The Blue Jays had a chance to tie for first place in the KCI Conference for the first time since 2011, but the West Platte football team fell short against Mid-Buchanan, losing 28-12 on Oct. 22.
After passing for 206 yards in Mason Montez’s first game back from an injury against Penney on Oct. 15, the Blue Jays relied heavily on their rushing attack against the Dragons. On senior night, West Platte ran the wishbone offense – a power running offense where there are two running backs, one fullback and one quarterback in the backfield – and the Blue Jays ended with 199 yards on the ground.
“I thought we could run the ball a little better against them than we did, so we’ll have to go back and look at some film and fix that,” West Platte head coach Jim Newsted said. “Our pass pressure wasn’t great tonight; we couldn’t pass block well and they were in our face pretty quick.”
The Blue Jays made some mistakes early on, fumbling on their first offensive possession and having penalties stop them from moving the ball down the field. The Dragons took an early 14-0 lead before Cameron Williams crossed the goal line with 8:35 remaining in the first half but West Platte’s extra point was unsuccessful.
“We had some major problems in the first half, and you can’t win big games when you have those kinds of mistakes. We had a big fumble at the start when we had momentum and the late punt return in the first half made it a whole different ball game,” Newsted said.
West Platte senior Tanner Rowe brought in a one-handed touchdown pass with 5:50 remaining in the third quarter against Mid-Buchanan on Oct. 22.
Mid-Buchanan matched the 1-yard rushing touchdown later in the second quarter and with four seconds remaining in the opening half, the Dragons returned a punt for a 61-yard score. The Blue Jays headed into the locker room trailing 28-6.
The West Platte defense shut out Mid-Buchanan in the final 24:00 of action, but the Blue Jay offense was unable to catch up to the Dragons. With 5:50 remaining in the third quarter, Tanner Rowe made a remarkable touchdown reception in the end zone.
The senior was heavily defended and went up to try to make the catch with his right hand. While falling on his back, Rowe tipped the ball up in the air and eventually completed the reception for the only second half score in the contest.
“That was a great catch by Tanner and that shows the resilience in this team to keep fighting. We challenged the kids at the half not to lie down and to keep fighting and I think that we did; it just wasn’t enough,” Newsted said.
Although the Blue Jays fell in the regular season finale, West Platte finished with its best record since 2014. The 7-2 Blue Jays finished in third place in the conference, behind undefeated Mid-Buchanan and 8-1 East Buchanan.
Cameron Williams led the West Platte offense with 117 rushing yards on 17 carries and Emmett Sullivan finished with 62 yards on the ground. West Platte will enter the Class 1 District 8 Tournament as the No. 4 seed and will host Wellington-Napoleon (4-3) in the first round on Oct. 29 at 7 p.m.