Roark scores trio of touchdowns in battle to the finish
BY KYLE TROUTMAN ktroutman@cassville-democrat.com
The Cassville football roller coaster kept on rolling Friday, with the Wildcats rising from the depths of Week 3’s East Newton loss to surprise Lamar at home, 35-34.
After suffering its first loss to the patriots in nearly 20 years in Week 3, the Wildcats returned home in Week 4 with resolve. It was the first win over the Tigers, Class 2 defending state champion ranked No. 1 coming into the contest, since 2018, when the Wildcats finished as Class 3 state runner-up.
“The kids did everything they needed to do,” said Clay Weldy, Cassville football coach. “We made the right plays at the right time and played really well up front. I’m proud of the effort, especially throwing the ball. It’s hard to beat a returning champion. They kept the heat on us, but we figured it out.”
The Tigers found the scoreboard first, hitting a 49-yard touchdown pass only 1:30 into the contest, but missing the point-after.
Cassville answered with a 70-yard drive, marked by a 47-yard Colton Roark run where he broke two tackles and sidestepped a defender inside the 10. Rose made good on the effort with a 1-yard push into paydirt.
Knotted at 6 each, Cassville forced a turnover on downs at their own 41-yard line, using a 29-yard Roark catch and runs from Rose and Andon Goutney to punch in a second score and go up 12-6 after the first point-after was blocked and second resulted in a high snap.
Building momentum in the second quarter, Cassville added to the lead with a pick-6, pressuring Lamar’s quarterback into a throw Roark jumped and returned 52 yards to the end zone. Goutney added a 2-point run to put Cassville up 14.
Lamar answered quickly with a quarterback keeper that went 58 yards to the house, and after a Wildcats punt, the Tigers found another score on a 12-yard run. Cassville kept its 20-18 lead by stuffing the two-point conversion.
Lamar recovered the onside kick with about 2:30 left in the half, but Cassville was able to hold off the Tigers and keep the lead at halftime.
“That was massive,” Weldy said. “We have a small lead, just 2 points, and then all sudden, we have to hold here, and our kids just stepped up and found a way to do it. You go to halftime with momentum, because it was a fourth-down stop. Their best player had the ball, we got a tackle, and we went on momentum.
“We know we’re getting a ball first in the second half, and we’ll go out and score.”
That is exactly what Cassville did, executing a 9-play, 62-yard drive on the ground, culminating in a 5-yard Roark touchdown run, dragging tacklers over the pylon. A Rose conversion gave Cassville a 10-point lead, 28-18.
The teams traded turnovers on downs, and shortly into the fourth quarter, Lamar found an open receiver for a 26-yard touchdown to bring the difference to just 2 points.
The Wildcats then put on a clinic in time management, melting 7:16 off the final quarter’s clock by going 75 yards and scoring on fourth-and-8 from 12 yards out on a lobbed ball to the corner of the end zone brought down by the day’s hero — Roark.
Lamar scored on a 2-yard run and converted the 2-point play with 1:26 left, but the Wildcats were able to gain a first down — Roark again — and allow time to expire.
Roark finished the contest with 4 catches for 76 yards and one touchdown, 8 rushes for 89 yards and a touchdown, and the 52-yard interception returned for a score.
Weldy said Roark and Rose are building a healthy connection, part of which hinges on Roark’s ability to go up and get the ball.
“Colt is fearless,” Weldy said. “He jumps up and he’ll get the one-on-ones. He’s won a lot of one-on-one battles this year. It goes back to Week 1 in Seneca. He converted a fourth down on the final drive and caught one the end zone when we had to. He’s really been huge for us all year. Had a pick-six tonight, got some tough runs, some big runs for us. He’s just a really good player, and we try to use him as a chess piece, defensively.”
Last season, Roark totaled 9 catches for 152 yards and 2 touchdowns as a sophomore. This season, he’s already caught double the balls at 18 and tallied nearly double the yards with 298, and he has 3 touchdown receptions in just four games.
“[I learned to catch better] over the summer,” he said. “If I’m honest, I couldn’t catch like this last year.”
Roark said when battling defenders one-on-one, his mindset is unusual.
“[There’s] nothing [in my head] — it just all goes blank,” he said. “Then, it just happens. Yeah, it’s weird. It’s probably practicing with him (Roark pointed out fellow junior Cash Smith who was nearby listening to the interview). I just have to get up there and go catch a ball.”
While his mind may have been blank when he caught the game-winning touchdown, Roark was deliberate in his actions on the interception.
“I saw [the received], like, slip out, then I was like, ‘Oh, he’s gonna throw the ball, because he’s rolling out and just looking right at him,’” Roark said. “I just jumped in and tried to run as fast as I could, as fast as I’ve ever felt like I’ve run.”
Defeating Lamar — especially after falling to East Newton — is a major win for the team, Roark said.
“Oh, it means a lot,” he said. “I’m just so happy. It means a lot. I think we’ll definitely be able to do a lot with this game. It will boost us and make us want to do better, knowing that we can play like that every time and we have potential like that every single week. We just need to bring it into the next game.”
Following Friday’s victory, Roark took photos with his teammates in front of the scoreboard, enjoying the moment, and when asked post-interview if he had anything to add, his answer was short.
“I love my mom,” he said.
Cassville’s next game is its only non-conference bout of the season, as the Wildcats travel north to Harrisonville (2-2). The teams have played twice previously, with the Wildcats coming up short in both Class 3 State Tournament contests in 2023 and 2005.
An emphasis this week, Weldy said, will be put on how Cassville can find consistency on the road like they have at home.
“This is the long, long road trip of the year,” Weldy said. “I told our guys we’ve got to find a way to go on a bus, get off the bus and come to play.”
The Wildcats spring back into Big 8 play in Week 6, facing state-ranked Mt. Vernon (3-1) and Nevada (3-1) before finishing against Monett (0-4) and Aurora (1-3).
“This summer, I said this is the deepest I’ve ever seen our conference — ever,” Weldy said. “Everyone’s good, and I told our kids, anybody could beat any tonight. We proved that [Friday against Lamar]. I thought in Week 3, as good as East Newton played, I thought we lost that game. [On Friday], we were the opposite. We found a way to win it.
“We didn’t hurt ourselves, and the big thing right now is, we play really well at home and have not played well on the road yet.”
Against the Tigers, Cassville had 76 yards passing and 244 yards rushing, and the Wildcats allowed 166 yards passing and 220 rushing.
Rose was 4-for-5 through the air, with all four catches going to Roark for the 76 yards and one touchdown. On the ground, Rose led with 16 carries for 88 yards and a score. Senior Kyle Bailey, returning from injury, carried 10 times for 22 yards. Goutney and Roark each had 8 carries and yard totals of 26 and 89, respectively. Both also had a rushing touchdown each.
Defensively, Tristan Thompson and Roark led with 4 tackles apiece, and sophomore East Hughes tallied 3. Thompson, Ricky Norris and Zach Myers each tallied a tackle for loss.
Kickoff in Harrisonville on Friday is at 7 p.m.
