Late in the first quarter of Friday's Dipasquale-Moore Law Metro Matchup of the Week between Shawnee Mission Heights and Schlagle, a Stallion receiver lay face down and pounded the turf at F. L. Schlagle Stadium.
The wide out, Gedeon Ngenzirabona, couldn't corral a throw from quarterback Kahliek Rainey in the end zone that would have given the Stallions not only their first score of the game but first points on the season.
Pretty much everything that occurred in the first 10 minutes of the game indicated it was going to be a very long night for the host Stallions. And it was.
Schlagle consistently hurt itself. On their first three possessions of the game, the Stallions lost a fumble, shanked a punt that gained a net of -12 yards, and gave the ball back to the T-Birds with another short punt after a three and out.
Shawnee Heights cashed out.
Behind three first quarter scoring runs from Jaylin Sanders, the T-Birds jumped ahead 20-0 and rolled to a resounding 54-6 win. Sanders tallied four touchdowns in the first half. Quarterback Callan Carver and wide receiver Jayden Moore accounted for the others as the T-Birds took a 41-6 lead into the break.
Carver found the endzone on a 16-yard keeper. Moore slithered his way to paydirt on a nifty 60-yard punt return.
The T-Birds, 1-3, tacked on another scoring run and a pick-6 interception return in the third quarter that left little doubt they were the better team on Friday. After three heartbreaking losses to start the season, Shawnee Heights took its frustration out on the host team and secured its first victory in 2021.
“We've faced adversity all throughout the year, but this shows the resiliency of our team,” head coach Jason Swift said. “They came out hard from the first snap.”
Sanders was elusive in the opening quarter. By the end of the second, his night was done. He scored on runs from 16, 4, 6 and 18 yards.
“All three of those losses were close,” Sanders said. “We fought hard. We made a lot of improvements since last year. It's good to get a win out here.”
After back-to-back shutout losses, Schlagle notched its first points this season. A Shea Rainey 10-yard TD reception from quarterback Kahliek Rainey with less than 4 minutes remaining in the first quarter made the score 20-6. A three-touchdown blitz from Shawnee Heights squashed any hopes of a Stallion comeback.
“The guys just didn't have it tonight,” Schlagle head coach Cernyn Macon said. “We started off slow, had some bad punts that gave them good field position, so the first 20 points they got, that was us shooting ourselves in the foot.”
The Stallions dropped to 0-3 with the loss.
“Week 3 and we're still trying to progress,” Macon said. “Hats off to Shawnee Heights. They're a really solid team.”
