Photo Credit: Jeff Stead/PrepsKC 
After a dreadful first half of football, Lee’s Summit quarterback Dawson Heeney wasn’t exactly brimming with confidence Friday night.
And who could blame him? Lee’s Summit’s offense was frozen on the first freezing night of the season. He had three passes picked off, and the Tigers were down two scores to Raymore-Peculiar.
Then they flipped the script.
Heeney tossed two touchdown passes in the second half, complementing a stout Lee’s Summit defense as the Tigers rallied for a 20-10 victory in a Class 6 District 6 first-round playoff game at Bud Hertzog Stadium in Lee’s Summit.
“After those three interceptions, I thought I’d sold the bag, I’m not going to lie,” Heeney said. “But my guys stuck with me and it was a great game.”
It certainly didn’t start out great for Heeney or the Tigers. Lee’s Summit’s second possession ended when Ray-Pec linebacker Tanner Franklin, who had all three of the Panthers’ first-half picks, stepped in front of a Heeney pass and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown.
Franklin’s second interception early in the second quarter set up a 29-yard field goal by kicker Alex Stephenson and a 10-0 Ray-Pec lead. And he ended the Tigers’ next possession with another pick deep in Panther territory.
“I was really down on myself, but thankfully my teammates hyped me back up in the locker room,” Heeney said. “I had no confidence going back into the half but they helped me get through it.”
Lee’s Summit coach Eric Thomas didn’t lose confidence in Heeney or his team. Thomas could see the Tigers’ defense had been solid and it never allowed Ray-Pec to mount a sustained drive the whole game. And in the third quarter, the offense started finding more yardage for running back Jaydan Gipson.
Gipson put Lee’s Summit on the board with a 3-yard touchdown run up the middle midway through the third quarter. Heeney set up that run with a 33-yard pass to Fiene Karsten and the Tigers were showing signs of life.
“Our defense just stayed the course,” Thomas said. “Early in the year, if that had happened to us everyone would have been bickering with each other and we would have been going down the wrong road. But our defensive guys were coming over encouraging our offense and said ‘we’re going to hold it for you’ and they did.”
And that helped Lee’s Summit take the lead for good after Heeney found sophomore receiver Peyton Hatfield streaking down the middle of the field for a 32-yard touchdown pass. Heeney and Hatfield hooked up again for a 54-yard TD that put the game away in the fourth quarter.
“On the first one the coaches saw in the locker room that we could beat in the middle of the field,” Heeney said. “He got open and it was history. He’s a great receiver and I love him.”
Ray-Pec, the Class 6 state champion in 2020, saw its season come to an end with a 3-7 record. Lee’s Summit, 4-6 after its first postseason win since 2017, has a rematch with No. 1-ranked Lee’s Summit North next week at North.
“It’s been a while since we’ve won a Week 10 game around here,” Thomas said. “And to get a Week 10 game at home and to get a win means a lot to these kids.”
