Joomla Login LightBox powered by WowJoomla.com

BLUE SPRINGS — C.J. Keeney couldn’t pass up the opportunity to rub a little good-natured salt in the wound.

Standing alongside former teammate Todd Misenhelter on the turf at Blue Springs South High, Keeney had just helped Missouri snap a two-game losing skid in the Greater Kansas City Football Coaches Association Metro Classic with a 10-7 victory against Kansas on Thursday, June 18.

In the process, Keeney also got a leg up on Misenhelter and Ronnie Ekis. Finally, after two consecutive years of coming up empty, a Smithville offensive lineman came out on the right side of the scoreboard in the annual border war.

"I feel stellar," said Keeney with a smirk, leaving Misenhelter to simply shake his head. "This is ecstatic. Getting to see that water dumped on our coach’s head, that was my favorite part."

Especially given that it was no sure thing Keeney would be able to contribute on game night. The biggest man on the Missouri roster wasn’t able to get even a handful of practices under his belt when a back injury flared up during the first day of pregame workouts.

"It’s been hurting since I was doing shot put in track, and the first practice didn’t help at all," Keeney said.

That kept Keeney sidelined throughout the first half of Thursday’s game. However, he told the Missouri coaching staff at halftime he felt good enough to play, and finally made his debut on the team’s second offensive series of the third quarter.

Keeney’s presence at right tackle helped pay immediate dividends, as Missouri ripped off a pair of long runs behind his side of the line to set up what proved to be the game-deciding points on a field goal by Kearney’s Matt Slenker.

"I took some anger out since I didn’t play the first half," Keeney said. "I had a pretty good series."

Now comes a pretty busy summer. With the all-star festivities out of the way, Keeney doesn’t have much time to prepare for his freshman campaign at Northwest Missouri State University, with practices beginning Aug. 6.

"I’m going to rest up my body and then lift hard between now and then in July to get in shape," Keeney said.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed