Cassville bags win over McDonald County, 20-7

The Cassville football team (1-1) went from being mercy-ruled by a district champion in Week 1 to beating a district champion in Week 2, earning a 20-7 victory over McDonald County at home on Friday.

Clay Weldy, Wildcats football coach, said the team had three main goals leading up to the contest.

“The kids played so hard,” Weldy said. “All week, we said we needed to be physical, play hard and stay low. This is a really good McDonald County team, and we were outsized, but we played well on both sides of the ball and were able to grind it out.

“It shows how much we have grown up in one week. We didn’t do much correct [in Week 1], so it was like two different teams.”

Isaac Pickett, senior lineman, said the preparation in Week 2 made all the difference.

“We had spirit,” he said after the win. “We had a lot more momentum going into this game after fixing stuff from last week. We were completely prepared tonight, and we weren’t last Friday.”

McDonald County reached the Wildcats’ 15-yard line on its opening drive, settling for a field goal attempt after Cassville stuffed a run on thirdand- 7. The 32-yard attempt was blocked by Colton Roark.

The junior added to his season touchdown total on the return drive, catching a pass and splitting three defenders to go 34 yards to paydirt for a 7-0 lead.

The wind under the Wildcats’ wings strengthened with a fumble recovery by freshman Zach Myers at the Cassville 39-yard line, and a wide receiver pass by Carlos Barrientos was hauled in by Roark on the opposite 30-yard line. From there, Cassville picked up a few yards at a time before senior quarter- back Bodee Rose found a gap to get in from 11 yards out, stretching the lead to 13-0.

The remainder of the first half, both teams traded punts, and the Wildcats stopped a couple longer passes as time on the clock wound down.

Receiving the ball in the second half, Cassville covered a short kick at its own 40-yard line. With running contributions from Andon Goutney and Tristan Thompson, Rose capped the 60-yard drive with a 22-yard keeper along the home sideline on fourthand 4.

The Mustangs’ lone scoring drive was next. Kicker Logan Wingo, who also plays soccer, made a possible touchdown-saving tackle on the return, but the Mustangs drove to the red zone and scored on a play action pass on fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line.

Though the Wildcats did not muster much more offensively, the defense forced two turnovers on downs in the final quarter. With 3:22 left to play, the Wildcats managed two first downs, allowing them to finish the last couple minutes in victory formation.

Weldy said the performance on both sides of the ball showed the team’s growth from Week 1 to Week 2, and the effort was appreciated.

“We were a bit worried losing [lineman Ethan Sizemore to an injury against Seneca], and we had two sophomores playing up front and a freshman on the defensive line,” Weldy said. “They really stepped up and played extremely well, and the older guys played really hard.”

Pickett said as the game progressed, the Wildcats were doing well building off one another’s play.

“We brought a lot of momentum and were hyped up and feeding one another,” he said. “When we’d get one good play, we’d make five or six more right behind it. The line figured out where we were suppose to go a lot better this week. We played a lot more physical, and the scoreboard showed we did.”

Rose went 6-for-8 passing for 52 yards and one touchdown, adding 113 yards on 20 rushing attempts with two scores. Roark caught 4 passes for 69 yards and the one touchdown. Goutney rushed 10 times for 63 yards, and Thompson had 7 runs for 27 yards.

Cassville is on the road Friday, facing East Newton at 7 p.m. The Patriots are also 1-1, defeating Springfield Catholic, 21-13, and falling to Lamar, 34-24. East Newton led Lamar in the fourth quarter on Friday, forcing the Tigers to score twice to secure the win