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FRONTENAC —
Frontenac High School senior Devon Keith was recognized Thursday afternoon for having signed his letter of intent to play football at Independence Community College.
“It’s a great feeling,” Keith said. “I was kind of unsure at the beginning but it felt good and I think it will be a lot of fun. I talked with the coach and they have a returning quarterback. So I will find out over the summer.”
Keith started at quarterback for the Raiders, who made the state playoffs three consecutive seasons and qualified for the Class 4A playoffs in their first season playing at that classification.
No. 14 threw for 788 yards and nine touchdowns on 62-of-136 passing and led Frontenac with 589 yards rushing and seven TDs on 100 carries, averaging nearly six yards per carry for a rushing attack which included several ball carriers.
Frontenac started out 0-3 with a rough patch of their schedule (losses to Riverton, Galena and Southeast) but caught fire with a five-game winning streak before ending its season 5-5.
The first win of the season came against rival St. Mary’s Colgan, a game hyped for its opposing father-son head coaches and its state TV audience.
Frontenac won its first game against Colgan since 1997, gave new Raider head coach Mark Smith his first win and won this classic game in overtime 26-25 after falling behind early 10-0.
Keith passed for a pair of touchdowns — a 28-yard strike to Blake Vail in the second quarter and the game-winning 9-yard pass to Brett Macary in overtime. On a critical fourth-and-14 late in the contest, Keith connected with Taylor Johnson for a 31-yard first down, which led to Johnson’s overtime-forcing 5-yard TD run. Keith also rushed for 66 yards.
Smith, himself a former college quarterback for Pitt State, trusted multi-year returning starter Keith with the Frontenac offense.
“If he keeps his work ethic that I saw him have this year, he’ll do fine,” Smith said. “He worked as hard as almost anybody on the team, he’s a great leader and if he keeps working hard, he’ll turn into a great quarterback and really help Independence.”
After Smith’s first season on the Frontenac sideline, two Raider players — Keith, Kylor McCartney — signed on the dotted line with Independence.
“It’s a great feeling for the kids,” Smith said. “They put in so much time, effort, sacrifice to want to play football and they love the game. To get rewarded to play college, not every kid gets to do it and when he (Keith) gets a chance to get it, hopefully he’ll be successful at Independence.”
Frontenac High School senior Devon Keith was recognized Thursday afternoon for having signed his letter of intent to play football at Independence Community College.
“It’s a great feeling,” Keith said. “I was kind of unsure at the beginning but it felt good and I think it will be a lot of fun. I talked with the coach and they have a returning quarterback. So I will find out over the summer.”
Keith started at quarterback for the Raiders, who made the state playoffs three consecutive seasons and qualified for the Class 4A playoffs in their first season playing at that classification.
No. 14 threw for 788 yards and nine touchdowns on 62-of-136 passing and led Frontenac with 589 yards rushing and seven TDs on 100 carries, averaging nearly six yards per carry for a rushing attack which included several ball carriers.
Frontenac started out 0-3 with a rough patch of their schedule (losses to Riverton, Galena and Southeast) but caught fire with a five-game winning streak before ending its season 5-5.
The first win of the season came against rival St. Mary’s Colgan, a game hyped for its opposing father-son head coaches and its state TV audience.
Frontenac won its first game against Colgan since 1997, gave new Raider head coach Mark Smith his first win and won this classic game in overtime 26-25 after falling behind early 10-0.
Keith passed for a pair of touchdowns — a 28-yard strike to Blake Vail in the second quarter and the game-winning 9-yard pass to Brett Macary in overtime. On a critical fourth-and-14 late in the contest, Keith connected with Taylor Johnson for a 31-yard first down, which led to Johnson’s overtime-forcing 5-yard TD run. Keith also rushed for 66 yards.
Smith, himself a former college quarterback for Pitt State, trusted multi-year returning starter Keith with the Frontenac offense.
“If he keeps his work ethic that I saw him have this year, he’ll do fine,” Smith said. “He worked as hard as almost anybody on the team, he’s a great leader and if he keeps working hard, he’ll turn into a great quarterback and really help Independence.”
After Smith’s first season on the Frontenac sideline, two Raider players — Keith, Kylor McCartney — signed on the dotted line with Independence.
“It’s a great feeling for the kids,” Smith said. “They put in so much time, effort, sacrifice to want to play football and they love the game. To get rewarded to play college, not every kid gets to do it and when he (Keith) gets a chance to get it, hopefully he’ll be successful at Independence.”
McCartney was a vital player on the interior of the Raiders, a two-time All-County offensive lineman who helped paved the running lanes for a Frontenac offense which generated 2,146 rushing yards and had six ball carriers over 200 yards (Keith 589, Ethan Powell 339, Taylor Johnson 314, Ross Edge 261, Bryce Burdette 222, Jace Burdette 214) last season.
“It’s definitely nice to know somebody there,” Keith said. “I’ll most likely room with him. That helps a lot.”
College signees often talk about how signing their letter of intent feels like a childhood or long-term dream come true. Not quite for Keith.
“Growing up, I liked basketball a lot more and then during high school, I started liking football a lot more,” Keith said.
