After a season like we’ve never seen before and a postseason slate marred by forfeits related to COVID-19, we are down to just two teams left standing in the Missouri Class 6 playoffs – reigning champion De Smet and Raymore-Peculiar.
The Spartans (6-0) and the Panthers (11-2), who will meet at 1 p.m. Saturday (Nov. 28) at Jefferson City High School, have combined for five state championships in the past 16 seasons.
De Smet won its first state title back in 2005 and emerged as a powerhouse with an undefeated campaign in 2019. Ray-Pec had a dominant run in the early 2000’s when the Panthers won three in a row in Class 5 in 2004, 2005 and 2006.
De Smet, which played just two games in the regular season, enters the championship game averaging 38.2 points per game and allowing 11.8.
The Spartans (6-0) earned their return ticket to the title game with a 13-0 win over visiting Fox (10-2) on Friday night – one of their closest games during their current 20-game win streak.
Playing without a few key players, De Smet once again relied on a dominant defensive effort and strong rushing attack to pull out the victory.
The Spartans came away with four takeaways – [player_tooltip player_id="37154" first="Jakailin" last="Johnson"], Donovan Whitfield and Cam Wright were credited with fumble recoveries, and [player_tooltip player_id="37536" first="Kaleb" last="Purdy"] added an interception – and chewed up 270 yards on the ground. Senior running backs [player_tooltip player_id="37166" first="Rico" last="Barfield"] (117 yards rushing on 13 carries) and [player_tooltip player_id="37165" first="Taj" last="Butts"] (97 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries) led the way, and junior quarterback [player_tooltip player_id="37594" first="Seth" last="Marcione"] added an 11-yard touchdown run.
Ray-Pec, which is averaging 32.4 points per game and allowing 16.2 per game, finds itself back in the state championship game after a pair of close wins against Nixa and Liberty North.
The Panthers emerged with an 18-15 win over Nixa in the District 3 championship, seizing control of a back and forth game with a 1-yard touchdown run by senior quarterback [player_tooltip player_id="37176" first="Conrad" last="Hawley"], and then defeated Liberty North 24-17 despite not scoring in the second half.
Hawley, who is one of the top uncommitted prospects in Missouri in the Class of 2021, completed 12 of 18 passes for 155 yards in the victory and made several key plays down the stretch to keep the ball away from Liberty North. Running back Philip Fager, a 6-foot, 185-pound senior, scored twice for the Panthers, giving him a team-high 19 touchdowns.
Hawley, Fager and sophomore wide receiver Jaidyn Doss have all made key contributions during the playoff run and will be three of the keys for the Panthers in the title game if Ray-Pec is going to be able to unseat the Spartans.
