Aurora took advantage of four McDonald County turnovers to claim a 27-6 win Friday night in the Mustangs' home opener of the 2014 high school football season.
"I thought we showed significant improvement from last week," said coach Corey Henry. "We are pretty young and it will take some time, but I think we are improving."
It took just two plays for McDonald County to commit its first turnover, a fumble that the Houn Dawgs recovered on the Aurora 37-yard line. The miscue came after McDonald County picked up 21 yards on a Jake Wood to Jake Wilkie pass and catch on the Mustangs' first play from scrimmage.
"It seemed like when we would get something going, we would shoot ourselves in the foot," Henry said. "We made some mistakes, but I thought we did a better job of overcoming adversity than we have in the past. When we get everything going the right way, we will be a pretty solid football team."
After the teams traded punts following the Houn Dawgs recovery of the Mustangs' early fumble, Aurora took just three plays to cover 50 yards for a touchdown. Senior running back Moses Martinez covered the final 15 yards with 7:40 left in the first quarter to give Aurora a 6-0 lead. The big play in the quick drive was a halfback pass from Logan Bader to Skylar Cahill for 35 yards.
Aurora made it 12-0 on its next drive after stopping the Mustangs on downs at the McDonald County 44-yard line. The Houn Dawgs took 10 plays cover the 44 yards, the final 14 coming on a Payton Evans to Billy Meredith touchdown pass on the first play of the second quarter.
The Mustangs then put together their best drive of the first half, moving from their own 32-yard line to inside the Aurora 20, but on the first play following a personal foul penalty against the Mustangs, Aurora's Caelum Friggle had tipped pass fall into his arms that he returned 91 yards for a touchdown. Evans' pass to Cahill for the conversion gave Aurora a 20-0 lead at intermission.
Aurora increased its lead to 27-0 on its second possession of the second half. Taking advantage of a six-yard McDonald County punt, the Houn Dawgs went 29 yards in three plays, all on runs by Martinez, including a 21-yard touchdown. Dylan Castro added the PAT with 3:34 left in the third quarter.
McDonald County got on the scoreboard for the first time this season midway through the fourth quarter. Starting on its own 46-yard line after sophomore Jake Will recovered an Aurora fumble, the Mustangs marched 54 yards in eight plays.
The drive was capped by a two-yard touchdown run by freshman Issrael DeSantiago. The drive was keyed by a 12-yard run by DeSantiago and an eight-yard scamper by Wood. Josh Kinser added a six-yard reception on a pass from Wood.
The Mustangs finished with 209 total yards. Wood carried 29 times for 84 yards while DeSantiago had 48 yards on 14 carries and Jarrett Sanny added four yards on two carries. Wood completed seven of 14 passes for 73 yards. Wilkie had five receptions for 64 yards while Derek Lawson and Kinser each had one catch.
Aurora finished with 268 yards, led by Martinez with 144 yards on the ground.
McDonald County, 0-2 on the season, travels to Cassville Friday night. Game time is 7 p.m.
Sports on 09/04/2014