The homecoming crowd in Weston witnessed a West Platte victory against East Buchanan for the first time in 15 years on Oct. 10, ending a streak of 18 consecutive defeats to their KCI Conference rival.
The Blue Jays didn’t just win, but they won in ruthless and emphatic fashion to defeat the Bulldogs 50-7. In what was building up to be a big matchup between teams sitting with .500 records, West Platte never let up.
“Our coaches gave us a really good speech to never let down and remember how they have treated us in the past years,” junior Blaze Masoner said. “We put our foot on the gas and never let off.”
Both of East Buchanan’s state championships came during West Platte’s losing streak against them, although the Blue Jays came close to overcoming the hurdle in their most recent one-score defeats in 2021, 2020 and 2018.
“You’ve got to go win this,” West Platte head coach Taylor Gallagher said of his pregame message to his team. “They’re a good enough program that they’re not going to just give you anything, so we had to earn it.”
East Buchanan came into the game with confidence after two straight wins with an offense finding its rhythm, but West Platte demonstrated its athleticism all night to counter the Bulldogs’ efforts. The Blue Jays’ defense held East Buchanan to just 177 yards of total offense, while the Blue Jays were effective in the run game and explosive passing for over 400 yards of offense.
“They were able to be successful because of their speed and athleticism,” Gallagher said of East Buchanan’s previous success and answering that last week. “That’s actually a strength of ours as well, so it wasn’t so much anything special we did schematically as much as it was just a better matchup for the type of players we have.”
West Platte senior Alex Kinslow races a punt return to the end zone against East Buchanan.
The game got off to a cagey start with both defenses getting stops and turnovers, but West Platte eventually got off to the races towards the end of the first quarter when Alex Kinslow returned a punt on a bounce for a 76-yard touchdown down the left sideline.
The Blue Jays went up two scores on their first possession of the second quarter. A 28-yard quarterback keeper by Jhett Chandler on third-and-4 was followed by another keeper as Chandler rushed it in from the 4-yard line.
After converting on a fourth-and-11, East Buchanan got on the board when they ran it in from the 2-yard line. Facing a third-and-7, the Blue Jays went back ahead by two scores after good pass protection allowed Chandler time to find Masoner over the middle for a 77-yard touchdown reception.
Masoner concluded the contest with 148 yards receiving on four receptions, passing the 1,000-yard marker for his career as a Blue Jay.
West Platte junior Blaze Masoner stiff arms an opponent to complete a big gain for the Blue Jays.
“He’s just a really good football player and a really good teammate,” Gallagher said. “Always locked in. He’s extremely smart; that’s what you can’t see by watching is how intelligent he is. A lot of what he’s doing is putting himself in the right positions to be successful and taking the coaching seriously.”
Jhett Chandler passes takes advantage of good pass protection to launch a pass downfield against East Buchanan on Oct. 10.
West Platte had more plans in the second quarter after forcing East Buchanan to a turnover on downs. Chandler set himself up for another touchdown carry, running for a powerful 13-yard carry before punching it in from the 1-yard line to put West Platte up 26-7 at halftime.
To start the third quarter, West Platte’s offensive line provided more pass protection on third down for Chandler as he aired the ball out 43 yards to Masoner on a 57-yard reception. The Blue Jays drove deep into Bulldog territory, but settled for a 24-yard field goal from Joe Blake.
Brady McMillan added a touchdown after a 10-yard carry allowed him to overpower his way into the end zone for his first score of the night. Masoner gave the Blue Jays another opportunity with the ball after an interception with the help of James Schulte rushing in from the edge to force an errant pass, from which Masoner returned to the 1-yard line for Canton Wilkins to run in to make it 43-7.
West Platte turned to Mark Sanders at quarterback for an efficient run-heavy drive to begin the fourth quarter. Freshman Macklin Bolling ran it in for the 1-yard score to institute a running clock as the Blue Jays took the 50-7 victory.
In addition to Masoner’s big performance, Chandler rushed for two touchdowns on 121 yards and threw for 166 and a touchdown. Schulte had West Platte’s only sack while Alex Allison and Jaxon Davis combined to lead the defense with 18 combined tackles.
The Blue Jays will conclude their regular-season home schedule on Oct. 17 against Lathrop before a road battle against North Platte on Oct. 24.
“Our next two games are our biggest ones yet,” Masoner said. “This is what we really prepare for and this is a good win to start off these next two games.”