Blue Springs aerial attack too much for Jaguars
By Jimmy Gillispie
BLUE SPRINGS — Wyatt Erickson made sure his last guaranteed rival game for city bragging rights ended in a win for the Wildcats.
On Friday night, the Blue Springs senior quarterback threw for over 300 yards and four touchdowns in the Wildcats’ 38-17 victory at the Blue Springs South stadium.
Erickson helped the Wildcats rebound from an overtime loss to Ray-Pec a week ago. If not for that loss, they would be 3-0 this fall.
“You can either take a loss one of two ways – you can learn from it or dwell on it, and we take the standpoint we are going to learn from it,” Blue Springs coach Jed Paulsen said. “These guys did a great job of not hanging their heads.
“They did a great job of fighting back last week, so we said we’re going to take that momentum into this week. That’s what they did. They came out here and beat a rival team. Blue Springs South is a good football team, and we feel good we just beat those guys and we’re happy with the win.”
Erickson had a part in all five Wildcats’ touchdowns. He scored the first on a one-yard run before throwing four more in the win.
He threw a pair of touchdown passes to senior Traice Colliar while connecting with senior Justyn Lindsay and sophomore Aiden Maskill for touchdown strikes.
Erickson’s rushing touchdown capped a 10-play drive early in the second quarter. He led the Wildcats with 43 rushing yards on 10 carries.
He found Collier on a 30-yard pass that ended with Collier diving to make the score. Their second TD connection was a 95-yard TD where Collier racked up 86 yards after catch while outrunning the Jaguars’ defense. Collier racked up 172 yards on six receptions.
“We knew they were playing man-to-man coverage,” Paulsen said. “We knew the Traice is such a talented kid that if we get man-to-man coverage, we tell him it’s disrespectful to him and he went out and did what he needed to do.”
In the second half, Erickson threw a quick strike to Lindsay for a six-yard TD, pushing the Wildcats lead to 14 points. He added a 10-yard TD pass to Maskill late in the game to seal the victory.
“Wyatt is a stud. He’s outstanding. He's the best quarterback in the state, there's no question about it,” Paulsen said. “He can run. He can throw. When he’s on, you can’t beat the Wildcats.”
Blue Springs South was held scoreless in the second half. In the first half, the Jaguars fell behind 17-3 before scoring their first touchdown.
Sophomore quarterback Brody Reickard found junior junior Jase Hardimon for a 30-yard touchdown, cutting the Cats’ lead in half. With 43 seconds left in the second quarter, Reickard threw a 21-yard TD pass to senior Terry Sullivan.
Blue Springs South coach Alan Wilmes said his team has to cut down on the mistakes moving forward. The Jags threw two interceptions and turned it over on downs once in Friday’s loss.
“We’ve got to play cleaner football,” Wilmes said. “There were too many turnovers and penalties in bad situations. We have some young guys out here – some sophomores out there now – but we’ve got to clean it up. We showed we can play with them, but we’ve got to make sure we’re not making those mistakes.”
Friday’s win marked the first time the Wildcats beat the Jaguars in the regular season since 2021. The Wildcats did beat Blue Springs South, 29-10, last year in the Class 6 playoffs.
Before the past two wins by the Wildcats, Blue Springs South had won five-straight in the series. Previously, the Cats won eight in a row. Now, they’ve started another streak over their rivals on the south side of town.
Next week, Blue Springs will play Liberty North (2-1) at home. Meanwhile, Blue Springs South will play at Staley (3-0).
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