Lee’s Summit North wore its road white tops and Lee’s Summit wore its home gold, but the prominent color on the field was bright yellow. The Broncos and Tigers were locked in a grinder of a game, with the Broncos edging out the Tigers in this penalty parade, 14-7.

The Broncos were penalized for 160 yards compared to the Tigers’ 60 yards of penalties. With a football field’s worth of difference in infractions, the Broncos were somehow able to pull out the win, but it wasn’t pretty.

Broncos head coach Jamar Mozee said, “I felt like in the (Lee’s Summit) West game, we played hard for three (quarters), made a mistake and we faded. Since then, I’ve been really hard on them to just play the whole time, and then let the chips fall where they fall. They did that tonight. They fought the whole time and it makes a difference.”

It was a fight all right, as both teams were still at a draw at halftime, 7-7. Appropriately enough, it was the defense that provided the first points of the game, as Broncos sophomore linebacker Kienen Gaskin snagged a 60-yard pick six from Tigers sophomore quarterback Darrias Pearsall.

Only 1:32 remained in the first half as the Tigers had 73 yards to go to knot the game up before halftime. With the help of a Broncos personal foul and great management of the clock, the Tigers drove all the way until Pearsall found senior wide receiver Somaj Brewer in the corner of the end zone to tie it all up. Pearsall would finish the game going 14-of-30 for 160 yards in addition to his touchdown pass and one interception.

In the second half, the Broncos wore down the Tigers and the clock with its signature running attack. When asked how the Broncos find a way to work the running game Mozee said, “It’s who we are. You can’t do what you can’t do. We do what we can do. That’s my motto…We’ve got some runners so we run.”

Sounds easy enough. The Broncos’ rushing attack of running back John Eldridge (113 yards), quarterback Christian Carter (54 yards), and running back Ontario Russell (38 yards) combined for 212 yards on the ground.  Carter would have the only other Broncos touchdown of the game, which happened to be the game-winner in the fourth quarter, as he punched it in from five yards out.

While it was clear the Broncos’ game plan was to run the ball, the Tigers’ game plan was perhaps even more simple: get the ball to number seven. Senior running back Preston Whitworth was the Tigers’ offense, and he carried the load well, serving as both the leading rusher and receiver.

In addition to the penalty party throughout the night, both teams seemingly struggled on special teams. Aside from some impressive punts, muffed returns and mishandled snaps were fairly consistent. However, the Broncos were able to keep a drive alive due to a perfectly executed fake punt with linebacker Myles Craddock running for a seven-yard gain. With the fourth down conversion, it looked as though the Broncos were going to put the game out of reach and get some insurance points. Looks were deceiving, as Carter fumbled into the end zone and the Tigers were able to recover and get the touchback. What could have been another last minute Tigers scoring drive ended up as a stall out at the Broncos 41 yard line.

Both teams will face teams next week with evenly matched records. The Broncos (4-2) will host Blue Springs (4-2), while Lee’s Summit (2-4) will face Blue Springs South (2-4).