Boy, has The Gridiron Geek ever quit feeling awkward about posting that “Karate Kid” retrospective on Mississippi Magazine right before the playoffs, all just to say that we’d gotten the gambit wrong on those pesky private-school powerhouses – one of which Hillsboro made quick work of in the Class 4 semifinals. Little did we know TGG’s District Playoff Preview would just lead to ANOTHER movie recap put on the blog in earnest, thanks to the Crystal City Hornets finally stinging in fall and reaching an Elite Eight.
Whoops…there goes The Geek with “Crystal City.” (Mommy, mommy! He’s doing it again!)
It bears further examination how Mississippi Magazine just can’t get with the times. Yeah, we were right that some of MSHSAA’s All-Star teams like Cardinal Ritter, Helias Catholic, and Valle U. simply got better to meet the mold of the new Class-divisions MSHSAA has promoted them into. But to place a different emphasis on Luke Skaggs’ memorable sideline remark to Hillsboro’s assistant coaches, “The Geek was right.” A campaign of Varsity football like no other has flipped MSHSAA’s Friday Night Lights narrative on its backside again before we could even count-up the tokens from what we THOUGHT the shot was. Powerhouse private schools? Unbeatable teams? Brick walls in the bracket? Eh, that’s so “2022.”
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. Missouri’s Show-Me Bowl is becoming a throwback to the “ancient” times of the 2000s and 2010s, when beating Western MO opponents was still considered the holy grail for an STL-area team. We knew there were lots of tough private-school teams hanging around when TGG got involved with local pigskin for the first time a decade ago, but many of those campaigns shared the same flaws as opponents from the Public High League like Gateway Tech had. (Funny enough, it WAS “Gateway Tech” back when the Gateway STEM Jaguars were “Tech-nically” a significant threat in the playoffs.) It was those Western MO schools – with the scary Nebraska-style running games, the blue-chip QBs who grew up knocking snakes off tractors at 20 yards with a Nerf Whistler, and the sort of size, skill, and depth up front that can “POP!” the St. Louis brands to pieces. Simultaneously, the sad-sack effort of Lutheran North in Week 14 could be a symbol of MSHSAA’s manufactured teams losing their luster, giving neighborhood teams (hooray!) far better chances to win a state trophy.
Kearney is a model for Friday Night Lights success in rural Mah-Zurr-Ahh. one of the very few schools which was able to surpass Webb City and win a state title in Class 4 before Missouri’s signature teams started showing up in out-of-the-ordinary playoff brackets, and Webb City’s move up to Class 5 freed various Class 4 bridesmaids to fight things out on their own. The 2015 Kearney Bulldogs went 14-1, defeating the nationally-ranked Webb City Cardinals 17-14 in a classic, emotional Show-Me Bowl.
How does Kearney’s ’23 team stack up to its last state champion? Not half bad. KHS’s list of blow-out victims includes Jefferson City, formerly of Class 5, and Nevada High School, which was good enough to lose a 40-36 heartbreaker to Class 3 Show-Me Bowl finalist Seneca on Senior Night. Kearney’s rare improvement from September to December is evident in the Bulldogs’ pair of games against Smithville. KHS lost late summer’s contest 41-21 to the Warriors, but won the rematch by 2 touchdowns, a glory reminiscent of Class 3 state finalist Park Hills Central finally vanquishing Valle University in a District rematch (“If you don’t believe in God, YOU JUST LOOK AT THAT SCOREBOARD!!!”) a year ago.
The good news for Hawkville is that Kearney isn’t likely to do anything amazing, win or lose. It’s amazing to go 12-2 and beat opponents you lost to previously, for certain, but KHS isn’t that highlight-reel friendly outside of one aspect that we’ll get to in a minute. For instance, Kearney QB Casey Rooney can boast of a 63% completion rate from his junior year, but the slender signal-caller was called upon to throw under 10 passes per game. Rooney’s rushing stats aren’t spectacular for the spearhead of a 12-2 offense, yet Rooney’s up-the-middle threat opens lanes for Kearney’s outside running game that reminds The Geek mostly of the NCAA, namely Northern Illinois’ successful playbooks of the Jordan Lynch era. Hillsboro must not allow Kearney’s “middle-or-edge” option game to tear the HHS defense apart at its seams.
Kearney’s blocking and ball-control are so good that Jeff City’s offense hardly got a chance to show how fired up JCHS got for its first semifinal bid in 22 years. Kearney running back Cameron Emmons doesn’t frighten a Show-Me Bowl defense from a numbers point-of-view; he’s under 200 pounds, under 5’10” tall, and often “hides” behind a sizable OL up the middle. But the dangerous tailback’s playing in the same postseason as Mizzou’s star Cody Schrader, and he’ll be running on the same field on which Schrader became the best rusher in the SEC this year. Schrader’s “bad” speed and measurables coming from Varsity is what originally landed the phenom in Division 2, though as the Show-Me Bowl goes, Emmons’ lurking presence at 5’9 and modest 4.6 40-yard dash is a comparable enough to Schrader’s physique that it feels less shallow to tout Kearney’s fireplug in the backfield. Mizzou’s 10 victories serve as a backup reminder of what low-gravity rushers with fierce first-steps can do to proud run defenses.
