In one of the five games GRR tagged as crucial to Boys HS National seedings, the Kansas City Jr. Blues defeated St. Louis University High 21-17.

SLUH will officially be named as a team for the School National Championships, coming in for a team that has had to pull out, in a few days. But SLUH has known for longer than that and was looking to prove themselves against teams that have experience at the national tournament. Hence their close 39-35 loss to St. Thomas Aquinas  on May 8.

This time it was the rapidly improving Kansas City Jr. Blues, a club that started slowly but has picked up speed through the in-state season, and logged a good win over Penn last week before this clash with St. Louis University High. 

SLUH led 10-7 at halftime and in the second half the two squads traded twice to make it 17-14 SLUH late in the game. KC managed to get one over to win it 21-17.

Freshman starters Lance Nauer and Vince Jacoby both stepped up to have big games at a crucial moment. At center Nauer ran the ball well and scored the game-winning try. At fullback, Jacoby made a number of try-saving tackles.

But SLUH came out of the game feeling like they are close.

"I learned that our team is full of heart," said Head Coach Brian Corrigan. This was the first game all year that we were held under 30 points. We've had a rivalry with the Blues/Rockhurst for 30-plus years and they are extremely physical matches every time. I learned that we can hang in a game that's not in our comfort  zone; the KC Jr Blues were strong, but we are too."

Lock Thomas Matyiko and No. 8 Alex Van Ness created plenty of mayhem at the breakdowns, while fullback Aidan Cler also performed well for SLUH.