Francis Howell Erases Deficit but Falls in State Semis

It wasn't how Corey King wanted to remember his final high school football game.

But the Francis Howell senior and his teammates could only watch in disappointment as the visiting Jaguars of Blue Springs South celebrated a 28-21 win over the host Vikings in a Class 6 semifinal game Friday night.

Blue Springs South (11-2), which mounted a 20-0 lead by halftime, got the winning touchdown with 6 minutes, 48 seconds left to play on a 10-yard run from Steven Sullivan and advanced to play CBC in the state championship game Friday at the Edward Jones Dome.

"It was just a struggle," Howell coach Bryan Koch said of his team's first-half performance. "We came out very flat. We weren't ready to play. We were missing tackles, missing blocks, dropping balls. We weren't doing anything well."

Connor Harris, South's multi-faceted quarterback who had his fingerprints on the game from start to finish, made Howell pay for its first big mistake early in the first quarter. After the Vikings' defense made a third-down stop and forced South to punt, Howell was flagged for a too-many-men penalty, giving the Jaguars new life and a fresh set of downs.

Four plays later, Harris ran a quarterback keeper 43 yards, bowling over a would-be tackler in the process, for the game's opening touchdown. Harris booted the extra point through himself for an early 7-0 lead.

Harris scored twice more on quarterback keepers—one on an 8-yard run with 3:14 left in the first quarter, the other on a 29-yard run with 10:43 left in the second—and converted one of two extra-point attempts to put his team up 20-0.

For the Vikings, who had been held scoreless through the first half for the first time all season, it was gut-check time. They found inspiration in the words of their coach, a 2000 Howell graduate and former star lineman who had been through it all while wearing a Vikings uniform.

"(Coach Koch) said he never forgot his last game on this field against Jeff City in the quarterfinals," King said. "They got killed, and he said the next day all he could remember was he failed. He told us, 'You'll remember what you do the next 24 minutes the rest of your lives.'

"We came out and fought as hard as we could."

The Howell offense may have struggled in the first half but quickly found its rhythm in the second behind quarterback Eric Siebenshuh and running back Alex Martin. The Vikings methodically drove 62 yards downfield, gaining large chunks of yardage at a time, and got on the board with a 1-yard Siebenshuh touchdown plunge with 7:07 left in the third quarter to make it 20-7.

Howell could sense the momentum swinging when it received a big defensive play from King less than a minute later. Harris was flushed from the pocket and threw downfield only to be picked off by King along the Howell sideline, giving the Vikings possession deep in South territory.

On the drive, the Vikings caught a break when South was called for pass interference on a key third-down play. Two plays later Siebenshuh rolled right and threw an ill-advised pass across the field to receiver John Haarmann. Haarmann, who was double-covered with Harris draped all over him, wrestled the defender for possession and came down with the ball for the touchdown, making it 20-14 with 3:24 left in the third.

The Howell defense, which was beginning to get a beat on Harris, forced South into a 3-and-out on its next possession, setting up the offense for the go-ahead score.

Siebenshuh continued finding open receivers on the ensuing drive and, following a first-down run from Martin, the Howell quarterback found King, who weaved his way 18-yards for a touchdown as third-quarter time expired. Zac Perkins' third extra point of the night gave Howell its first lead at 21-20.

"We just had to keep our heads up the whole time and believe we were still in the game," King said. "Next thing you know we're up by one point and it's a ballgame again."

But that's where Howell's magic ended, as Harris countered for South with a 12-play scoring drive that lasted 5 minutes, 12 seconds and was capped off by Sullivan's touchdown run and 2-point conversion.

Harris put the brakes on Howell's final drive with an interception of Siebenshuh, as South ran out the clock on the game and the Vikings' season.

"They're a hell of a team," Harris said of Howell. "Never quit, never quit. They came back. We just had to keep fighting. It's like a dream come true. We'll have to play a lot better if we want to win next week."

Howell, which made its first-ever appearance in the state semifinals, ended its season 9-4.

"We challenged our kids and they responded and put together a great third quarter," Koch said. "We just couldn't finish it."