The McDonald County defense held the East Newton Patriots to a minus five yards in the second half to key the Mustangs to a 21-6 win Friday night at East Newton High School.
"Finally we came out and played Mustang football," said coach Corey Henry. "We were physical and looking to hit people hard and we broke the habit we had of not wrapping up. When we made contact we got our arms around them and kept our feet moving. We did an excellent job."
East Newton got the scoreboard first when the Patriots' Dayton Clouse went around his left end and outraced the McDonald County secondary to the end zone for a 60-yard touchdown run for a 6-0 lead with 4:31 left in the first quarter.
The big play, a nemesis of the Mustang defense this season, was all the offense the Patriots could muster. Take away the long run, the Patriots were held to a minus one yard in all of their other possessions. Most of the negative yards came on seven sacks of quarterback Chance Liveoak for losses totaling 47 yards.
After holding penalties stymied two of the first three McDonald County possessions, McDonald County put together a 17-play, 92-yard drive to end the first quarter and start the second that was capped by a 10-yard touchdown pass from Jake Wood to Jarrett Sanny on fourth down to tie the game. The score remained tied when the PAT by Yohnathan Rodriguez was wide right.
The drive featured the running of Lavante Jackson, who carried eight times for 33 yards. Sanny added two carries for five yards and caught a pass for 17 yards in addition to his TD reception. Jake Will carried once for six yards.
"I felt our backs did a great job finding lanes to run that were provided our linemen," Henry said. "Lavante came back off that ankle injury and changed the look of our offense."
The Mustangs had a first and goal at the East Newton seven-yard line, but Jackson lost four yards on a first down carry. Wood gained six yards to get the ball to the five, but Jackson was thrown for a five yard loss on third down, setting up Wood's touchdown pass to Sanny.
The Mustangs had an opportunity to take the lead before half, but Wood was stopped for a one-yard loss on fourth and short on the Patriot 25-yard line late in the second quarter.
On McDonald County's second possession of the second half, the Mustangs used a couple of big plays of their own to take the lead for the first time this season.
Starting on their own 47-yard line, Jackson broke loose for a 16-yard run before Wood hit Will for 28 yards to move the ball down to inside the Patriot 10-yard line. A five-yard illegal procedure penalty backed the Mustangs up, but on the next play, Jackson used his speed to get around the left side of Patriot defense for a 14-yard touchdown run. Wood ran for the two-point conversion to give the Mustangs a 14-6 lead with 3:15 left in the third quarter.
It appeared that would be the final score thanks to the Mustang defense. But after picking up a first down with 1:26 left in the game and the Patriots out of time outs, instead of just taking a knee to run out the time, Wood dropped back on first down and threw deep to Damian Monsalvo for a 26-yard gain.
Jackson gained four yards on the next play before Wood plowed in from the one with 16.1 seconds left. Rodriguez's extra point made the final score 21-6.
"We tried to get some district points," Henry said. "We thought Damian (Monsalvo) could make the catch and we knew Jake (Wood) could put the ball where it needed to be put. We wanted to show them a little confidence and give them a chance to put it in the end zone."
McDonald County finished with 271 total yards, including 157 on the ground. Jackson led the running game with 102 yards on 25 carries. Wood added 22 yards on 14 carries while Sanny finished 19 yards and Will had 10. Wide receiver Jake Wilkie carried three times for 15 yards.
Wood completed 11 out of 16 passes for 114 yards. Monsalvo caught five passes for 55 yards while Wilkie had three catches for 19 yards. Sanny finished with two receptions for 26 yards while Will had one catch for 28 yards and Josh Kinser had one for three yards.
The win gives the Mustangs a record of 1-3, 1-2 in the Big 8 Conference, heading to Friday night's game when McDonald County hosts Carl Junction for homecoming. Game time is 7 p.m. Homecoming ceremonies will be held prior to kickoff.
The win was also the first for Henry in his first season to lead the Mustangs.
"I am very proud of the boys," Henry said. "They don't play discouraged against anybody. They feel like they have an opportunity to beat everybody we play. They show up everyday at practice and work as hard as they possibly can. It is starting to pay off for them. I think we are definitely going in the right direction and we are definitely going to be playing Mustang football from now on."
Sports on 09/18/2014