Entering Friday night's game against No. 10 Rockhurst, the Jefferson City Jays knew they had to stop running back Brady McCanles.
The Jays even had a player wear a No. 38 jersey during practice to make sure they didn't lose track of where he lined up during the game.
For a while, it appeared their preparations were going to pay off. But McCanles and the sizeable offensive line in front of him proved too much as the game went along, as the senior ran for 190 yards and three total touchdowns in a 30-12 defeat of the Jays at Adkins Stadium.
"I thought we played real well," Jefferson City coach Ted LePage said. "Did you see their offensive line? I mean, my goodness. They had 6-8 and 6-9, and 315 and 305. They have dudes and they were just wearing on us.
"They do a really good job up front at doing what they do and running hard downhill, but boy when our guys hit, we did a good job. Defensively, I can't really be too upset."
LePage was referring to left tackle Jack Murphy and right tackle Danielson Ike.
The Hawklets a size advantage up front no matter who they play, and they use that to their advantage.
Rockhurst ran the ball 48 times for 280 yards. McCanles had 22 of those carries and scored two rushing touchdowns. He also returned a kickoff 100 yards for a score to give Rockhurst a 7-6 lead just shy of 2 minutes into the game.
That return made up for McCanles' fumble on the second play of the game that turned into a 28-yard touchdown drive for the Jays.
Quarterback Devin Roberson put Jefferson City on top 6-0 just 42 seconds into the contest. The PAT was blocked.
The Jays didn't score again until midway through the fourth quarter when Roberson completed a 69-yard pass to Davion Evans and then connected with Maleek Jackson for an 11-yard score. The 2-point conversion attempt failed to keep the score 23-12 Rockhurst.
"We went into like self preservation mode and I didn't like that," LePage said. "I addressed that at halftime. I thought our players played hard. They got a cheap one late but other than that, that was a heck of a football game."
Alex Burkhead recovered an onside kick for the Jays, but Carter Elder picked off a deep pass that bounced off receiver Christian White. It was the fourth interception thrown by Roberson, who was 11-of-30 for 187 yards with a touchdown.
"They play good defense, but we didn't do a lot of stuff to help ourselves," LePage said. "We didn't throw on time on some situations where we had open receivers and then we dropped some critical passes. I know they are good defensively, but we also helped them out."
McCanles added his second rushing score on the ensuing drive from a yard out for a 30-12 lead with 2:01 left. He had four carries for 49 yards during the 69-yard drive.
McCanles' first rushing score came in a more unconventional way.
On fourth-and-goal from inside the 1, Rockhurst quarterback Luke Boehm fumbled and the ball bounced beyond the 10-yard line where McCanles scooped it up and ran to the outside for the score. It made it 14-6 with 5:43 left in the first half.
"Things like that, you just sit there and just scratch your head because, wow, the ball is just bouncing around and everybody is going for the ball," LePage said. " It just became a chaos play and they came out on the right end of the chaos."
Rockhurst added a 37-yard field goal from Eric Angrisano as time expired in the second quarter to take a 17-6 lead at halftime.
The Hawklets were held to 81 yards on 27 attempts in the first half, but gained 199 yards on 21 attempts in the second half.
The Jays finished with 77 rushing yards on 27 carries.
"What I talked to our offense about at halftime was, 'Their backs are getting yards after contact, why are we going down? Why are we accepting that?'" LePage said.
Jefferson City (3-6) remained seventh in Class 6 District 3 with the loss, setting up a matchup at No. 2 seed Blue Springs (7-2) on Friday.
Rock Bridge (8-1) earned the top seed and will host Francis Howell Central (3-6). Fort Zumwalt West (7-2) will host Troy (3-6) in the 3-6 matchup, while Francis Howell (6-3) will host Blue Springs South (3-6) in the 4-5 game.
"Now it's time to move on in the playoffs and see what we can do," LePage said.