Blair Oaks and Jefferson City fall in MSHSAA state semifinals
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
The high school football season ended for both the Blair Oaks Falcons and Jefferson City Jays on Saturday evening as both teams lost in the MSHSAA state semifinals. Blair Oaks fell to Central (Park Hills) 48-43 in the Class 3 state semifinals and Jefferson City lost to Kearney 42-7 in the Class 4 state semifinals.
CENTRAL (PARK HILLS) VS. BLAIR OAKS:
Blair Oaks ended its 2023 season with an 11-2 record after falling to Central (Park Hills) by five points at the Falcon Athletic Complex.
The Falcons faced a 42-14 deficit midway through the third quarter but battled back to cut its deficit to just five points with about three minutes left in the contest. Central (Park Hills) forced Blair Oaks to use all its timeouts but Ted LePage's crew got a stop on fourth down to give the ball back to its offense with about one minute remaining in the final quarter. However, the Falcons could not score on their final drive as Tyler Bax was tackled short of the line to gain by Sam Callaway on fourth down.
Bax finished the game with four total touchdowns. Hayden Lackman scored two rushing touchdowns while Jaxon Engelbrecht and Nick Closser each added a touchdown catch.
Blair Oaks finished the season as the Tri-County Conference champion and the Class 3 District 4 champion.
KEARNEY VS. JEFFERSON CITY:
Jefferson City finished its 2023 football season with a 9-5 overall record after losing to Kearney by 35 points at Adkins Stadium.
The Jays quickly got their offense going in the first quarter, scoring a touchdown on a short run by Jacob Wilson on the team's opening drive to give them a 7-0 lead. However, Kearney responded with 42 unanswered points and kept the Jays off the scoreboard for the rest of the game.
Wilson scored Jefferson City's only touchdown of the game but committed three straight turnovers in the first half to give Kearney consistently great field position.
Jefferson City won its first district title since 2009 and made its first state semifinals appearance since 2008 this season.
