Fort Zumwalt West Clinches Tie For Conference Championship With Big Win Over Timberland

FORT ZUMWALT WEST HIGH SCHOOL – The football team won its fourth straight game, and clinched at least a tie for the GAC South championship, thanks to a 45-10 win over visiting , Friday night at Hoekel Stadium.

The Jaguars came into Friday’s action the No. 6-ranked team in Missouri Class 6 football, and after a slow start by their high-powered standards, looked every bit like one of the best teams in the state, in what became a blowout win over the league rival Wolves.

“I didn’t like how we start one bit,” West Head Coach Paul Day said. “We had a bunch of mistakes, turnovers, bad plays. It was just bad. Some of that credit has to go to Timberland though. I thought they played hard.”

The Wolves, who fell to 2-5 on the season, actually made several big plays in the early going, including forcing two West turnovers in the red zone, that kept the game close for a while.

“We did some good things defensively I thought,” Timberland Coach Craig Collins said. “They just coming at us. That’s a tough group to play against.”

Especially after a scoreless first quarter left everyone in black and purple in a foul mood.

But the Jaguars didn’t wait long to get going once the first quarter was over, scoring on the first play of the second quarter, on a touchdown run by senior Ray Harris.

Timberland answered with its best drive of the first half, trekking 45 yards and picking up three first downs, before finally stalling out at the West 25-yard line.

Unfortunately for the Wolves, that was the last good drive they’d have in first half, while West was just beginning to find its form on the offensive side of the ball.

“It’s like I said already, that’s a hell of a team over there to play against,” Collins said. “We were really kind of stuck in our own end most of that first half, and they just kind of took advantage.”

And the Jags did so quickly, scoring two touchdowns in the final five minutes of the half—both on touchdown passes by West quarterback Drew Hare—that turned what had been a tight ballgame, into a 21-0 advantage for the home team.

Timberland’s Travis Arndt kicked a 32-yard field goal on the final play of the first half to make the score 21-3 at halftime.

“We did a few things a little better at the end of the half,” Day said. “I’m still not totally happy about how we played in the first half.”

In the second half though, West looked more like that relentless offensive juggernaut it had been throughout the rest of the season.

Hare was a key factor in that, rushing for a score on West’s first second-half possession, then throwing touchdown passes on the Jags’ next two drives that made the score 42-3 late in the third quarter.

At that point, both Hare and Harris had accounted for four touchdowns apiece, giving the Jags a comfortable enough edge that Day pulled his starting offense out of the game.

“We’ve got a few guys that can make some plays out there definitely,” Day said. “And we’ve got some veteran guys out there that understand how we want to play and what it takes to win.”

The victory raised West’s overall season record to 5-2, heading into the district playoffs, which begin for the Jags next week with a home game against Columbia Hickman.

The following week, West will play at Jefferson City, which will likely be the new No. 1 team in the state, after it defeated current No. 1 Kansas City Rockhurst Friday night in double overtime.

Timberland will begin district play with a home game of its own Friday night, against Fort Zumwalt South.

All of those future games are scheduled for 7 p.m. starts, with the eventual district winners advancing to the state playoffs, which will begin November 4 and 5.

Scoring Summary

Score by Quarters

F

Timberland

0

3

0

7

10

Fort Zumwalt West

0

21

21

3

45

Second Quarter

FZW: Ray Harris 5 yd run (kick failed), 11:55

FZW: Ray Harris 1 yd run (Matt Quarles pass from Drew Hare), 5:36

FZW: Kyle Echols 24 yd pass from Drew Hare (Nick Stanczak kick), :59

Timb: Travis Arndt 32 yd FG, :00

Third Quarter

FZW: Drew Hare 10 yd run (Nick Stanczak kick), 10:51

FZW: Ray Harris 22 yd pass from Drew Hare (Nick Stanczak kick), 7:57

FZW: Anthony Baker 19 yd pass from Drew Hare (Nick Stanczak kick), 3:39

Fourth Quarter

Timb: Travis Arndt 70 yd interception (Travis Arndt kick), 6:48

FZW: Nick Stanczak 25 yd FG, 2:42