BY KYLE TROUTMAN ktroutman@cassville-democrat.com
Friday was a good night for Cassville Football Coach Clay Weldy — not only was he honored as part of the undefeated Houn’ Dawgs state champion team in 1999, but his Wildcats walked out of the stadium with a 21-11 win.
The game was primarily a defensive battle, especially in the early goings. Cassville’s opening drive reached the Aurora 29-yard line, but a fourth-down pass into the end zone was intercepted for a touchback. Four punts later and with just 2 minutes left in the opening half, The Houn’ Dawgs found the scoreboard first with a 23-yard field goal on fourth-and-3 from the 6-yard line.
Cassville quarterback Bodee Rose found room on the ensuing kickoff and took it past midfield. Two plays later, Kyle Bailey caught a pass in the open for a 42-yard gain to the goal line, where Easton Hughes punched in the Wildcats’ first score for a 7-3 halftime edge.
After forcing the Houn’ Dawgs to punt on their first second-half possession, Cassville put together a 11-play, 81-yard drive resulting in another Hughes rushing score from 5 yards out, with Hughes diving to stretch the ball over the plane. A couple Colton Roark catches helped gain yards and break up the run game.
Cassville’s Riley James picked a pass near the end of the third quarter, but the Wildcats fumbled the ball at the 9-yard line and lost possession. On the first pay after the recovery, Aurora’s quarterback avoided pressure from Cassville’s Isaac Pickett and dumped the ball to his halfback, who took it 91 yards to the end zone to make it a one-possession game again, 14-11.
Cassville then took 5:12 off the clock on a drive that ended with a punt, and Roark recovered an Aurora fumble on its next drive to get the ball back at Cassville’s own 40-yard line with about 3 minutes to go. On the seventh play of that drive, Roark found space and scored a 34-yard touchdown to go back up by 10 points with 1:49 to play.
The Houn’ Dawgs completed one pass on their final drive, and a sack forcing a fourth-and-long led to a pass caught but out of bounds, allowing Cassville to kneel out the clock.
“These are two good defenses, and we knew Aurora is loaded this year,” Weldy said. “They had some long drives and the field goal, but Bodee got that big return that helped us go into the half 7-3 — that was a big moment.
“A key pass and Kyle’s run set up that touchdown, and the second half was a grinder. At that point, it was just about moving the chains, eating clock and making them take their timeouts, which we did.”
Clock management was on the players’ minds, too, as a few of Roark’s teammates chided him for not going down after he got the first down first down, saying instead of scoring the final touchdown, Cassville could have knelt out the clock then.
“I’m proud some of our kids got onto him, but I’m also fine with him scoring there,” Weldy said. “I’m glad our players are thinking about it and have such a high football IQ to call it out. After that touchdown, our defense was ready to play and fired up.”
Weldy was struck with his own dilemma at the game’s end, making a quick decision that could have had playoff implications.
As the Wildcats were kneeling out the clock, Coach Matthew Allen asked if Weldy wanted to attempt a 36-yard field goal, as a 13-point win could have given Cassville a higher district seed in certain scenarios.
Weldy resolutely declined.
“To me, I see it as being ethical as a coach,” he said. “We want to take care of business during the game. Aurora played hard, so we kneeled out the clock and were not going to do that to them.”
The fair decision was backed by a desirable result, as the kick would have proved unnecessary because Cassville secured its best seeding placement without the extra 3 points.
Weldy also spent a little extra time on the field post-breakdown, catching up with some of his former teammates in attendance for the 25th anniversary of Aurora’s 1999 state title, its second after 1969’s title.
“All week, I was focused on our game,” Weldy said. “I didn’t bring up what was going on here, and I’m proud of how the team played because we were fired up.
“I was proud to play on that 1999 team, and I saw some buddies and old coaches, but I was much more worried about our Wildcats getting the win.”
Cassville (4-5) will take a pair of victories into the Class 3, District 6 playoffs, where the Wildcats have earned the No. 3 seed and open play at home against East Newton.
The Patriots (3-6) scored a 42-21 win over Cassville, the first in two decades, in Granby in Week 3. They lost six straight before defeating McDonald County in a nail-biter on Friday, 35-33.
Cassville averages 23.4 points per game to East Newton’s 22.6, and the Wildcats have the edge on points allowed per game, too, at 27.6 compared to the Patriots’ 34.4. Cassville holds wins over Aurora, Lamar and Monett, all to whom East Newton lost.
“We’re excited to get the opportunity to play East Newton again, because we obviously didn’t play as well as we needed to the first time,” Weldy said. “We are a different team from then, and they are a different team, too. We’re excited to get them for a home game in districts, and hopefully we play a bit better.”
One area the Wildcats especially hope to improve is in penalties. In the Week 3 contest against the Patriots, Cassville had 5 penalties accounting for 55 yards. The only total above that this season was Friday, when the Wildcats had 9 penalties accounting for 75 yards.
“East Newton is still very athletic on the perimeter, and their quarterback is a senior and playing well, as is their running back,” Weldy said. “We have to try to focus on getting our alignments correct and tackling better, also avoiding penalties like offside, false starts and holding. We need to control the things we can control.”
Against Aurora on Friday, Rose went 8-for-12 through the air for 119 yards with one interception, adding 11 rushes for 46 yards.
Roark led on the ground with 72 yards on 9 carries and 1 touchdown. Hughes went 58 yards on 14 tries with 2 scores, and Bailey collected 68 yards on 16 carries.
Roark led in catches with 3 for 36 yards, and Bailey led in receiving yards with 74 on 2 grabs. Hughes and Carlos Barrientos each caught passes for short yardage, as well.
Defensively, Roark led with 4 tackles. Pickett had 2.5, and Barrientos and Ricky Norris each has 2. Barrientos and Riley James each logged a pass breakup, and Norris made a pair of sacks.
