Dakarri Hollis leads Lutheran North past MICDS in battle of Missouri high school football unbeatens
JENNINGS, MISSOURI – Kyle Wagner is always cautioning his Lutheran North football players to "not eat the cheese."
The Crusaders coach was quick to remind them of that following their 46-21 victory over visiting MICDS on Friday night, because he saw enough cause for concern with an uneven performance.
“I think we’ve been eating the cheese a little bit,” Wagner said.
Lutheran North, the No. 8 team in the SBLive Missouri Power 25 football rankings, improved to 6-0 on the season but the coach hasn't been shy about having higher expectations whenever his team takes the field.
“We haven’t put together a full game yet," Wagner said. "A lot of people have been congratulating our guys on winning games against good teams, which is impressive, but I’m trying to get them from a point of just competing in those games to dominating in those games. I told them that’s not normal, it’s a different mindset.”
Lutheran North junior quarterback Dakarri Hollis, who completed 13 of 21 passes for 319 yards and five touchdowns, shared his coach's sentiment after Friday's 25-point victory.
“We didn’t do good at all today and next week we just have to come out and do better," Hollis said. "We worked good this week but we didn’t show that this game, so all we have to do is just work better next week and play to the best of our ability.”
Wagner has high expectations for his talented junior quarterback, who has a Division I offer from Miami-Ohio.
“He’s a phenomenal player," the coach said. "He’s one of the best football players I’ve coached. So his expectation level is a different level from the other guys I’ve coached before. I expected him to come out tonight and throw seven to eight touchdowns. … I think he’s going to play better next week.”
Lutheran North, which entered Friday's contest averaging 50 points per game and allowing just 15.8, went into Friday's matchup having won eight of the past 10 meetings with MICDS (5-1).
The Crusaders led 14-0 after one quarter thanks to a scoop-and-score fumble return from Xavier Chapman and a 23-yard touchdown pass from Hollis to Trey Bass.
North extended that lead to 22-0 after Hollis connected with Mike Harris for a 60-yard touchdown pass. The defense kept the score there at halftime with an interception by Kion Gibson and a fumble recovery by freshman linebacker James Bryant.
Hollis connected with Mike Harris and Bass for touchdown passes in the third quarter to extend that advantage to 38-0.
MICDS fought back with three straight scores to make it 38-21 midway through the fourth quarter.
Junior quarterback Brian Gould connected on a long touchdown pass from to Graham Faust late in the third quarter after evading defenders in the backfield.
Then sophomore Mikey Gutchewsky scored on a 6-yard run up the gut and Gould scored on a 1-yard run QB sneak to trim the deficit.
Lutheran North answered with a 27-yard touchdown pass from Hollis to Clark on fourth down with 3:25 to push the lead to 46-21.
Clark finished with five catches for 143 yards and two touchdowns.
“All he does is work in practice," Hollis said. "All he does is work hard and today was his day.”
Lutheran North's Ahmir Scott recovered a fumble with 2:43 remaining for the Crusaders' fourth takeaway of the game.
“In the first half our defense played incredible, our offense played so-so," Wagner said. "We came out with 14 points but we had a couple drops. In the second half we come out and we played decent on offense but defensively we gave up three scores. We just have to put together a full game. That’s my expectation.”
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– Nate Latsch | latsch@scorebooklive.com | @SBLiveMiz
