Last fall, Free State High’s football team grew tired of watching Olathe South quarterback Mike Keese connect with Kyson Ginavan for long scoring passes.

Thursday night, one such pass finally made a few Firebirds smile.

Recent Free State graduates Ryder Werts, Scott Williams and Craig Rosenstengle teamed with Keese and Ginavan on Team Kansas at the 17th annual Metro All-Star Challenge, in which the Sunflower State defeated Team Missouri for the second straight year.

With Kansas leading, 13-3, in the fourth quarter, the two Falcons put the game out of reach with a 25-yard scoring strike.

“That was fun,” said Rosenstengle, who watched the game from the stands after tearing his ACL in Monday’s practice. “It was a good play and it kind of picked the whole team up and helped get us the victory.”

Kansas’ 20-9 victory comes one year after a 6-3 win in 2007 ended Missouri’s four-game winning streak in the series. Kansas now leads the overall series, 10-6. The 2003 game was canceled due to lightning.

Ginavan walked away with the game’s Most Valuable Player honor, but he was hardly the only player with Sunflower League ties to make a difference.

In his return to the football field, Lawrence High’s Jared Vinoverski recorded a key interception during the Kansas victory.

Vinoverski, who finished near the top of the Sunflower League in receiving despite missing four games of the season, was sidelined with an infection that ultimately led to a collapsed lung.

LHS’s Tyler Hunt also suited up for the Kansas squad, and Shawnee Mission Northwest head coach Aaron Barnett, former head coach at Eudora High, helped coach the Kansas defense.

In addition, Baldwin High’s Mike Berg, who led the Bulldogs to within one win of the state championship game last season, also coached on the Kansas sideline.

As for Rosenstengle, the former Free State High quarterback who led the team in total offense and ranked in the top three in the Sunflower League in 2007, he said he was unsure of what the future held.

Rosenstengle injured his knee during one of nine practices that led up to the game.

“I just made a cut and it gave out,” he said.

Rosenstengle has signed a national letter of intent to play football at Butler County Community College.