Kearney Remains Undefeated, Takes Down Ray South 53-12

Raytown South senior quarterback Manny Burnett completed 14 passes on 26 attempts for 258 yards and a touchdown. Cardinal running backs Mylan Simmons and Darrell Ransburg combined for 49 yards of rushing, but it simply wasn’t enough to overcome the physical Kearney Bulldog defense along with their quick-strike offense.

The Cardinals put 12 points on the board in the second quarter on a Darrell Ransburg 1-yard touchdown run and an 81-yard touchdown pass from Manny Burnett to BJ Davis. That concluded the Cardinal scoring for the evening as Kearney pulled away with a commanding 31-12 lead by halftime.

Casey Rooney (10) runs the quarterback keeper for a 19-yard touchdown. Photo credit - Kelly Gentry

“Homecoming can be a distraction, so we came out just a hair flat. But you also have to give Ray South credit. They’ve got some really good players,” said Kearney Head Coach Logan Minnick. “Coach Harris over there is doing a great job. They came in with a great game plan and really gave us fits for a little bit.”

The 7-0 Bulldogs opened their scoring on the ground as Cameron Emmons ran 6 yards for his seventh touchdown in 3 games at 9:18 in the first quarter. A two-point conversion pass from quarterback Casey Rooney to junior tight end James Shaw brought the score to 8-0.

Casey Rooney tucked the ball and sprinted 19 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter and Grant Jacobsen’s point after kick gave the Bulldogs a 15-0 lead in the second quarter.

Kearney senior defensive back Luke Noland returned a kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown, following the Ray South, Burnett to Davis touchdown pass.  

 “As soon as the ball was coming back to me, I was thinking, ‘here we go’,” said Noland.  “I knew the return we were running; the numbers were right. We had enough blockers compared to white jerseys and hopefully, I don’t get tackled by the kicker this time.”

Danny Petree (24) breaks a tackle on a first down run. Photo Credit - Kelly Gentry

Senior tight end Zach Grace ran for a 13-yard score with 43 seconds left in the half and in the opening minutes of the third quarter, Grace hauled in a Casey Rooney pass for a 45-yard touchdown. Two minutes later, it was Rooney to Grace for a 20-yard touchdown.

“Any time you give Zach Grace an opportunity to get open, good things are going to happen,” said Coach Minnick.

The fireworks flew at 3:31 in the third quarter after Cameron Emmons sprinted 96 yards from scrimmage for a touchdown, setting the Kearney High School record for longest touchdown run.

“I went untouched,” said Emmons. “It’s not hard to run a touchdown like that when you don’t get touched and that goes to the linemen – for sure.”

The Bulldogs host the Grandview Bulldogs next week for the conference championship game. Grandview is 5-2 overall and 4-0 in the Suburban Blue Conference. 

KPGZ Sports – Mike Davis contributed to this story.