The bus ride from St. Joseph lasted nearly two hours for the Blue Springs football team on a mild evening in September, but Wildcats coach Kelly Donohoe remembers it being longer. Over the previous three hours, St. Joseph Central had picked apart his defense to the tune of 49 points, dropping Blue Springs to 0-4.

“We got home, and it was like a morgue in the coach’s office,” Donohoe said. “We were probably at school until 2 a.m., trying to figure out something we could do to turn the tide.”

The tide has turned.

The Wildcats responded with six wins in seven games, culminating in a 14-12 victory at Raymore-Peculiar on Friday.

Blue Springs will travel to face Springfield Kickapoo next week in the Missouri Class 6, District 4 title game.

“It’s amazing the pride we have in these kids,” Donohoe said. “They could’ve gone the route of packing this in, but they never did. That’s what makes this thing pretty special.”

Blue Springs, 6-5, fell behind 6-0 on Friday before Dylan Cowling found Caleb Marquez for a 27-yard touchdown on a fourth-down play. Tresten Spruell added to the lead with an 8-yard touchdown run. Raymore-Peculiar answered in the fourth quarter, with a 20-yard touchdown from Kory Linaweaver to Baylee Custer, but the Panthers failed to convert the potential game-tying two-point conversion.