In a battle of two teams that had rolled through Class 5 playoffs leading up to Friday’s contest, it was clear from the beginning one was ready to take control early and never let go.

Staley’s Julian Ross, a candidate for the Simone Award given to the best football player in the Kansas City metropolitan area each season, sprinted past defenders throughout his 180-yard, four touchdown performance in a 42-21 home victory over Park Hill South.

After breaking through a few tackles during his fourth touchdown run, Ross turned on the speed and raced to a 63-yard touchdown.

This is just one example of Ross’ patience and brilliance on the ground during Staley’s state quarterfinal victory. And his quarterback John Raybourn was there the whole time encouraging him to pull the team along.

“On half of those runs Johnny was like ‘Hey, you’ve got to score,’ and I was like ‘All right, Johnny, I got you,’” Ross said.

Ross’ performance was no surprise to Staley coach Phil Lite, who has seen his star back surpass 2,000 yards on the season. Ross and Lite also know the team is not successful without an impressive group of offensive lineman.

“He’s very confident in the guys up front,” Lite said. “That’s a great group. It’s the strength of our football team. We just say get a crease, get a hat on a hat, and we’ve got an opportunity to get him through.”

The Falcons led 42-0 at halftime, so Ross did not play in the second half in order to preserve him for the state semifinal against either Chaminade or Vianney.

However, it wasn’t all the offense for the Falcons. An impressive Staley defense held Park Hill South in check until both teams brought in backups. The Panthers were unable to find any continuity on offense against the Falcons first string.

“This group right here is growing up,” Lite said of the young defensive unit. “We really saw what we could do against Kearney and that really built our confidence. We’ve really played outstanding defense through the playoffs thus far.”

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