Kansas City Star, The (MO)
June 17, 2006
Section: Photo
Page: 23

Missouri football all-stars defeat Kansas
Author: SAM MELLINGER

Somewhere in the mess of the postgame collection of sweaty athletes and hand-slapping buddies and girlfriends, Raymore-Peculiar coach Tom Kruse was asked about the heavy Cass County tint on Missouri's all-star team.

"I've seen that before," he said. "I told you there's a lot of talent there."

Missouri won the high school football all-star game 21-7 on Thursday, and it would only be a mild exaggeration to call the winning team the Lee's Summit and Southland all-stars.
The starting quarterback was Ray-Pec's Carson Coffman.

The rotation of running backs was nearly all Southland as well, with Belton's Jake Lynch, Lee's Summit West's La Darrian Page, Cass-Midway's Jesse Richardson and Ray-Pec's Thomas Hodges, who was chosen Missouri's most valuable player.

Grandview's Tim Vincent caught a late touchdown pass for Missouri, and Harrisonville's Mike Stadler boomed several punts -- including one into a strong wind -- more than 40 yards.

"When coach told us the starting lineups," Lynch said, "we kind of said, It's the Cass County boys starting in the backfield. "

They made their impact early and often, too. Missouri's first five plays from scrimmage were runs by Lynch, Hodges and Richardson.

Then came a 26-yard pass from Coffman to Hodges that put the ball at the 3-yard line, setting up a short touchdown run by Anthon Aiono of Park Hill.

"Most of the pass plays at Ray-Pec are to the receivers," Hodges said. "That play, that was just Carson being a good quarterback. He just found me. That play was all Carson."
Defensively, Jamison Shaw showed why he holds the Ray-Pec school record for sacks, taking down a Kansas quarterback late in the game.

"A game like this, the other team doesn't just have one or two all-stars, they're all all-stars," Hodges said. "So if you can make a play against them, you feel like you can make a play against anybody."

Copyright 2006 The Kansas City Star Co.