What does the prolific Emmons do so well? What does Kearney do so well. The Varsity Bulldogs are one of Class 4’s best tackle-breaking teams TGG has witnessed in quite some time. We’re all used to seeing Varsity highlights where the path to a TD is wide open, not because a defense isn’t seldom that easy to attack but because a defense’s breakdowns usually lead to the offense’s biggest plays of the contest. You can’t leave a kid’s 70-yard TD gallop off HUDL’s short, limited game-highlight reels just because the opposing defense forgot to play football on that side of the field. Kearney’s season highlights on HUDL, by contrast, don’t include many easy plays, but rather a collection of KHS quarterbacks and running backs rollin’, rockin’, stumblin’, tumblin’, and breaking 5 tackles to somehow land on their feet and produce a long touchdown. Hillsboro’s tackle-up discipline will be tested to the max on Saturday.
Kearney’s lineup is long and athletic. So many of the Bulldogs’ tackles, linebackers, and Tight Ends are well over 6 feet tall that the top of KHS’s depth chart looks a lot like a Varsity basketball team full of tremendous power-forwards. Kearney OT Joseph “Hanna-Canna” Schranz is 6’4 and 240 pounds, modeling a roster of kids who don’t scare 300 pounds but play at a state-championship level of fundamentals and reach. Hillsboro’s offense versus Kearney’s defense is a mystery of a matchup, considering how we don’t expect HHS to be forced into passing the ball as often as other Kearney antagonists this season. When QB Preston Brown does pass, he’ll need to be alert to Saturday’s opponent’s ability to close down passing-lanes faster than usual, and swat the pigskin out of the air. Speaking of TEs, Kearney’s receiving threat Bryce Page is one of those 6’5″ skyscrapers that the administrators convinced to play basketball and football, but we still think Hillsboro’s TE Gavin Hite potentially has a bigger Show-Me Bowl in store for him, playing on a more pass-friendly offense.
That’s not the only “sneaky” advantage Hillsboro High hopes to have on Saturday. Kearney’s final scores alone reveal a stronger kicking game than any of the Varsity Hawks’ top opponents from ’23 – Cardinal Ritter and Lutheran North played as though they had forgotten to even ask any kickers to show up in training camp. But we’re highly impressed by the east-MO special teams of modernizing teams like Hillsboro and St. Vincent, and Nick Marchetti has boomed so many touchbacks for the Hawks this campaign that the Kansas City region’s C4 bid has a burden of proof that they can compete with it. Mississippi Magazine’s slogan for 2023 playoff teams looking to knock-off an established favorite became “take them to places they’ve never been” as early as Week 12. Kearney’s HUDL highlights are predominantly of TD runs from plus-territory, where it’s easier to break tackles against a worn-down defense. We’re not aware that KHS’s offense is a dynamo from deep in its own end of the field, in actuality the Bulldogs’ epic corps of linebackers has probably helped Kearney High’s special teams dominate all year, pinning its rivals deep on opposing turns and gaining field position for the offense. Marchetti’s leg means that Kearney’s chance to pile-up a big halftime lead is questionable even if KHS is clicking on offense right away. Starting from the 25-yard line on each opportunity is a handicap that rural teams (at least those who don’t spend much time in downtown Kansas City for some reason) aren’t always even familiar with, and could allow HHS to buy time while the Hawks work to adjust to a far more physical, disciplined foe than the team which didn’t really show up showed up last Saturday. Kearney’s coaching staff already knows that senior Payton Brown is a virtuoso, but may not be prepared for the beautiful music Hillsboro’s offense can play when a vaunted opponent blinks in the slightest way. A negative-field turn for Kearney is Hillsboro’s chance to grab a turnover and seize their moment.
Lastly, the particulars. Kearney is almost as close to Kansas City as the Tri-Cities are to St. Louis, but as mentioned in our recap of Hillsboro’s Week 14 triumph, the building said to be the most noteworthy in town is a tiny, unassuming Ranch home that’s advertised as Jesse James’ childhood house. But KHS’s head coach Logan Minnick doesn’t seem interested in “shoot ’em up” Wild West-style football slogans that Kearney High’s season ticket-holders (this is Nebraska’s border we’re talking about, ladies and gentlemen) are probably sick of hearing after so many years. Kearney’s jersey colors can include deep blue/violet for home games and white/yellow and all-white for away games, and of course the latter choice can’t help but remind The Geek of Windsor’s “snow-blindness hazard” unis that caused Mississippi Magazine to nickname WHS’s football team The Albino Birds some time ago.
Minnick also isn’t into the regular old “we shot ourselves in the foot” stuff that you get from some skippers out in farm country. The HC spread an interesting message via Kearney’s team captains (and via his own interviews) following the Bulldogs’ outstanding 35-0 playoff win over Nevada, proclaiming that the Varsity was shocked at how easily they won, and could only think they were lucky to have escaped a difficult 4th quarter. It’s the “Dan Devine” method of hyping every opponent while downplaying your chances, and it was how Webb City stayed humble and hungry through so many Class 4 state championship bids. It could prove to work just as effectively for Webb City’s potential successor.
It’s hard to become a dynasty in real-time when there’s a big, fast, hungry Hawk swooping down on you, ready for combat at 11 this Saturday morning. There is also no evidence – NONE, NADA – that Jesse James ever competed in, won, or earned a sweepstakes prize in a Hawk Shoot.
Stay tuned for a MSHSAA Class 4 Show-Me Bowl media wrap-around by Thursday afternoon, and (of course) TGG’s predictions for Friday and Saturday’s gala event in Columbia.