SportsZone Football Friday Preview: Lee’s Summit West vs. Rock Bridge
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Bruins and the Titans go head to head in the first week of SportsZone Football Friday in 2026.
A Class 6 clash leads off the slate for the new season of high school football. Rock Bridge will open the year hosting Lee's Summit west on Friday night.
Coming into the new season, the hosts come in following a 5-5 season. Rock Bridge fell in the opening round of the district tournament and will hope to improve on that mark from a season ago.
"I'd say, you know, you want you want to be playing deep into November. But, we got a lot of time before then. We're not that team yet," Rock Bridge head coach Matt Perkins said. "Hopefully we can get there and, you know, this is a kind of a benchmark or a check mark and an effort to, see who we are."
The team is led by a standout class of returners, who Perkins has spoken highly of over the course of the offseason. Quentin Lea, Bookee Kritza and Sean Nevills Jr. highlight the group hoping to bring the Bruins back into the spotlight.
"I never want to ask Sean Nevilles or Quentin Lee or Bookee Kritza or any of those guys to be anything other than who they are, and so just come out and be themselves, and that'll be more than enough," Perkins said.
They'll be pitted up against a Lee's Summit West team that finished last season 4-7 and will also be hoping to take a step forward and lead off the year with a win.
"They're going to have a lot of energy as well and they're going to be in the right spots. You know, they gonna be well-coached. So, we've got to be able to handle some adversity."
The Bruins will be looking to shake off some of the rust from the offseason and iron out some final kinks in the opener. While the team has high aspirations, they can't win a state title on the first day. So coach Perkins saus it will be important to take the struggles and turn them around before it gets too late into the season.
"There's some pendulum swinging, and the types of things that make us love football. So, we've got to respond all those things and, you know, fortunately, I feel like we have a really veteran crew that's, united and want to be great."
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Rock Bridge High School.
