanan has won eight straight against West Platte, including two last season. The last win for the Bluejays in the series was a 41-20 win in 2010, though 2011 (44-36) and 2013 (45-45) were competitive losses.
Now, the Bluejays prepare for a second straight ranked foe.
“I felt our kids played hard,” Thomas said of this Bluejays following a loss to Lawson. “We got better. Last week (vs. South Harrison) we were gripping among each other. This week we stayed together and played as a team.”