STILWELL ? With the 2007 Metro All-Star Challenge High Football Game on the line, Nathan Padia rooted for his former nemesis.

Jared Witter, whose Shawnee Mission West football team defeated Lawrence High twice during the 2006 season, nailed a 25-yard field goal with 2:46 left in the game to give Kansas a 6-3 victory against Missouri at Blue Valley High’s stadium Thursday night.

“You may be a little bit of enemies during the football season,” Padia said. “But in something like this you’ve got to learn to come together and be a team, and that’s what we all did.”

The former LHS receiver said he bonded with Witter, named MVP of the contest, during the week of practice.

Witter also connected on a 47-yard field goal during the second quarter. His two kicks provided enough margin for Kansas to win the greater Kansas City rivalry game for the first time since 2001.

Former Free State defensive lineman Kyle Weinmaster remembered watching the Kansas team featuring his brother, Philip, whom he will join at Baker University in the fall, lose handily two years ago.

“It’s really cool,” Kyle Weinmaster said.

While fun for the Kansas players, the slug-it-out defensive war lacked any offensive pyrotechnics.

“Our defense really carried us,” Padia said. “We couldn’t get anything on offense clicking.”

Special teams also changed the game. Witter had a 35-yard field goal blocked in the second quarter, and Missouri’s Tony Randolph blocked a punt during the same period. Missouri’s Andrew Korth missed two field goals, including a 40-yarder with a minute-and-a-half left that could have tied the game.

Padia started the game at wide receiver but did not catch any passes as the Kansas quarterbacks rarely had time to set their feet. Only two throws were intended for Padia. While under heavy pressure, Matt Joshi heaved a pass out of bounds with 58 seconds left in the second quarter. Another pass came Padia’s way with 8:15 left in the game, but the cornerback jumped the route and deflected the pass.

Despite savoring the win, Padia said he was “frustrated” by the lack of opportunities.

“We all thought coming in that we would get a lot of looks as receivers,” he said. “Their defensive line was getting in so quick we really had no time to get open.”

Padia’s former teammate, Tony Williams, entered the game at running back during the second quarter and ran three times for 11 yards. However, he helped account for a fumble at the end of the first half when the defense swarmed him as he received the handoff.

On Williams’ last rush of the day – a 5-yard gallop – he rolled his ankle, reaggravating an injury he suffered earlier in the week. After the training staff re-taped his ankle, Willams could put full pressure on it, but he did not receive another carry.

“It’s still a little sore,” said Williams, who also played on the kickoff and point-after teams. “But it’s all good now. I could’ve gone back in, but I didn’t want to take the chance.”

Weinmaster played on the defensive line and the kickoff return unit. The former Firebird could have enjoyed some Free State company. Officials selected Brian Murphy for the squad, but his 7-on-7 team’s schedule conflicted with the interstate game.

“He told me that the Kansas practices were too hard,” Weinmaster said, jokingly.

Before Padia and Williams begin practicing football at Lafayette College and Butler Community College, respectively, they will lift weights with the rest of the current LHS squad this summer.

“I thought it was over,” Padia said. “But we came back.”