Football Playoffs: Lions' Season Ends After Late Rally Falls Short

For the last time as high school students, the senior football players at broke the post-game huddle.

While most teammates ran off the field to hit the showers, the seniors remained. Some looked dazed and in shock that it was all over. Tears streamed down faces and hugs were exchanged. East head coach Scott Eacret walked over to each player and shared a hug and some words.

The season was over. For the third time the senior class qualified for the playoffs and for the third time the Lions came away without a win. The Camdenton Lakers were the season-enders this year, coming away with a 26-24 win on Monday night at Zumwalt East. 

"That class was not big in numbers, but they were huge in character and work effort and talent," Eacret said. "They're going to be missed."

Camdenton lives to play another game. This Saturday the Lakers will take on Kirkwood in the next round of the State playoffs. 

"It's huge—we started the season 1-4 and now we come back and we're 7-5 and in the State quarterfinals on Saturday," Camdenton head coach Jeff Shore said. 

Zumwalt East will head into the offseason thinking about what might have been. Had the Lions been able to convert an extra point—any extra point—the game might have turned out differently. East scored four touchdowns and each time failed to convert the point-after. The Lions had one missed kick and three failed two-point attempts. The last failed attempt hurt the worst. 

After trailing all game and clawing back with a furious fourth quarter, the Lions took over on its own 37-yard line with 2:41 left in the game and trailing by eight (26-18). 

Needing to score quickly, Eacret called a trick play—a screen pass to Tommy Bryan who then heaved the ball downfield to an absolutely wide open LaRoyce Eason. Eason hauled in the pass and was taken down at 9-yard line. A few plays later, with 1:57 left, East quarterback Brandon Barrett punched in a 5-yard touchdown to pull the Lions within two points.

The Lions had one timeout left but Eacret elected to save it and try to catch the Lakers off guard. In fact, after Barrett went into the endzone untouched, Eacret decided to try and run the same play to tie the game up. 

It didn't work.

The Lakers blew through the Lions' line and brought down Barrett. 

"Looking back, I wish I would've taken the timeout and called something different on the two-point conversion," Eacret said. "... I probably should have done a better job on that two-point conversion—we might still be playing."

With the two-point lead and less than two minutes to go, the Lakers were content to run out the clock and run into the next round of the playoffs.

The Lakers never trailed in Monday's game. Camendton exploded out of the gate ready to play and took it right to the Lions. On the very first offensive play of the game, the Camdenton defense forced, and recovered, a fumble. The turnover put the Lakers in Lion territory. 

Camdenton took over and fed the ball to Murphy Ward. The burly tailback pounded the Lions and proved nearly impossible to bring down. Behind Ward, the Lakers marched down the field and took a 7-0 lead. Ward got the score on a 6-yard run. 

"That was really good off the bat," Shore said. "We really wanted to get one early, especially on the road."

East responded with 5:44 left in the first. Bryan got the ball and ran toward the corner of the endzone. At the end of a 28-yard run, Bryan dove for, and reached, the pylon for the first Lion score of the game. A missed kick maintained Camdenton's lead. 

The Lakers would add another touchdown in the second quarter, Ward scored again on a 7-yard run, and took a 14-6 lead at the break.

Both teams had chances to add points in the half, but both came up short. The failure to produce points hurt the Lions more.

"That first half, the turnovers put us in a hole there and gave them the momentum," Eacret said. 

In the third quarter, the Lakers' Robbie Hoffman hit his first field of the game, and second of the season, to put Camdenton ahead 17-6. Ward made it 23-6 with a 20-yard TD run with 3:05 left in the third. 

The fourth quarter was a totally different ballgame for the Lions.

"It was just the kids making plays," Eacret said.

After a punt pinned the Lakers deep, the Lion defense smelled a safety. East pressured Camdenton quarterback Cory Simpson. The Lions didn't get the safety, but did force Simpson to throw a pick. East's Shane Barrett turned into a wideout on Simpson's pass. Barrett leaped in the air and hauled down the pass with a Laker wideout smothering him. 

Shane Barrett's interception gave big brother Brandon time to work. On the second play of the following drive, Brandon Barrett hit D'Andre Campbell for a 30-yard touchdown and to create a whole new ballgame. 

Trailing 23-12 after a failed two-point attempt, the Lions kicked off to the Lakers with 10 minutes left in the game. The Lion defense again attacked and Tyris Izeman scooped up a fumble to give East the ball back in Laker territory. 

Again, the Lions worked quickly. Running back Christian Brooks helped bring the Lions in close and finally, from 1-yard out, Barrett was able to dive over the pile for a score. Another failed two-point attempt made the score 23-18. 

In just a little more than two minutes, the Lions went from being down 17 to being down by five. 

Camdenton pulled ahead a little more with another field goal from Hoffman, making the score 26-18 in favor of the Lakers. 

"He's only kicked one field goal on the year, but he nailed it," Shore said. "He hit them tonight. He was huge."

The Lions would score again, but couldn't get the extra points and the game ended with the Lakers on top. 

East finishes the season with a 5-5 record and a Class 5, District 4 title. 

Camdenton (7-5) will take on Kirkwood (10-0) this Saturday.