Zander Dombrowski struggled to explain what got into his Raymore-Peculiar football team Friday night. He just knew it was a long time coming.
“We’ve been waiting for his game,” Ray-Pec’s junior quarterback said after the Panthers demolished Liberty 49-17 at Ray-Pec’s Panther Stadium. “We’ve really needed this game and tonight we showed what kind of offense we can be.”
Ray-Pec (6-2 overall, 4-2 Suburban Gold Conference) has been no slouch on offense, topping 35 points in its last three games. But the Panthers never looked as efficient and formidable as they did in pulling away from a solid Liberty (5-3, 4-3) squad.
Dombrowski guided an offense that racked up 481 total yards. He threw two touchdown passes, one of them to junior wide receiver Jaidyn Doss, who rushed for 110 yards and two other TDs. Running back Nick Karr had 191 rushing yards on 17 carries and two TDs.
“We’ve been talking the past several weeks about putting together a complete game over four quarters,” Ray-Pec coach Sean Martin said. “We were happy to get it.”
This didn’t start out being a Ray-Pec rout. Liberty scored the first 10 points and the lead changed hands twice in the first two quarters. Wentric Williams III, the Blue Jays senior running back who tallied 105 rushing yards, powered the Blue Jays from their own 20-yard line to the Ray-Pec 3 with just over a minute left in the second quarter.
After Ray-Pec stuffed Williams at the line of scrimmage on two attempts, Liberty tried to call a time out but couldn’t stop the clock until only 15 seconds remained. Williams went nowhere again on third down, and the Blue Jays couldn’t get off another play.
Ray-Pec, which led only 22-17 at the half, would score three unanswered touchdowns in the third quarter, and that was that.
“It was a rough when we couldn’t get that score,” Liberty coach Chad Frigon said. “I was hoping we could come out and recover from that but we never did.”
Soon after Ray-Pec fielded the opening-half kickoff, Dombrowski danced and weaved his way to a 34-yard touchdown run. Liberty’s first possession ended with fumble at midfield, and the Panthers quickly scored again on a 31-yard pass from Dombrowski to a wide-open Doss.
And one play after a Liberty three-and-out, Karr burst up the middle 40 yards for another score and a 42-17 lead. He capped the Panthers scoring with an 80-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter.
“That’s just us doing what we like to do,” said Doss, whose TD catch was his first of the season. “We’re dogs. We like to eat.”
Liberty built its 10-0 first-quarter lead with a 38-yard field goal from Lucas Porter on its first possession and quarterback Tyler Lininger’s 47-yard TD pass to Ricky Ahumaraeze shortly after a Karr fumble.
Dombrowski hooked up with Jaden Reddell on a 68-yard TD pass on the very next play with Jack Ardito adding a two-point conversion, and Doss later scored from 35 yards out to put Ray-Pec up 15-10 in the first quarter.
A 5-yard TD run by Williams put Liberty back on top 17-15 early in the second quarter, but the Panthers regained the lead for good with a 15-yard TD run from Doss.
Ray-Pec would take it from there – after one big stop.
“We talked at half about coming out and playing with a lot of energy, passion and emotion,” Martin said. “And I really felt like they did. As long as we stick to the plan and do what we do, we’re pretty good.”
And with the regular season winding up and the playoffs approaching, the defending Class 6 state champions savored a confidence boost.
“This was a big win, especially coming close to playoff time,” Dombrowski said. “This was a good game and I think this game proved something.”
