Friday night, Staley showed everyone at Lee’s Summit just how important momentum is.
With the score tied 7-7 midway through the third quarter, the Tigers decided pull a quick one on the Falcons.
Facing a fourth and 3 at its own 33, Lee’s Summit coach Eric Thomas decided to pull out all the stops rather than punt the ball and let his defense try and get a stop – something they had done a good job of all night.
The Tigers had the play they wanted – a bubble screen to senior speedster Micah Manning – but Darrius Pearsall’s pass sailed through Manning’s hands and fell innocently to the turf.
From that point on, ‘Uncle Mo’ was with the Staley Falcons who capitalized on the misfortune scoring three plays later as Dawson Parks threw his first of two touchdowns to Ramon Shelton from the 5-yard line to put the Falcons up 14-7 and eventually winning 31-7 to improve to 3-0 on the season.
“I do (believe it was a momentum changing play),” Staley coach Phil Lite said of Lee’s Summit’s missed opportunity at the beginning of the third quarter. “It created a synergy on our sideline. We were able to capitalize and punch it in and gain momentum.
“It was a big play at the time. It gave us a short field, we were able to make some plays and capitalize.”
Lee’s Summit had every opportunity to get back into the game after Staley took the lead, but Falcons’ defense came out and shut down the Lee’s Summit offense after they struggled much of the first half.
One of the biggest reasons for the turnaround was the play the defensive line.
Lite said he thought his team was capable of winning the battle upfront and they did, as they sacked or got pressure on Pearsall on three straight plays on Lee’s Summit ensuing possession.
“We just had to get our kids refocused,” Lite said. “That’s what we did the second half. I’m blessed to have a great coaching staff that makes adjustments at halftime, and that’s exactly what we did on both sides of the ball. … We made some adjustments, our defense staff did a great job shutting down a high-potent offense.”
Staley added to its lead using a fake punt of its own.
Facing a fourth and 1 in Lee’s Summit territory, Lite called on Shelton. Shelton lined up behind the center, took the direct snap, broke three would-be tackles and scampered his way into the end zone 41 yards later.
Shelton wasn’t finished.
On Staley’s following possession, Shelton found pay dirt yet again as Parks hit him in stride for a 66 yard strike to put the game out of reach and ensure the Falcons would leave Lee’s Summit with a win.
“Honestly, I just saw Ramon was open,” Parks said of the second touchdown. “He had made a quick move and I just gave it to him.”
The final score doesn’t indicate how close the game actually was.
In the first half Lee’s Summit missed several opportunities to take a quick lead and have Staley play on its heels.
The first missed chance came on the Tigers first drive on the game as Pearsall found a streaking Nate Morse who dropped a sure touchdown after beating this man, the second was 21 yard run by Pearsall which was called back because of a holding penalty.
