Photo Credit: Jeff Stead/PrepsKC 
What Lee’s Summit lacked in elegance Friday night it more than made up for with determination and grit. Tigers coach Todd Miller can live with that.
Because the Tigers will live to see another day.
Lee’s Summit continued its resurgent season with a gutty17-14 victory over Rockhurst in a Class 6 District 6 semifinal at Bud Hertzog Stadium in Lee’ Summit, setting up a showdown next week with crosstown rival Lee’s Summit North for the district title and a spot in the state quarterfinals.
Lee’s Summit (8-2) earned that opportunity with an often-punishing ground game and a defense that stymied Rockhurst’s (6-4) potent rushing attack. And when the Tigers needed big plays on either side of the ball, they got those too.
“I just think we persevered,” Miller said. “In the end it’s not about glamour points. It’s about efficiency and winning the game. When we had to make plays tonight, we made them.”
None more so than late in the fourth quarter, when Lee’s Summit was clinging to a 17-14 lead and Rockhurst had the ball on the Tigers’ 21-yard line. On third down Rockhurst quarterback Charlie Loose fired a pass to Kevin Sullivan in the corner of the end zone only to have Tigers cornerback Cameron Steele snag the ball with just over a minute to play. From there Lee’s Summit picked up a first down and ran out the clock.
“The emphasis the whole game was really to stop the run,” Steele said. “At some point we knew the ball had to come up. I saw (Sullivan) come out, so I knew it was going to be some type of outside route. He came out on a wheel (route), and I turned to get my eyes on him and then I saw the ball get overthrown, I turned my head back and I got it in the corner of the end zone.”
Lee’s Summit took a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter when Tigers quarterback Brayden Layman lofted a 16-yard touchdown pass to Karsten Fiene in the back of the end zone. The score came after both the Tigers and the Hawklets saw long drives fizzle in the opening minutes.
Rockhurst tied the score with an 8-yard pass from Loose to Sullivan with 33.8 seconds left in the first half, but the Tigers struck back when running back Preston Hatfield broke loose for a 59-yard TD run on their first play in the second half. Hatfield, who darted in and out of the Hawklets’ defense all night, would’ve had two long TD runs if not for a holding call after a 57-yard run in the second quarter.
“My line just had really good blocks,” Hatfield said.
Tyree Staley’s 27-yard field goal at the start of the fourth quarter stretched Lee’s Summit’s lead to 17-7, but Rockhurst wasn’t through. Thanks to a couple of short Lee’s Summit punts, the Hawklets played on a shortened field most of the fourth quarter and cashed in with an 11-yard TD run by Pierce Fisher that made it a 17-14 game.
But the Hawklets could get no closer and their season would end with another heartbreaker. Three of Rockhurst’s four losses were by three points or less.
“This is tough for our seniors,” Rockhurst coach Kelly Donohoe said. “I love how they battled today. They’ve done that all year.”
Lee’s Summit, meanwhile, is looking forward to a rematch with Lee’s Summit North, which handed the Tigers their lone loss just two weeks ago. Lee’s Summit led most of the first half before falling 36-28 at North.
“It’s always a work in progress,” Miller said. “You’ve got chapters to a season and our next chapter is Lee’s Summit North. That’s yet to be written, but we start writing that chapter on Monday in practice.”
