Burroughs loses to Maryville, denied state championship

Even with another super day from their superstar tailback Ezekiel Elliott, the John Burroughs Bombers ended up being a part of history that they did not care to have.

For the third consecutive season, Burroughs was denied a state championship as the Bombers lost to highly ranked Maryville 35-22 Friday ( Nov. 23) at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.

“It hurts a lot, there no doubt about it, but it’s a never-ending process but we have a great group of younger players that I think they could be back here next year,” Elliott said. “We’re going to get the state championship some time. It’s going to happen.”

What happened instead to the Bombers is that they could not handle the big, physical offensive line of the Spoofhounds.

That line as well as Maryville’s three-headed monster backfield of quarterback Jonathan Baker, and running backs Kevin McMahon, and Derek Steins was a nightmare for the Bombers.

McMahon rushed for 213 yards on 27 carries and he and Steins each scored two touchdowns as Maryville rolled up 493 yards offense on a scrappy but undersized Bombers defense.

“If you knew the type of high and lows we’ve been through since we were little kids you would know a lot of those seniors out there have played football ever since we were little,” Baker said. “You can look them in the eye and you know they’ll have your back. They’ve been there done that.”

Elliott scored his 50th touchdown of the season in the last minute of the third quarter but it was not enough for the Bombers, who ended the season at 13-1.

“They’re a heckuva team,” Burroughs Gus Frerotte said. “They’re big, fast, strong, stuck to guns running the ball. That’s rough.” We had some opportunities to put some points on the board and it just didn’t happen.”

Down 21-10 at the half, the Bombers pulled within 28-22 and were driving for the a go-ahead score midway through the fourth quarter. But Maryville (15-0) turned away the Burroughs march on downs and tacked on a late touchdown to put the game just out of reach in the closing moments.

Elliott, who is headed to Ohio State, next fall, finished his Burroughs career with another dazzling performance, rushing for 219 yards with three touchdowns on the ground. One score was a 79 yarder on the Bombers first play from scrimmage. In addition to that, the senior tailback reeled off an 84-yard kick return and also hauled in five passes for 72 yards receiving. Elliott racked up a Show Me Bowl record 419 all-purpose yards in his final game with John Burroughs.

“We hand the ball off to him, he makes three or four people miss,” Frerotte said of Elliott. “That was our point all year long, “Hey, line do your job, don’t let people walk through and let’s get him to the second level and that was our purpose today to spread them out and tire them out, which we did. Just a phenomenal player.”

Burroughs quarterback Nick Duncan overcame a slow start finishing with 150 yards passing on 14 of 22 attempts with no interceptions.