Lee’s Summit North may be under new management, but it’s business as usual for the Broncos.
There’s a new coach, and a new quarterback but still enough familiar faces to keep North one of the top teams in Missouri high school football. On Friday night, Lee’s Summit North ushered in the Jason Rogers era with a familiar-looking 34-0 dismantling of Raymore-Peculiar at Panthers Stadium.
Rogers, it should be noted, isn’t exactly a new face around North. He’s been part of the program since 2015 and served as an assistant to former coach Jamar Mozee. Mozee left after nine seasons and a Class 6 title game appearance two years ago for the college ranks and is currently an assistant at Nebraska.
He didn’t leave the cupboard bare. North once again has an experienced and formidable defense, one that held mistake-prone Ray-Pec to minus-28 yards in the first quarter and only two first downs the whole game. And there are still plenty of playmakers on offense, most notably senior wide receiver Isaiah Mozee, the former coach’s son who will join his dad at Nebraska next fall.
“We had over 20 starters returning, so that bond, that camaraderie was there,” Rogers said. “So we worked hard in the offseason to keep it that way and really build it. We really didn’t have a restart period. It was just more of the same and we’ve been able to keep this thing rolling,”
Mozee helped to keep the Broncos rolling with two touchdowns, one on a 1-yard carry in the first quarter and another on a 12-yard pass from quarterback Michki Mitchell just before halftime. And he also busted some big plays for big gains that helped them overcome a mountain of false starts and other sloppy penalties.
“Sometimes, we get undisciplined … but we fight through it,” Mozee said. “We’re so talented that we get a penalty, get a first down, get a penalty. Ray-Pec played their hearts out, but against a better team that could hurt us.”
North got flagged three times on the game’s opening drive but still took a 7-0 lead when Mozee scored on a handoff up the middle from a yard out. The Broncos had three false starts on a second quarter drive that ended with Mozee catching a 12-yard TD pass from Mitchell. A senior making his first varsity start, Mitchell scrambled out of the pocket and made a leaping throw when he saw Mozee near the goal line.
Mitchell also scored on a 5-yard keeper up the middle in the fourth quarter and added another TD pass with a 9-yard toss to William Ray in the game’s final seconds. Running back Quade Chatmon also scored for North on a 3-yard run in the third quarter.
“He primarily played JV last year but we’ve put a lot on his plate this year because of what we’re able to do with the players we’ve got,” Rogers said of his quarterback. “He responded today, but he’s going to keep working on it and he’s going to get better.”
North’s defense never gave Ray-Pec a chance to overcome its own sloppiness. The Panthers are a young team this year, and it showed in the numerous drive-killing mistakes they made. They never made it to the red zone and only crossed midfield twice and not until the second half.
“We can’t hide the fact that we’re a young team,” Ray-Pec coach Sean Martin said. “I told the kids we’ve got to take care of ourselves. We’ve got to worry about ourselves and don’t do things to beat ourselves. Just go back to the basics and control what we can control.”
Ray-Pec faces another stiff test next week when it plays host to Rockhurst. Lee’s Summit North, meanwhile, will face Staley in its home opener.
More business as usual.
“I feel like Coach Rogers is a spinoff of my dad,” Mozee said. “I love Coach Rogers. I feel like we’re staying together and we’re going in the right direction to where we want to be.”
