The East Newton Patriots took a 42-14 lead at halftime and cruised to a 56-34 win over McDonald County on Oct. 7 at East Newton High School in Granby.
The Patriots, utilizing a twin quarterback and four-man backfield, piled up 551 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground.
McDonald County countered with 315 yards and two touchdowns through the air.
East Newton scored three touchdowns the first three times they touched the ball before the Mustangs held the Patriots short on a fourth and five at the McDonald County 40-yard line early in the second quarter.
The Mustangs covered the 60 yards in six plays, capped by Oakley Roessler's 1-yard run. Peyton Barton threw to Roessler for the two-point conversion to cut the Patriot lead to 20-8 with 7:36 left before intermission.
East Newton answered with touchdowns on its next three possessions, two of which were set up by successful onside kicks.
McDonald County got a last-second first half touchdown when Barton was flushed from the pocket and ran for a 35-yard touchdown as time expired to end of the first half.
East Newton stretched its lead to 48-12 on its opening possession of the second half, but Roessler returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown to cut the lead to 48-20.
East Newton scored its final touchdown on its next possession, taking just three plays to march 52 yards to score with 4:18 left in the third quarter.
McDonald County added two fourth-quarter touchdowns on passes from Barton to Cole DelosSantos for 27 yards and to Roessler for 24 yards.
Barton finished by completing 18 of 32 passes for 315 yards and two touchdowns. The junior quarterback also carried the ball eight times for 51 yards.
Roessler caught six passes for 78 yards and ran seven times for 15 yards in addition to his kickoff return. DelosSantos caught six passes for 100 yards while Isrrael De Santiago caught five for 104 yards and Micah Burkholder had one catch for 33 yards.
"I thought the people who had great games were Peyton Barton, Cole DelosSantos, Izzy De Santiago and Oakley Roessler," said coach John Diehl. "Peyton is grasping the concept of the offense. We spent a lot of time in film study this week, and he did an outstanding job. One of the best I have ever seen.
"Oakley was off the chain Friday night. He was unbelievable. He had a kickoff return for a touchdown, ran for a touchdown and caught a pass for a touchdown and had a two-point conversion. He had 20 points by himself. The greatest thing about what we have is that these guys along with Timber Bowers, a brand new kid that we just brought on who did a fantastic job offensively and defensively, and Micah Burkholder plus four starting offensive linemen, are all coming back next year. We are taking our lumps this year -- but look out next year because we are coming."
East Newton was led by Brandon Jordon with 165 yards on nine carries and Chance Liveoak with 124 yards on 14 carries. Brett Pendergraft added 82 yards on 12 carries while Coleman Booker had 68 yards on 15 carries and Christian Yarrington had 48 yards on eight carries.
Liveoak also completed two of three passes for 37 yards.
DelosSantos and De Santiago had 14 tackles each to lead the defense. Will Dean added eight tackles and Jack Bowers had six. Bucky Harrell had a fumble recovery for the Mustangs.
McDonald County falls to 0-8 heading into its final regular season game on Oct. 14 against Aurora at MCHS. Senior Night ceremonies will be held prior to kickoff at 7 p.m.
Sports on 10/13/2016