Reeds Spring football falls to Cardinal Ritter in first state championship appearance
COLUMBIA — Making its first state championship in program history, Reeds Spring will settle for a second-place finish at the Class 3 level.
Reeds Spring (11-3) fell 46-7 to Cardinal Ritter (14-0) in the MSHSAA Class 3 Show-Me Bowl on Saturday afternoon at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium in Columbia.
A historic year for the Wolves ended with a Big 8 East title, a district championship crown and the best postseason run in school history.
If you would have asked the Wolves before the season, they would have never believed they would have made it this far. That belief grew throughout the season which included a seven-game winning streak that went from the regular season up until its defeat at the hands of the ultra-talented Lions.
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Seniors like Caden Wiest, Eben Crain, Addison Abshire, Adam Lewis and others helped establish the winning ways for the Wolves this season. The 11-3 year was Reeds Spring's first winning season since 2018 and it followed a 2-6 finish in 2020 while going 4-7 just a year ago.
Reeds Spring will still have plenty to build with heading into the upcoming years following the breakout of quarterback Blandy Burall, the first 2,000-yard passer in Wolves history, along with wide receiver James Dowdy who made his name known as one of the best in the Ozarks.
The Wolves didn't have enough on Saturday against a team with speed bound for the SEC and the Big Ten.
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Cardinal Ritter scored the game's first 20 points with Ole Miss-bound Marvin Burks running in a pair of scores in the first quarter. Receiver Ryan Boyd caught a pass from his brother Carson Boyd for a 16-yard touchdown with 3:44 left in the first half.
Reeds Spring got on the scoreboard when Burall rolled to his left and then turned around to throw a perfect pass to running back Jace Bolin on a wheel-route for a 30-yard touchdown to bring it to 20-7 before halftime.
Burks scored his third and fourth rushing touchdowns of the game on the Lions' first two possessions of the second half. Michigan-bound wide receiver Fredrick Moore scored twice in the second half with touchdown receptions of 48 and 36 yards to extend the Lions' lead to 39.
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Reeds Spring finished the game with 181 total yards of offense with running back Preston Blubaugh rushing for 91 yards on 21 carries. Burall finished with 120 yards and a touchdown through the air.
Burks rushed for 118 yards and four scores for the Lions with Moore catching eight passes for 157 yards and two touchdowns. The Lions had 383 yards of total offense.
Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or Twitter at @WyattWheeler_NL. He's also the co-host of Sports Talk on Jock Radio weekdays from 4-6 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Cardinal Ritter beats Reeds Spring for Class 3 football championship
