BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. - It's been a while since the Jefferson City Jays were held to fewer than four wins in a season.
A 46-23 loss Friday night to Blue Springs in the first round of district play ended the Jays' season at 3-7, the fewest wins since going 2-8 in 2002. It's the first time the Jays didn't win at least six games with Ted LePage as head coach.
"I'm a terrible loser. I hate losing," LePage said. "Like I told these players before we played the game each one got up and told their story, and I got up and I got real emotional because I said I enjoy coming to work every day with you guys because you come every day and ask, 'Coach, what more can we do?' It was really hard for me before the game started."
And it was a rough start for Jefferson City as Blue Springs quarterback Chase Donohoe completed a pass to Tre Wheaton out of the backfield for a 51-yard touchdown on the second play of the game.
LePage said he expected the Wildcats to throw it to Caleb Marquez, a 6-foot-3, 240-pound tight end.
"He ran in and blocked our safety, our corner and safety run into each other, so they got two for one and that's how they were able to get outside on us," he said.
Marquez also ran in for two points to give Blue Springs an 8-0 lead just 48 seconds into the game.
Despite the Jays forcing three punts and two fumbles, the Wildcats led 22-0 at halftime thanks two a couple more big plays.
A 64-yard Aveion Bailey run set up a 3-yard touchdown pass from Donohoe to Marquez late in the first quarter.
A 46-yard completion to Wheaton on Blue Springs' final drive of the first half set up a 14-yard touchdown toss from Donohoe to Marquez.
Donohoe completed 10-of-16 passes for 151 yards and three touchdown. Two of the four completions to Marquez were for scores.
Jefferson City had two first downs in the first half, one because of a Blue Springs face mask penalty.
"They have three D-linemen that are really good and we had a hard time blocking them," LePage said. "Some of the things that we were working on early, we got late. We tried some things we thought were there. Unfortunately, they were able to make a better play than us."
The Jays decided to take a shot downfield to start the second half, and it paid off.
Christian White caught a 60-yard pass from Devin Roberson and Evans caught a 3-yard touchdown six plays later on fourth-and-goal.
"In the second half I told the offensive coaches, I said, 'Let it loose, let's go,'" LePage said. "We put together some nice drives and got some stops."
The Jays had a chance to make it a one-score game after forcing a punt and driving to the Blue Springs 38, but an interception set up another Blue Springs touchdown.
"If we could have made it 22-15, that would have really made it a lot of fun and a lot more interesting," LePage said.
Wheaton ran it 42 yards on a revere on the second play of the drive and Bailey ran it in from 9 yards out to cap the seven-play, 70-yard drive. The score made it 29-8 with 2:22 left in the third quarter.
Bailey led Blue Springs with 143 yards on 22 carries.
The Jays were able to score twice in the fourth quarter - an 8-yard run by K.D. Rosser and a 6-yard scoring run by Roberson.
Jefferson City relied heavily on Roberson, who ran it 32 times for 158 yards and completed 9-of-30 passes for 177 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.
"He's a young man that's going to have a tremendous offseason, tremendous upside, LePage said. "I think he never really got a chance this year because of the competition we played to get some confidence."
Marquez had a 22-yard touchdown run, Samuel Knowlton made a 37-yard field goal and Nick Wood added a 73-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter for Blue Springs (8-2), which will host Fort Zumwalt West on Friday in the Class 6 District 3 semifinals.
"This is supposed to be the representative out of the west side of the state," LePage said. "They are supposed to be the best team and I thought our players played extremely hard."
Rock Bridge will host Blue Springs South in the other semifinal.