Fort Osage’s Dominic Myers found his way into the end zone several times Friday night against William Chrisman, but by the time he scored his last touchdown, he had to look around to make sure it counted.
Myers zigged and zagged his way into the end zone four different times only to have two of them called back for holding penalties. The final one was a simple wide receiver screen that he took 66 yards for a score, making it 16-0 en route to a 23-0 Indian victory.
“I was looking back to see if there was a flag, but I knew when I heard the crowd that I was good on this one,” said Myers.
With running back Blake Robertson sidelined with an injury, Brandon Gregory got a bulk of the carries but Fort Osage head coach Brock Bult said Myers had earned the opportunity to get more touches.
“He’s a special athlete,” Bult said. “We talked about finding ways to get him more involved. He was the scout team tailback last week, as we prepared for Lee’s Summit West’s (Phillip) Brooks, and we felt like he deserved a chance.”
It turned out to be a good decision.
The Indian offense was a bit sluggish for most of the game and Myers turned out to be just the jumpstart they needed.
Jacob Lammering got the scoring with a 37-yard field goal on the game’s first drive for a 3-0 lead. Two drives later Myers struck on the ground, taking a handoff around the edge and to the sideline before cutting back for a 39-yard touchdown.
“They told me before the season to be the guy to put a spark into the offense,” Myers said. “That’s the player I want to be. I want to make big plays for my team. … I was always a running back in little league and then I moved to wide receiver. They told me I might get some reps tonight. I just wanted to be ready when they called my number.”
Holding a 10-0 lead, the defense started to take over.
A week after giving up 39 points in a loss to Lee’s Summit West, the defense took things out on the Bears, allowing just six first downs for the entire game, with four of them coming on one drive.
“We had a chip on our shoulder,” linebacker Antonio Garcia said. “We wanted to prove that wasn’t us last week.”
The front seven was the difference, as they never let the Bears’ running game get going.
“They came hard. They beat us up front,” Chrisman head coach Matt Perry said. “Their defensive line and linebackers were flying around and were coming hard.”
William Chrisman wasn’t able to get into Indian territory that often, but when they did the Fort Osage defense stepped up. Once came after a muffed punt in the second quarter gave the Bears the ball on the Indian 23-yard line, which led to a turnover on downs after a Von Young IV sack.
The second time was in the third quarter with the game still 10-0 and William Chrisman putting together its best drive of the game. It was five-minute drive that stalled on the Fort Osage 15 when the Indians stuffed a Christian Felix rushing attempt on fourth-and-2.
“Last week when we had a bad play it snowballed, but we were able to stop it before it snowballed tonight,” Bult said.
A couple of drives later was when Myers struck for his second touchdown. The Indians added on one more late score when quarterback Ty Baker found Dez Griswold for a 16-yard touchdown pass.
William Chrisman dropped to 5-3 with the loss and will host Winnetonka in its final regular season game next Friday.
“The kids played with heart and played hard,” Perry said. “We’re just not making the little things happen. We have to get better at the little things.”
Fort Osage is now 6-2 and will travel to Oak Park next week. They wrapped up the No. 1 seed in district play with the win.
