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Eagles to face Class 4 state champ Kearney in district play

Liberty North’s football program will know exactly what it needs to do to be among the state’s elite for the next few years.

That’s because the Eagles will get to play against the team defending its Class 4 state title in district play.

MSHSAA announced district football pairings for the next two years last week, and Liberty North has been placed in the same district as Kearney, the Class 4 defending state champs. The other teams in the district are Excelsior Springs and Smithville.

Led by recently hired coach Ken Clemens, Liberty North’s football schedule is beginning to take shape. The Eagles will play Staley, Oak Park, Grandview, Kearney, Excelsior Springs, Smithville and Platte County next season. Staley, Oak Park, Grandview, Kearney and Platte County are Suburban Small Six Conference members.

Liberty, which will lose close to 600 students next school year to Liberty North, is still one of the biggest high schools in the state and will remain in Class 6. Its District 8 district opponents will not change, however, as the Blue Jays will play Blue Springs, Blue Springs South and Columbia Rock Bridge to end the regular season.

Liberty coach Joel Wells said he didn’t expect much change in the district assignments. The Class 6 District 7 teams are: Raymore-Peculiar, which moves up from Class 5, Rockhurst, Joplin and Lee’s Summit North. Lee’s Summit moved down to the Class 5.

“I thought that if Lee’s Summit dropped down and Ray-Pec moved up, it would pretty much stay the same,” Wells said. “If Lee’s Summit would have stayed up, it would have thrown everything into a scramble.”

Wells and the Blue Jays are getting ready to compete at the state’s highest level with fewer students in their talent pool.

“We are splitting our talent, no doubt about it,” Wells said. “It’s not going to be the best thing for me and the team, but it needs to happen. Our school district is so big, and we have kids that should be playing that aren’t. There are only so many kids that can play at once.

“Once we get through that, I think we’ll compete at a high level. Blue Springs has done it. There is no reason we can’t do it.”

Sports writer Kevin Goodwin can be reached at 389-6652 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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