KANSAS CITY - Jefferson City's opening drive looked promising.
But for the next 20 minutes, things looked bleak for the Jays.
Rockhurst scored five unanswered touchdowns en route to a 37-17 win Friday night against Jefferson City in the final game of the regular season at Dasta Stadium.
The Hawklets, the No. 2-ranked team in Class 6, now lead Jefferson City 24-14 in the all-time series, dating back to 1976. Rockhurst (8-1) has edged the Jays (6-3) in the last three contests.
T.J. Green, the son of former NFL quarterback Trent Green, provided most of the offense for the Hawkets. The 6-foot-1 senior was 16-of-18 for 278 yards and threw for four touchdown passes.
"He's a good player and we knew it," Jefferson City coach LePage said. "We allowed him to be a little bit better of a player tonight. We left some guys uncovered, and that is not indicative of our secondary."
Jefferson City quarterback Isaac Roling was 9-of-18 for 132 yards with two interceptions and one score, which came with just under two minutes to play in the game. The senior also ran for 61 yards on six carries.
Elijah Pittman added 79 yards rushing on 25 carries, including a 1-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter.
Jefferson City used 11 plays to drive 60 yards, but came up short on third-and-8 from the Hawlets 17-yard line on the Jays' opening drive.
J.T. Bohlken, who set a school record with a 51-yard field goal last week, missed from 34 yards out and Rockhurst controlled the tempo the rest of the way.
Green started the scoring for the Hawklets with a 65-yard touchdown pass to Nick Bosma to give Rockhurst a 7-0 lead with 3:41 left in the opening period.
"We came out, had a great opening drive, miss a field goal, and then we just give up a cheap score," LePage said. "We were really going back and forth for a while, and then we just gave up that cheap score.
"I don't understand that. That was perplexing to me that we gave one up so easy. It just looked like we got back on our heels."
Jefferson City went three-and-out on its next possession and A.J. Taylor capped off a 60-yard drive with a 13-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter to extend the Hawklets' lead to 14.
Green, who made his presence known in the pocket and on the run, found Matt Schell for a 29-yard score to give Rockhurst a 21-point lead with 7:43 in the first half.
The Jays caught a break when they took over at the Hawklets 46-yard line after forcing Rockhurst to punt from deep in its own territory, but Isaac Roling was picked off by Tyler Benninghoff in the end zone.
Green responded by finding Lance Boehm for a 54-yard touchdown pass to give the Hawklets a 27-0 lead with 26 seconds left in the first half.
Jefferson City held Rockhurst scoreless in the third quarter and finally got on the board after Bohlken nailed a 44-yard field goal with one second left in the period.
Green responded again with an 18-yard pass to Will Bizzle to give the Hawklets a 33-point cushion with 11:33 in the fourth quarter.
The Jays didn't quit fighting.
Pittman capped off a seven-play, 77-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to make it 34-10 with 4:57 to play in the fourth quarter.
Jefferson City used another four-play, 63-yard drive that was capped off with a 41-yard touchdown pass from Roling to Daniel Ellinger to bring the Jays within 17 with 1:42 to play, but that's as close as they would get.
"In the second half, we competed our tails off," LePage said. "We just can't let ourselves get behind like that."