By Phil Ervin The St. Joseph News-Press
Posted: October 25, 2012 - 11:00 PM

The threshold of opportunity continues to be unkind to Lafayette.

On the verge of extending a special season provided by a talented bunch of experienced athletes — a highly typical success formula at the high school level — the Fighting Irish instead suffered some of their usual self-inflicted ailments Thursday night in their Class 4 District 8 opener. Liberty North seized advantage, cold-cocking Lafayette at Alumni Stadium in the second half and terminating another Irish campaign in painfully bitter fashion.

The Eagles shut out Lafayette after halftime and scored 14 unanswered points against a penalty-plagued defense, moving on to the Class 4 District 8 semifinals with a 21-13 win.

“It was a heartbreaker,” Lafayette quarterback Drew Cortez said. “We put it everything into this ... and it’s just a tough loss.”

Lafayette (7-3) bottled up studrunning back Antwynn Beavers, found ways to move the ball against a stout, athletic defense and couldn’t have asked for more momentum heading into halftime.

But rather than earn the chance to upend top-seeded Platte County for a spot in the district championship game, Lafayette’s forced to endure the same season’s-end emotions as it has each of the past few seasons: excruciating

disappointment.

The past two years, it came in the form of district losses under an old playoff format coach Paul Woolard thought could’ve gone the other way. In 2008 and 2009, the Irish came up against powerful Staley in the Class 4 postseason and couldn’t advance.

This time around, a second half featuring more yards in penalties than offense eliminated Lafayette.

“Everyone’s disappointed,” Irish coach Paul Woolard said, slumped in an easy chair in his office. “It’s a game you felt like we could’ve had in hand a little bit. For the rest of the story click here.