Raymore-Peculiar staved off a late Park Hill South rally to take the season opener 41-35.
Ray-Pec led by 24 with 8:54 remaining in the third quarter after taking its first drive of the second half 67 yards, which was capped off by a 26-yard run by Brandon Rayos, who ran for 92 yards and two scores on the night.
Receiving the kickoff to open the second half was a gift as Ray-Pec also received the game’s opening kick in the first half. It scored on that drive, too, on a Rayos two-yard run.
“Any time you can get the opportunity both halves, that’s a good thing,” Raymore-Peculiar coach Tom Kruse said.
On the other hand, Park Hill South coach Mike Sharp was not thrilled.
“Referees asked us if we wanted to do an early toss, which happens quite often,” Sharp said. “I probably mismanaged in terms of not explaining well enough to our kids on our way over. We explained exactly what we want – that if win the toss we want to defer and kick with the wind. If not, we want to take the ball in the second.
“However, it didn’t get communicated well enough and that’s my fault. That’s not my kids’ fault, it’s not anybody else’s fault, but my own. I will say, I learned a valuable lesson, we won’t have any more coin tosses without me standing there.”
Despite that gift given to Raymore-Peculiar, Park Hill South gifted Ray-Pec 14 additional points.
On the first offensive play of the game for Park Hill South, Payton Murray took a hand-off and fumbled, which was kicked around before it was scooped up by Wyatt Quest in the end zone.
In the second quarter, Ray-Pec’s Jaquan Willis picked off Matt Suchanick and returned it 81 yards to make it 21-7.
Suchanick and his teammates earned a gift from Ray-Pec in the third quarter. After a stalled drive in which Park Hill South went three and out to open the third quarter, Ray-Pec’s Gunnar Griffin muffed a punt, which was recovered by Ryan Owens.
Five plays later, Suchanick was in the end zone for his third rushing score of the game. He finished with 73 yards on the ground and threw for 247 yards on 11-of-23 passing with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
On fourth and 13, Suchanick found Brock Ivy for 27 to cut the lead to 13 with 9:24 left. The two connected again with 2:25 remaining, this time for 52 yards.
Instead of an onside kick, Park Hill South kicked it deep and the defense was able to hold Ray-Pec to a three and out.
Suchanick and company had one more shot, but two straight incomplete passes forced Park Hill South to throw it again. Suchanick was under pressure, was hit as he threw, and Luke Grimm picked him off to seal the victory for Ray-Pec.
