Missouri beats Kansas in all-star high school football game

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Not long after being flagged for pass interference in the end zone, a penalty that allowed the Kansas all-stars to creep back within a single score Thursday, Park Hill’s Nathan Wilson trotted back onto the field at Belton’s Southwick Stadium.

Only now, Wilson lined up under center, charged with trying to help Missouri put some distance between its border rival once again in the Countrymart Kansas vs. Missouri High School All-Star Football Game.

“That was a pivotal point in the game, and we knew we had to go down and get a score,” Wilson said. “They hadn’t really done much all day, but had started putting some pressure on us right there. We needed to get the momentum back our way.”

With three completions totaling 57 yards, including two to former Trojans teammate DeAris Flint, Wilson did just that in spearheading a nine-play, 78-yard scoring drive that all but sealed the 21-13 win for Missouri.

Wilson’s 15-yard TD pass to Flint with 9:29 remaining in the fourth quarter bumped the lead to 21-6.

Kansas answered with its only touchdown drive of the game capped by a 10-yard strike from St. Thomas Aquinas quarterback Richard Davila to Shawnee Mission Northwest wide receiver Kenny Mings.

But Kansas drew no closer in the annual all-star affair, which is sponsored by the Greater Kansas Football Coaches Association.

That’s because Missouri MVP Raphael Spencer, a graduate of O’Hara, refused to let Kansas get the ball back in the final 5:09, carrying four times for 30 yards on a clock-melting possession that started inside its 4.

Missouri converted three consecutive times on third and short, including two first downs by Spencer in running out the remaining time.

“It’s an honor to have coach put the game in my hands, but it’s so surreal,” Spencer said. “I feel like if somebody would pinch me I would wake up, because it’s like a dream come true. I’ve waited four years to play in this game and I came through, all thanks to God.”

Defense dominated much of the first quarter, but Missouri broke through with 25.6 seconds left when Kearney’s Shane Hartzler plowed into the end zone on a 1-yard, fourth-down quarterback keeper.

Missouri turned to the big play for its next score, a 71-yard touchdown scamper by O’Hara’s Raphael Spencer midway through the second quarter.

“I’ve never seen somebody that fast,” Wilson said. “He turns that corner and just goes.”

That wasn’t how the play was drawn up.

“It was supposed to go inside, but I bounced out, and when I was running, I seriously could not believe what was happening,” Spencer said. “I was thinking to myself, ‘What is going on?’ But it was fun.”

With the extra point by Lee’s Summit North’s Andrew Baggett, the lead reached 14-0.

Kansas didn’t score until 1.7 seconds left before halftime when St. Thomas Aquinas graduate Jonathan Pyle connected on a 22-yard field goal.

Pyle added a 38-yard field goal with 52.4 seconds left in the third quarter as Kansas pulled within a touchdown and two-point conversion.

“I’ve been a high school football fan my whole life and when I was younger, Missouri used to dominate,” Wilson said. “The last couple years, I’d been wondering what the heck was happening, so it’s sweet to get the victory back on the Missouri side.”

Source: Kansascity.com