Friday night, in a 4-5A Division II showdown, the 4-2 Melissa Cardinals took on the 2-5 Independence Knights, who were looking to get a big win over the Cardinals. Melissa would open the scoring with two touchdowns to take an early 14-0 lead over Independence, but they would get on the board at the end of the first quarter, cutting the lead down to 14-3. Independence would struggle to get the ball back into the red zone as for Melissa, they would have no problem adding on more points as they would lead at the end of the first half off with a commanding 41-6 lead over Independence. Melissa would come out of the second half and keep the momentum going, adding two more touchdowns in the third and fourth quarter, ultimately ending in a very decisive 75-6 win over Independence, who couldn’t seem to punch it past a very tough Melissa defense. Melissa is looking like a very strong playoff team this season with a very strong offense and impenetrable defense, they will look to make a deep playoff run this season.