Duncanville-Westfield vs. Liberty North-CBC: A tale of 2 penalty-filled playoff games
A high school football state championship game in Missouri ended prematurely Saturday because of 165 total penalty yards, an ejection and high tensions.
Earlier Saturday, a quarterfinal in Texas with 299 yards' worth of penalties and multiple ejections made it through all 48 minutes, ending with Duncanville beating Westfield 70-28.
Both games ended with jubilation on one side, hanging heads on the other and no postgame handshakes between the teams.
In Liberty North's 38-7 state championship win over CBC for the Eagles' first Missouri Class 6 football title, the game ended with 3 minutes and 15 seconds left on the clock.
"I kind of asked if we could stop it just because of the nature of what we perceived as dangerous plays going on there," CBC coach Scott Pingel told SBLive's Nate Latsch. "I just wanted to make sure that we all got out of there without anything else happening."
The Duncanville-Westfield game was chippy throughout, with Westfield defensive tackle Xavier McCray getting ejected in the aftermath of a sideline fight in the second quarter.
More ejections followed in the fourth quarter after an on-field skirmish, but the game kept going with Duncanville leading 70-21 with 3:31 left.
Both teams had exceeded 100 yards of penalties through three quarters, and Westfield finished the game with 185.
But despite all the yellow flags and ejections, the game made it to the final whistle:
With the win, Duncanville advanced to the semifinals against North Crowley.
An early-season game in Florida between Vero Beach and Miami Northwestern made it to the finish line despite 46 penalties, 358 yards and five touchdowns nullified.
Games like these come down to coaches' discretion.
Elsewhere in Missouri on Saturday, a starkly different postgame scene took shape between Lamar and Valle Catholic in the Class 2 state championship game.
(Feature photo by David Smith)
—
-- Mike Swanson | swanson@scorebooklive.com | @sblivesports
