The Cassville Wildcats took advantage of good field position to score two first quarter touchdowns and then added two touchdowns on big plays in the second quarter on the way to a 35-0 win Friday night over the McDonald County Mustangs.
"We did a lot of positive things," said McDonald County coach Corey Henry. "We got back to playing Mustang football -- being physical. We just have to limit big plays and learn to quit making little mistakes and we are going to be a solid football team."
The Wildcats got on the board on their first play from scrimmage after taking over on the McDonald County 32-yard line after forcing the Mustangs to go three and out to open the game.
Senior running back Chase Jackson took a handoff from senior quarterback Gabe Kirk and went through the right side of the McDonald County line and then outraced the Mustang secondary for the touchdown. River Phelps added the extra point to gave Cassville a 7-0 lead with 10:26 left in the first quarter.
The Wildcats second touchdown was set up by Dylan Klewer's recovery of a McDonald County fumble on the Mustang 31-yard line. Kirk carried three times for 28 of those yards, including a 14-yard touchdown at the 7:01 mark of the quarter. Phelps extra point was wide to the left, leaving Cassville with a 13-0 lead.
The teams traded possessions for rest of the quarter and into the second before Kirk connected on two long passes for touchdowns to senior wideout Cade Pendergraft. The first was a 56-yarder with 6:08 left in the first half and the second came with just 39.9 seconds left in the half that put Cassville up 28-0 at intermission.
"We have really been preaching about fighting and responding to adversity," Henry said. "I thought the kids responded well. Nobody quit. Nobody hung their heads. They went with a one-play mentality and responded. Not looking at the scoreboard, we had some success."
McDonald County had its best drive of the night on its first possession of the second half. Taking over at their own four-yard line after junior defensive back Daniel DeSantiago recovered a Wildcat fumble, the Mustangs marched to inside the Cassville 20 when the 14-play drive stalled.
The drive was keyed by the running of Jarrett Sanny and Jake Will, including a 40-yard scamper by Will.
But after the Wildcats took over on downs, Cassville promptly marched 87 yards in 15 plays, capped by a two-yard touchdown run by Kirk to take a 35-0 lead with 6:56 left in the game.
McDonald County finished with 226 total yards, including 167 on the ground. Sanny led the ground game with 67 yards on 12 carries while Will had 55 yard, also on 12 carries. Quarterback Jake Wood carried eight times for 20 yards and running back Issrael DeSantiago added 25 yards on eight carries.
Wood added 59 yards through the air, completing three of 11 passes. Damian Monsalvo, Jake Wilkie and Will each caught one ball for 37, 10 and 12 yards, respectively.
Cassville total 350 yards, 220 on the ground. Kirk led the Wildcats with 130 yards while Jackson finished with 69. Kirk threw for 130 yards on six of 10 passing.
McDonald County, 0-3, travels to Granby Friday night to face the East Newton Patriots. Game time is 7 p.m.
Sports on 09/11/2014