Rough finish to rough season for
Jays, Lakers win wild 43-36 affair
Loeffler's Link
Chris Leuckel
Oct. 30, 2020
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. --- They're the two most storied high school football programs Central Missouri has ever seen.
The Camdenton Lakers' program is fantastic, winning five state championships behind Missouri Sports Hall of Fame coach Bob Shore.
The Jefferson City Jays' program is even better, it's legendary. The Jays have won 10 state championships, nine of those behind Missouri Sports Hall of Fame Legend Pete Adkins, who won nine of them.
The Legends is an extremely elite group --- less than 30 members and features guys like Stan Musial and Norm Stewart. Heard of them?
Friday night, the storied programs met for the first time. Only one of these stories would have a happy ending.
In the win-or-go-home Class 5 District 4 opener, Jacob Wormsley hooked up with Landon Thomas for an 18-yard touchdown with 14 seconds left to lift the Lakers to a wild 43-36 defense-optional win at Adkins Stadium.
Somewhere, Bob Shore is smiling. So is his son, Jeff, now the Lakers head coach.
Somewhere else, Pete Adkins is not. Nor is first-year head coach Scott Bailey, his staff or these players.
This is the third painful finish of the season for the Jays, who lost on last-second field goals to both Rock Bridge and Ft. Zumwalt West.
This one hurt even more, as there's no game next week to get another chance. It means the Jays end the season at 3-7, but they could have just as easily been 6-4 and playing again next week.
Playing this one under a full moon on Halloween Eve, both offenses were scary good --- nearly 900 combined yards of total offense.
The defenses were just plain scary. And besides giving up 449 total yards, the Jays were also crippled by penalties the entire night, including 30 yards worth of walk-offs on one play.
The game was tied 7-7 after one quarter, the Lakers (5-5) led 21-17 at the half, and 28-23 after three quarters.
The Jays didn't have a lead until the fourth, when explosive junior David Bethune took a pass from Seth Brooks and sprinted 77 yards to paydirt to make it 29-28. After the Lakers regained a 36-29 lead, Kevon Pendelton --- who had a huge night splitting time at quarterback with Brooks --- scored his third touchdown, this one on a 33-yard run to tie it.
The teams traded punts, before the Lakers took over at their own 26 and put together the game-winning 10-play drive, finished off on Wormsley's toss to Thomas.
Wormsley had a video-game worthy night, as he completed 34 of 42 passes for 409 yards and four touchdowns. His favorite target, returning All-State senior Cooper Ezrad, caught 10 passes (two for scores) giving him a whopping 94 receptions this season.
Pendelton rushed for 175 yards on 25 carries for the Jays, with his other touchdowns coming on runs of nine and 11 yards in the first half.
The Lakers move on to face top-seed Washington (8-1) next Friday, while the Jays move on to next season. The wait promises to be a long, painful one.
It will get better, it's just a matter of when.
With a full moon hanging over Adkins Stadium on Halloween Eve, the Camdenton Lakers outlasted the Jefferson City Jays 43-36 in the Class 5 District 4 opener Friday night.