A trio of senior city football players made Benedictine coach Larry Wilcox’s 34-man recruiting class list Wednesday afternoon — one just hoping for a chance to keep playing, one looking for the right fit and one unexpectedly fulfilling a childhood dream.

Lafayette’s Chris James spent his high school career as an undersized offensive guard and inspiring linebacker. An emotional leader, he helped the Fighting Irish to back-to-back playoff trips and the school’s first .500 regular season in more than a decade in 2009.

James projects out as an outside linebacker and should be the only player from Lafayette to sign this year.

Brett Gilpin — a 6-foot-4, 280-pound behemoth — opted to pursue an engineering degree at the University of Missouri and put his playing days to an end.

“I just want all of them to go on and be successful in whatever they do,” Lafayette coach Paul Woolard said. “That’s all I want. If they want to play football great; if not, I just hope they go on and do something they like.”

While Benton’s Nick Taul hopes his choice to attend Benedictine works out for him, Central lineman Jacob Willis couldn’t hide his excitement during a signing ceremony at Central High School. The three-year starter never truly considered college football an option and already looks forward to continuing his career.

“It came as a big surprise,” said Willis, who stands 6-1, weighs 270 pounds and likely projects out as an offensive lineman. “I’ve always had the dream of it, but I didn’t think it would come true.”

Also making Benedictine’s list were East Buchanan defensive lineman Bryce Brookshire (6-4, 290), North Platte’s Cody Hays (6-3, 240) and Princeton’s Slade Kenagy (6-2, 255). All were recruited as linemen with Hays potentially staying at tight end.

For North Platte, Hays caught 31 passes for 521 yards in the Panthers’ spread offense. He earned first-team All News-Press honors at that position this past season.

Brookshire was a first-team All-KCI Conference player at defensive tackle, recording 71 tackles and two sacks. Kenagy was a 2008 Class 1 all-state performer at defensive line who missed nearly all of this past season with a severe knee injury.

His signing ended a dramatic, two-week stretch in which he took official visits to Central Missouri and Pittsburg State. Woods said he chose the school because he felt good about the Mules’ future under recently hired head coach Jim Svoboda, a former Northwest assistant.

Smithville tight end Cody Woods, meanwhile, fulfilled a long-standing dream when he inked his letter of intent with the Central Missouri.

“I’m proud. When I was little, I’d been to MIAA games. It was always exciting and something to look up toward,” Woods said. “It was a goal for me.”

The 6-foot-5 senior earned first-team selections on the all-conference and all-district lists after hauling in 27 passes for 402 yards and four touchdowns during his final campaign for the Warriors.

Elsewhere, Maryville senior defensive lineman Jason Davis signed alongside teammate Clint Thompson on Wednesday. While Thompson chose hometown Northwest, Davis — who helped the Spoofhounds to this year’s Class 2 state title — finished with 75 tackles, 12 for a loss, three forced fumbles, four sacks, and a fumble recovery and interception.

Davis was part of the 26-man recruiting class Missouri Southern announced Wednesday in a press release.

Central sets schedule

After the Suburban League alignment became finalized, the football scheduling process soon followed.

Central knew it would end its season with district foes Staley, Oak Park and Park Hill but not in what order. The Indians, who enter next season under former assistant and first-year head coach Jeff Wallace, also learned their other three nonconference Suburban League matchups.

After back-to-back Mid-6 Conference clashes to open the season, the Indians then go home-away with nonconference matchups vs. Lee’s Summit North and at Platte County.

Starting Week 6 at Liberty in a nonconference matchup the week before districts, Central goes on a three-game road swing that includes nonconference district games at Oak Park and Staley.

Central then closes at home against Park Hill.

In other scheduling finalizations, Maryville added Class 5 McCluer — a St. Louis area school — to its slate. The Spoofhounds host McCluer in Week 3 this year on a Friday and will travel to McCluer for a Saturday game in 2011.

Maryville now has a full 10-game schedule.

Other signings

Amid the football hoopla of this week, two Savannah seniors signed national letters of intent in other sports.

Kelsey Adams — a three-sport athlete — decided on Northwest for soccer. She started all four seasons at goalkeeper for the Savages, helping them build a newly started program and earned honorable mention all-MEC honors as a sophomore before moving up to second team last year.

Adams also played softball mainly as a pitcher for another start-up program at Savannah, and she starts for the basketball team.

Beth Lewis, also a three-sport standout, picked Emporia State for track and field.

Also a top volleyball and basketball player for the Savages, Lewis plans to participate in shot put for the Division II Hornets. She qualified for state in the discus as a sophomore before going back last year in shot put, where she earned her first state medal with a sixth-place showing in Class 3.

Assistant sports editor Ross Martin can be reached at rossmartin@npgco.com