Photo Credit: David Smith/Special to PrepsKCA journey that began in August 2022 nearly reached the mountain top Friday as North Platte fell to Marionville 29-0 in the Missouri Class 1 state championship game.
The Panthers started the 2022 season riding a 21-game losing streak looking to make major changes under first-year coach Jared Quigley. North Platte would lose its opener then win the next week to end the streak. The Panthers would go on to finish 6-5 losing to Mid Buchanan in the district semifinals.
This season North Platte continued the revival of the program suffering only a seven-point loss to East Buchanan in the regular season in its run to the title game.
Marionville ended that run with a time draining offense and tough defense that held the Panthers from scoring for the first time since the final game of the 2021 season.
“Going into this one we knew it’d be a tough physical game,” Quigley said. “Marionville was big, strong, and physical and their reputation was exactly what we got.
“We struggled with our execution in the first half on both sides of the ball and missed some tackles that led to big plays.”
The Comets opened the game with a punishing 14 play drive that went 60 yards and took eight minutes, 38 seconds off the clock and was capped by an 8-yard run by Hugh Eaton. Marionville’s second TD came after an interception of North Platte put the Comets in business at the Panthers’ 43yard line. Three plays later it was 14-0 on Bryer Guerin 34-yard run.
The second half saw North Platte fumble on its second possession on its own 33-yard line. The Comets would score eight plays later on a 1-yard run by Eaton to make it 21-0. Marionville would add its final score and 2-point conversion with 2:36 left to make the final score 29-0.
“In the second half we started to get some things going but would have a penalty or silly mistake that hurt us,” Quigley said. “I have to give it up to Coach Grubbs and his staff. His kids played hard and were well coached.”
The Panthers finished the season 12-2 on the season. This senior class went from no wins its first two years to a state championship game to close out their careers.
“Even though not the finish we’d hoped for still a great season for the Panthers,” Quigley said. “We have a lot to be proud of. We finished second in the KCI, won the first district championship since 2009. Took a team to the state championship for the first time in 25 years and finished 12-2 state runner up. Proud to be a Panther.”
