Going to change this up a little, top three games witnessed in person and since I’m a defensive minded person, defense is going to get the love of the best game (thus far) I have attended:
1, Aurora 7, California 0, November 26, 1999, Edward Jones Dome – Aurora earned its first state championship in 30 years by holding California 217 yards rushing on 46 carries and four yards passing completing one of four attempts. Aurora defense stopped California on downs three times inside the 10 yard line and had two takeaways in the game with an interception and a fumble recovery. Houn’ Dawgs scored on an 82-yard option pitch on the first play of the game and that was all the scoring. One of the best defensive games I had ever watched in person. Keep in mind, Aurora also won the semifinal 14-0 at Platte County, eight straight scoreless postseason quarters. Aurora had speed, A LOT of speed that season. Not the biggest team, but the big boys they had could move. If I recall correctly, both the 4x100 and 4x200 boys relays for Aurora were all football players and qualified for state in the spring of 2000.
Switching gears, best offensive game:
2, Greenfield 39, Sarcoxie 30, Thursday, October 26, 2000 at Sarcoxie – A regular season game where I witnessed something I thought (at the time) I may never see again, however with the spread offense becoming more prevalent and teams willing to outscore opponents vs. actually playing defense, this game still stands out because Greenfield had three running backs rush for 100 yards (Joel Gray 27 for 194, Brad Baldwin 16 for 111 and Luke Richter 9 for 100). Then Sarcoxie had a quarterback pass for over 300 yards (Isaac Sooter 16 of 31 for 303), a receiver over 200 yards (Nathan Williams 11 receptions, 266 yards), another over 100 yards (Blake Ellis 5 receptions, 111 yards) AND a receiver nearly pass for over 100 yards (Ellis 2 for 2 for 97 yards). Sooter passed for three touchdowns, Ellis completed both of his flanker passes to Williams, and one went for a touchdown. In today’s game, both teams would have scored over 50 points and combined for over 100 points. However, there was some defense played in this game and the two teams did punt seven times, Greenfield lost a fumble and threw an interception while Sarcoxie lost three fumbles and had an interception returned for a touchdown. Greenfield 65 carries, 444 yards rushing 0 for 2 passing for no yards; Sarcoxie 18 of 33 passing for 400 yards, 16 carries for 47 yards. Greenfield 67 plays for 444 yards, 49 plays for 447. Keeping stats for this game was not a lot of fun.
Back to defense
3, Marionville 19, Princeton 0, November 29, 2003, Edwards Jones Dome – Marionville held Princeton to 107 yards of total offense (30 carries, 71 yards; 3 of 10 passing, 36 yards) while running it 53 times for 293 yards. Nick Smart was an all-state athlete in three sports that year, football, basketball and track and went on to have a stellar collegiate career as a receiver at Southwest Baptist. The defense Marionville possessed that year was similar to that of Aurora in 1999, not a bunch of superstars, just a lot of speed and was capable of getting to the ball quickly. Even Will Christian said as much in the postgame interview, “Scheme wise, we didn’t change much. It was mostly attitude, athleticism and speed.” I have a ton of respect for Will Christian. One of the real good guys in high school football.
Honorable Mention
Offense – Carl Junction 63, Carthage 32, September 6, 2013, Bulldog Stadium. 95 points combined. Stat keepers nightmare.
Outside of Missouri but, Pittsburg 67, Coffeyville 53, October 5, 2012, Veterans Memorial Stadium, Coffeyville. 120 points combined. Absolute nightmare for stats. Set the record for the most points scored in Southeast Kansas League game.
