For the first time since the turn of the century, the Oak Park football team ended the regular season undefeated.

The Northmen enjoyed a 42-26 win on Friday night over Fort Osage to wrap up the Greater Kansas City Suburban Conference Red Division title. The victory capped off a perfect 9-0 regular season for the Northmen, who have now scored 40 or more in the past four games.

Oak Park - ranked No. 4 in the 810 Varsity Top 25 - trailed early, took a lead and then held off a third-quarter charge from the Indians (5-4).

As with the case with most Northmen games, the 1-2 attack of Evan Braxton and Travon Pankey provided plenty of big plays.

Pankey accounted for four touchdowns in the win, three of them coming in the first half. His initial score helped tie the game at 7-7. His last one, in the fourth quarter, put the finishing touches on a 14-point fourth quarter.

Oak Park held a two-score lead at the break, 28-13, but Brock Bult’s Indians kept charging. Ryver Peppers, the Metro's leader in rushing touchdowns entering the game, accounted for two touchdowns in the third quarter, one on a run and then another on a pass from Kyle Wilson. 

The latter cut Oak Park’s lead down to 28-26 going into the fourth.

Three minutes into the fourth quarter, Oak Park quarterback Aiden Hinkle threw his second touchdown pass of the game when he connected with Drew Clemens. That gave Oak Park breathing room before Pankey’s final touchdown with 5:24 left.

Peppers accounted for all three of the Fort Osage touchdowns.

Fort Osage is back in action next week as the No. 3 seed and will host Winnetonka (2-7) in a Class 5 District 8 game.

Oak Park earned a first-round bye in Class 6 District 8 and will face either Staley (3-6) or Park Hill South (1-8) in the district semifinals. 

In a clash of two top five teams in the Metro, Liberty North showed the gap is wider than appears.

The Eagles, ranked No. 2 in the 810 Varsity Top 25, put the hammer to No. 5 Lee's Summit West, 43-12, on Friday.

The rout wrapped up the Greater Kansas City Suburban Conference Gold Division crown for the Eagles, who won the last eight games after a loss to No. 1-ranked Lee’s Summit North in the season opener.

Quarterback Tillman Martin tossed four touchdowns, completing 16 of his 22 passes for 207 yards in the victory for the Eagles (8-1). The junior spread the ball around with touchdowns to three different targets — twice to future Nebraska wide receiver Keelan Smith. He scored the initial touchdown of the game on a 15-yard score with 55.4 seconds left in the first quarter. He added his second on a 16-yard touchdown in the third quarter.

The Eagles’ offense, defense and special teams all played a part in a 19-6 lead in the first half. The first points of the game came on a safety with a tackle in the end zone.

Lee’s Summit West (7-2) had just stopped North at the 1-yard line on a fourth-down attempt to take some momentum but the Eagles regained it quickly. After kicking the ball to Liberty North, Martin hit Smith for his initial score and an early 9-0 lead. 

Lee’s Summit West, which has now lost two in a row, cut it down to one possession on a 75-yard touchdown pass from Caden Carter to Tayveon Simms on the final play of the first quarter.

That turned out to be the closest the Titans would come to challenging Liberty North for the lead.

Martin threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to 6-foot-6 target Gabe Perry with 6:18 to go in the first half and Bleu Renfrow booted a 23-yard field goal to make it 19-6 at the break.

Renfrow added another field goal for the only points in the third quarter. Martin threw touchdown passes to Smith and Jacorey Love in the fourth quarter before River Therrien’s 9-yard run late in the fourth capped the scoring. 

MicahJo Barnett ran for 100 yards on 29 carries for Liberty North.

Carter completed six of 17 passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns — both to Simms — to highlight the Titans’ offense.

Big play, after big play, after big play. 

St. Pius X scored on plays of 90 yards, 75 yards and 71 yards on its way to a 34-13 win over Savannah on Friday night.

The Warriors, ranked No. 5 in Class 3 by 810 Varsity, built a 14-point lead within the first 3:34 of the game, highlighted by a Charles Ross 90-yard touchdown return on the game's opening kickoff. On the first play of the next possession, quarterback Hudson Bailey bombed from the SPX 25 down the right sideline to Tommy Hutsler, who hauled in the pass at the 40, then sprinted away from the defender for a 75-yard score.

Savannah finally got on the board with just over four minutes left in the first. But Pius (7-2) came right back with another TD before quarter's end and led 21-6. 

Savannah (6-3) battled back once more, scoring on a 51-yard pass early in the second and stayed within one score at halftime. 

In the opening minutes of the third,  Bailey and Hutsler connected again. Bailey hit the junior wideout for a short pass on the right side, before Hutsler turned on the jets for a 71-yard scamper and 28-13 deficit.

The Warriors followed that stop with an 86-yard drive to put the game away. 

"Hopefully we can use this to spring us forward into the playoffs," St. Pius X head coach Anthony Simone said. "Our guys played really tough football tonight."