KANSAS CITY, Mo. - One type of play quickly burned the Jefferson City Jays in the first quarter Friday night against Rockhurst.
Then a couple types of plays slowly burned the Jays the rest of the game.
Jefferson City didn't have an answer for the Hawklets' ground game as it dropped a 41-8 decision to close out the regular season.
"Rockhurst is a good program because they execute," Jays coach Terry Walker said of the fourth-ranked team in Class 6. "They're consistent. They're consistent with their approach, they're consistent in how they do things and that's something where we need to get to and we're working to get to."
Rockhurst (7-2) went up 14-0 in the first quarter thanks to a pair of touchdown runs by receiver Joseph Coit on end-around plays.
Rockhurst faked its trap and Coit got around the edge on the scorers.
"They hurt us on the reverse and if we would have not run the reverse 25 times in practice I might be OK with that," Walker said. "Seeing how they hurt us on the reverse and we knew the set that they were running it out of, there's got to be some ownership there."
Coit's first touchdown was from 33 yards out with 7:59 left in the first quarter and the second was a 16-yard scamper with 3:14 on the clock.
After that, it was mostly traps and sweeps from the Hawklets.
Michael Johnson dragged defenders into the end zone on a 21-yard touchdown run with 3:21 left in the half.
But Rockhurst did prove it can throw as well as Luke Boehm competed five passes on an eight-play, 61-yard drive that took all but 4 seconds off the final 1:21 of the second-quarter clock.
Boehm found Jalen Crayton in the end zone for a 14-yard score to cap the drive.
The Jays did slow down Rockhurst to start the second half, turning the Hawklets over on downs when linebacker Ryan Brooks stopped Johnson for no gain on a fourth-and-2 at the Jays' 48-yard line.
Maleek Jackson then helped move the Jays to the 33 with 16 yards on five carries, but the fifth rush was a 1-yard gain on fourth-and-2.
"I felt the kids played more consistent in the second half," Walker said. "In the first half, we had opportunities to create some stops. We would have guys that would miss an assignment, whether it be offensively or defensively. When you're playing a quality team like Rockhurst or anyone else that's a quality opponent, you can't afford those breakdowns."
After the turnover on downs, Coit broke numerous tackles on a 49-yard touchdown pass from Boehm. A missed PAT kept it 34-0 with 3:59 left in the third quarter.
Jefferson City followed with its lone score on a 12-play, 66-yard drive.
Roberson gained 23 yards on fourth-and-2 to reach the 10-yard line and Jackson caught a 5-yard swing pass from Roberson for the touchdown.
Roberson ran it in for the 2-point conversion to make it 34-8 with :27 left in the third quarter.
Crayton added a 4-yard touchdown for Rockhurst with 9:12 left.
Jefferson City (4-5) will face Blue Springs (6-3) next Friday on the road to begin play in the Class 6 District 2 Tournament.
"We asked the kids to reflect about what they wanted to do for this upcoming week," Walker said. "We asked them to really focus just on improving, improving fundamentally and trying to execute in the manner in which we're asking them to do. If they do do that, what will happen? Because we've got a lot of guys (on the coaching staff) who have played in more than one state championship.
"Our kids really have no playoff experience beyond districts. To a certain degree, their knowledge with regards to what it means to play in the playoffs beyond Week 1. At least we get one more game to correct what we did wrong."