Tktroutman@cassville-democrat.com
he Cassville football team wanted just a couple more minutes on the clock Friday, but time ran out in the middle of a comeback effort against Nevada, resulting in a 27-22 loss.
Clay Weldy, Cassville football coach, said an inability to finish and Nevada’s ability to melt the clock were the biggest contributors to the result.
“In the first, we had a lot of missed tackles,” he said. “They have a good offense and are physical up front, but we missed many opportunities to tackle for a loss or a minor gain. They also really know how to melt the clock. We only had two real possessions in the first half and were not as efficient offensively as we needed to be.
“In the fourth quarter, we didn’t hurt ourselves like earlier with little miscues like missed blocks or penalties. [Colton Roark] had a few big receptions, and we ran the ball well, but we ran out of time.”
The Wildcats (2-5) gave up the first score of the contest nearly 4 minutes in, a 36-yard double handoff reverse the defense failed to pick up on.
Cassville had to punt on its first drive, but it held the Tigers to a turnover on downs — stopping another double handoff reverse attempt for a loss of 4 yards — at the end of the first quarter, down 8-0.
Taking over at their own 16 after Riley James broke up a pass into the end zone, the Wildcats followed runs by Bodee Rose, Easton Hughes and Kyle Bailey to a 1-yard touchdown run that took nearly 8 minutes off the clock.
After a Diego Haros touchback, Nevada had two touchdowns, runs of 70 and 80 yards, called back for holding in back-to-back plays. However, Nevada overcame the challenge and went 80 yards in about 3 minutes, scoring on a 2-yard run.
The Wildcats tried to add to their total in the seconds remaining, with Roark catching a long pass but being tackled at about the 20-yard line as time expired.
In the third quarter, Cassville punted on its first drive, and Nevada scored on a 41-yard run to go up 20-7. After a Wildcats turnover on downs, Nevada added another short run for score with 9:50 to play.
Cassville then went on a 70-yard drive, with Kyle Bailey converting on a fourth-and-3 and Roark catching a ball in the corner of the end zone on fourth include:
Varsity boys: 67 runners, 3.1 miles
Trever Garnett, 7th, 18:53 Jacob Hudson, 8th, 19:09 Tyson Bohmke, 30th, 20:18 Jameson Barnes, 29th, 20:07 Fisher Moore, 32nd, 20:37 Evan Butler, 37th, 21:19 Simon Gates, 43rd, 22:04 Daniel Sledden, 59th, 25:16
Varsity girls: 46 runners, 3.1 miles
Kayli Anderson, 12th, 23:16 Claire Reuter, 22nd, 25:48 Lydia Cupps, 29th, 26:44 Elizabeth Butler, 34th, 27:53
Middle school boys:
119 runners 1.5 miles
Dade Zajac, 4th, 9:47 Jaxen Anderson, 5th, 9:52 Nathan Lyons, 6th,
9:52 Donovan Mikesh, 13th, 10:16 Vincent Buttram, 60th, 12:03 Vinny Griffanti, 68th, 12:19 Liam Harvey, 84th, 13:11
Middle school girls:
90 runners, 1.5 miles
Hattie Lyons, 3rd,
10:57 Briley Artherton, 6th, 11:20 Kynzleigh Scott, 20th,
12:34 12:04 Molly Cox, 25th, 13:32 Addy Ramaeker, 26th, Cassville next runs in the Big 8 Championships at Lamar on Tuesday. The Class 3, District 2 race is on Nov. 2.
