Pleasant Hill eliminates rival Wildcats from postseason

Editor's Note: From November 2024

By Jimmy Gillispie

PLEASANT HILL — Two streaks remained alive for the Roosters football team Friday night, while the Harrisonville season came to an end earlier than it hoped.

The Roosters beat Harrisonville, 43-20, in the Class 4 District 7 semifinals at Eklund Field. The win was the Roosters’ seventh in a row this year, and it was their fifth-straight victory over Harrisonville.

“We had one bad turnover, but special teams, offense and defense – all three phases – were clicking tonight and that’s what we needed to happen,” Pleasant Hill coach Justin Hamilton said. “We felt like we left some things on the field the first time we played (Harrisonville). The fact that all of them were able to click at the same time and get going early was a big thing. Jumping out to a three-score lead early was a really big thing for us tonight.”

For Harrisonville, it was the second year in a row it lost in the district semifinals. The Wildcats fell behind early Friday night and couldn’t get over the hump.

“We got close a couple of times, but (Pleasant Hill) is a good football team and we knew that,” Harrisonville coach Brent Maxwell said. “We knew coming in we’d have to play almost perfect and we didn’t quite do that.

“Early on, we were putting drives together but then we’d have a big loss or something and it would put us behind the sticks,” he said. “We had a hard time overcoming that. You can’t put yourself in a position like that against a quality football team like that.”

Pleasant Hill (8-2) took a lead on its opening drive. It drove 51 yards in six plays, four of which were runs by senior tailback Garrison Hartsell. He capped off the drive with a six-yard run. 

Hartsell scored two more rushing touchdowns in the game, both of which came in the first half. He carried the ball 24 times for 201 yards in the victory.

“Garrison was running possessed,” Hamilton said. “Our kids don’t want their season to send. They want to keep playing. When there are things on the line in a playoff atmosphere, they play like there is no tomorrow. That’s the way Garrison is playing right now.”

Pleasant Hill junior quarterback Sawyer Richcreek threw for 160 yards and two touchdowns. His first TD was a 12-yard pass to junior Kyler Wallace-Riley. Early in the fourth quarter, Richcreek found sophomore Jace Feazel for a 20-yard TD reception.

“We had some really good catches tonight,” Hamilton said. “Our kids did some really nice things in terms of catching the ball. Sawyer wasn’t on his ‘A’ game tonight. There were some things he left out there tonight, but he made some good reads early, too. The nice thing is Sawyer played well, but he can play better.”

Harrisonville was down three scores after the TD pass to Feazel, but it mounted a small rally. The Cats drove and scored on a 16-yard run from senior Brandon Phillips. It his second TD of the game.

The Wildcats had a chance to cut the lead to one score on its next offensive drive, but the Roosters stopped them on third down. The Cats punted and Pleasant Hill senior Aiden Minor clinched the game seconds later.

Minor returned the punt about 50 yards for a touchdown, essentially locking up the victory.

“Being able to get that was a big momentum changer,” Hamilton said. “It demoralized (Harrisonville) a bit. Aiden is quick and one of the smallest kids on the team, but his work ethic and what he does in the weight room makes up for it. He plays bigger than he is.”

Pleasant Hill will play Warrensburg (10-1) at 7 p.m. Friday at home for the district title. The Roosters handed Warrensburg its only loss, a 21-14 defeat on its homecoming. 

“Now it’s Warrensburg round two,” Hamilton said. “What’s kind of been the theme with our kids the past week is we don’t want to be them. Last year, they got us in the regular season but we got them in the playoffs. We even talked about that this week with Harrisonville in terms of our focus. Just because we got them in the regular season, we still have to get them this week. Our kids will be focused and ready to go.”

Harrisonville ended its season with a 6-5 record for the second year in a row. Maxwell said injuries piled up for his team throughout the season, including losing two defensive starters before last week’s game at Pleasant Hill.

“I’m so proud of our guys for the season we had,”  Maxwell said. “It obviously didn’t go as well as we had hoped, especially at the beginning of the year. We have faced a lot of adversity this year and some of it we handled better than others. We never gave up though.

“You get this late in the year, you need to be healthy and have your best guys out there,” he added. “They probably had a lot more of their original starters out there than we did, and that’s no excuse. We have some great young players, too, but the inexperience kicks in during a game like this. But they gain valuable experience for the future though. We’ve got some good, young players coming up for next year I think, and a couple years after that. But, you hate saying goodbye to your seniors.”