Kearney poster - Kansas City Star

MISSOURI CLASS 4
Kearney 17, Webb City 14
COMMEMORATIVE POSTER
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 28 2015
Unbelievable
BRIAN DAVIDSON Special to the Star
Dawson Goepferich (left) and the Kearney Bulldogs celebrated after defeating Webb City in the Missouri Class 4 championship game Friday in St. Louis.
Kearney recovers fumble, ends Webb City’s five-year reign as state champs
BY SAM MCDOWELL
smcdowell@kcstar.com
T
ST. LOUIS
he scrum converged near
the edge of the goal line, a
small pile of white jerseys
and red shirts fighting for a
loose football with a state
championship on the line.
As referees moved to separate bodies from the mound, one player popped up, the football tightly clasped in
his arms — Kearney junior Ethan Luft.
A game-winning recovery.
A state-championship-winning recovery.
Kearney dethroned the Webb City
dynasty Friday with a 17-14 victory in
the Missouri Class 4 championship
game — a win preserved when Webb
City fumbled the handoff exchange on
the 1-yard line with 10 seconds remaining.
Luft pounced on it.
“Before the play, I was just praying
for some sort of miracle,” Luft said. “I
don’t think a lot of people even knew
it was on the ground.
“Honestly, it was the best experience of my life.”
The Bulldogs, 14-1, won their fourth
state championship in program history
— this one perhaps the unlikeliest of
them all.
Webb City, the five-time defending
champions, had not lost in 42 games.
It had lost only once since 2010, a
span of 89 games.
That ended Friday.
Twice, really. Kearney forced a
fumble earlier in Webb City’s final
drive, and the referees initially sig-
BRIAN DAVIDSON Special to the Star
Cole Myers celebrates the first of two big fumble recoveries for Kearney. The
Bulldogs clinched the victory on Ethan Luft’s recovery with 10 seconds left.
naled that the Bulldogs had recovered
the fumble — the correct call, according to replays. But after a brief confer-
ence, the referees changed the ruling,
allowing Webb City to extend its
drive.
The next fumble rendered that a
moot point.
“There were just so many ups and
downs in that final drive — you
thought it was over, then it wasn’t, and
then it was again,” Kearney coach
Greg Jones said. “Just a (wave) of
emotions to end a game.”
That mirrored the majority of the
game. Kearney led 10-7 at halftime,
and senior tailback Marcus Harris
scored on a 1-yard plunge to extend
the advantage to 17-7 with 1:05 left in
the third quarter. Trying to respond,
Webb City senior Keaton Burroughs
fumbled while running into the end
zone early in the fourth quarter.
Webb City turned the ball over four
times.
In the first impact play of the game,
Kearney senior Brandon Gonzales
supplied a punishing hit on Webb City
punt returner Kaleb Potts, prying the
football loose as Potts fell to the
ground. Potts never returned to the
game.
The Bulldogs turned the fumble into
the first points of the game. After they
marched down the field, senior quarterback Logan Hinck connected with
Aaron Mello for an 8-yard touchdown.
“You don’t ever want to see an athlete get hurt, especially a kid, but that
lick was the tempo-setter in the
game,” Jones said.
Kearney got on the board once more
in the first half — courtesy of a 44yard field goal from Dawson Goepferich — and that, too, followed a
Webb City fumbled punt.
The first two forced turnovers
turned into points.
The last one turned into a state
championship.
“BEFORE THE PLAY, I WAS JUST PRAYING FOR SOME SORT OF MIRACLE. I DON’T THINK A LOT OF
PEOPLE EVEN KNEW IT WAS ON THE GROUND. HONESTLY, IT WAS THE BEST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE.”
Kearney junior Ethan Luft, on his game-clinching fumble recovery