WENTZVILLE, Mo. - An opportunistic Holt High School football team made Fort Osage pay for many of its mistakes in Friday night's Class 5 state semifinal game in which the host team claimed a 31-14 victory that was much closer than the final score might indicate.
Fort Osage, trailing 17-14 at 8:24 of the fourth quarter, appeared to fumble the exchange between the center and quarterback Greg Menne, on a first-and-goal running play from the 3-yard line.
Kaden Moore, who recovered a blocked punt in the end zone to give Holt a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, scooped up the ball and kept the Indians out of the end zone.
Two plays later backup quarterback Owen Merrell ran for a 94-yard touchdown with 8:02 left in the game. On their next possession, Holt - whose nickname is also the Indians - scored on a Kyle Weubbeling 67 yard run to seal the victory and send Fort Osage (11-2) home with just its second loss of the season.
"Mistakes, too many mistakes," Fort Osage coach Brock Bult said after the game. "I'll have to watch film to see what happened on the fumble, then we miss two tackles on the big run by their quarterback. Those two mistakes hurt."
It didn't take long for 13-0 Holt to display its potent offense as the Indians drove 43 yards following a short Fort Osage kickoff, capping the drive with a 12-yard touchdown run by Wuebbeling at 10:10 of the first quarter.
Fort Osage's defense held strong on the next Holt series, coming up with a big stop on fourth and 1 from the 3-yard line but that set the stage for a Holt special teams score as Holt blocked Greg Menne's punt from the end zone and it was recovered by Moore to give the host team a 14-0 lead at 4:01.
Holt then made a big mistake on the ensuing kickoff as Larenzo Fenner returned the kick 91 yards for a score. He broke through an initial wave of tacklers and eluded the final two Indians to cut the deficit to 14-7 at 3:45 of the second quarter.
A Fort Osage fumble gave Holt the ball in the closings minute of the second quarter but Fort kept Holt out of the end zone, as the host Indians had to settle on a 19-yard field goal by Braden Burthaart to make it a 17-7 game at halftime.
But Fort Osage, who has either been tied 0-0 or trailed at the half of each of its last three games came roaring out of the locker room and scored on a 27-yard pass from Menne to Christen Penamon to cut the deficit to 17-14 at 9:29 of the third quarter.
"We came out of the half with a lot of confidence, scored that touchdown, then the mistakes happened," Bult said. "And Holt made us pay for them."
One by one the Indians came out of the locker room, greeted family and friends, grabbed a snack and headed for the long bus ride home.
"I'm sorry it ended like this," said. "This is so disappointing."
