Following the theme of their Week 1 stomping of Parkview at JFK Stadium, the Kickapoo Chiefs (2-0) made noise early and often with the football on Friday night – bursting out to a 42-0 lead before halftime and cruising to a convincing 42-14 victory over the Rolla Bulldogs (0-2) in Ozark Conference action.
However, unlike a week ago, Kickapoo relied on its aerial attack to start the scoring brigade as a pair of touchdown passes from senior quarterback Chris Lawson put the Chiefs up 14-0 less than halfway through the first period.
“We had a really good game plan this week,” Lawson said after the win. “Our goal was to throw the ball at least 70 percent of the time and we knew [Rolla] had to honor our run game. Last week against Parkview we had that going pretty early, so they had to honor that and that really opened up some lanes to throw in.”
Lawson's first touchdown connection of the night came with fellow senior Robbie Merced on the other end, hauling in a pass from six yards out at the first quarter's 9:51 mark.
Less than three minutes later, senior standout Travis Vokolek became the recipient of a 6-yard touchdown pass from Lawson.
“We're very explosive offensively, “said Kickapoo head coach Kurt Thompson. “We've got some receivers that can play. Chris [Lawson] is able to distribute the ball to our players. He does a great job of that.”
After the Chiefs tacked on two more touchdowns in the opening quarter via a pick-six and an 8-yard TD run by Maverick McGee, Merced made things look easy by securing his second receiving touchdown of the contest to widen the Kickapoo advantage to 35-0 in the second quarter.
“I'm never nervous going into a game, I'm pretty relaxed,” said Merced. “It was pretty easy. The corners were playing so far off, so it was easy to get the ball and just go. It was fun.”
Another strike to the endzone from Lawson to Corey Dye just before halftime further exemplified the Chiefs' offensive superiority on Friday and gave Lawson the opportunity to spectate from the sidelines when the second half got underway.
Thanks to a solid performance by his team's defense, Lawson was able to let backup QB Brandan Remy finish out the game with the outcome never in doubt.
“It's different, that's for sure,” Lawson said in reference to sitting out the second half. “We said if [Rolla] was going to go down and score pretty fast then we were going to go back in, but our defense did a nice job of holding them.”
Lawson finished 12-for-16 passing with 124 yards and four touchdowns, while Merced was good for two TDs of his own.
The biggest bright spot on the evening for Rolla was junior running back Davis Buhr, who carried the ball 18 times for 175 yards and made his mark with a 41-yard touchdown scamper to finally put the Bulldogs on the board in the fourth.
“He was really good as a freshman. He got hurt really early as a sophomore and is just still kind of recovering from [a knee injury],” Rolla head coach Jon Franks said of Buhr. “He's a very electric and dynamic kid. We're happy for him to kind of get going and get some stuff under his belt.”
Kickapoo travels to Joplin next week, while Rolla comes home to face Parkview.
Kickapoo 42, Rolla 14
Rolla 0-0-0-14 – 14
Kickapoo 28-14-0-0 – 42
First quarter
Kickapoo – Merced 6 catch from Lawson (kick good)
Kickapoo – Vokolek 7 catch from Lawson (kick good)
Kickapoo – Yarnell 10 interception return (kick good)
Kickapoo – McGee 8 run (kick good)
Second quarter
Kickapoo – Merced 25 catch from Lawson (kick good)
Kickapoo – Dye 7 catch from Lawson (kick good)
Fourth quarter
Rolla – Buhr 41 run (kick good)
Rolla – Douglas 6 run (kick good)
