Central football player commits to Missouri Western
By Riley Funk
One Central High School senior will be staying in St. Joseph for his college football career after signing his letter of intent for Missouri Western State University on Wednesday afternoon.
The soon-to-be Griffon, Lance Peters, said he looks forward to his future on the campus of Missouri Western. Playing for head coach Tyler Fenwick is exciting for him, especially after the successful year the team had last year.
”Those coaches, they all do a great job and they’re going to continue to do a great job every year because they built this thing called culture,” Peters said. “That culture will evolve around each and every player. There’s no other culture I want to be a part of.”
Peters will bring a great deal of versatility and size to the 2024 Griffon squad. He sits at 6 feet, 3 inches and weighs 235 pounds.
At his position moving around on the defensive line, he looked up to players like Aidan Hutchinson of the Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers player Nick Bosa as players he could learn from while developing his craft.
He loves playing the defensive line position mainly because of the heavy contact between players on the gridiron at the line of scrimmage.
”The position of D-line is an art. I think it’s much different than any other position on the field. It’s an art, it truly is. It takes a lot of practice, a lot to learn. There’s just something new you can learn each day about the position,” Peters said.
He said staying local to the area is something he takes a great deal of pride in, especially since his family won’t have to travel very far to see him play.
”It means everything for me. This is going to set up the rest of my life. It’s going to set up who I am as a man and I know they’re all about that,” Peters said. “Really, most coaches you meet, but them especially (Missouri Western coaches), are all about who you become and not an impact on the game.”
As for the player the team is getting in Peters, he said he’s a blue-collar-type of athlete.
”I’ve always grown up with effort. I’ve had to work for everything I’ve had. So the thing that’s going to help me the most is my work ethic going into my first college season,” Peters said. “I’m just going to work harder than (I) possibly can to get to to meet my coach’s expectations.”
Two other Central seniors signed letters of intent to play college sports on Wednesday as well.
Brock Williamson is set to become a Cardinal at William Jewel with the intent to play at the linebacker position. Isabella Hale will travel to Kansas for her college career to play volleyball for Ottawa University.
