Junior High School Roundup

Thursday, October 12, 2017

The McDonald County eighth-grade football team's quest for a perfect season ended, but the hopes for an undefeated season remains after the Mustangs and Aurora battled to a 14-14 tie on Oct. 5 at McDonald County High School.

Cassville took a 6-0 lead in the first quarter before McDonald County came back to take an 8-6 lead at intermission.

The Mustangs marched to inside the Cassville 10-yard line before a penalty and the Wildcats defense forced McDonald County into a fourth and goal from the 32-yard line.

But Cole Martin found Levi Malone behind the Cassville defensive backs for a touchdown to tie the game. Fullback Junior Eliam ran the conversion to put McDonald County on top 8-6.

Cassville opened the second half with a touchdown drive and conversion to take a 14-8 lead.

Malone tied the game with 4:26 left in the third quarter with a 51-yard interception return.

McDonald County falls to 4-0-1 entering its final game of the season on Oct. 12 against East Newton at MCHS.

The McDonald County seventh-grade improved to 2-3 with a 16-8 win.

Sterling Woods scored on a quarterback sneak from two yards out and Robert Beltran ran the conversion to give McDonald County an 8-0 lead in the first quarter.

McDonald County increased its lead to 16-0 in the third quarter on a 53-yard touchdown pass from Woods to Weston Gordon. Beltran then ran for his second conversion.

Aurora scored early in the fourth to cut the lead to 16-8, but McDonald County ran out the clock for the win.

McDonald County closes out its season on Oct. 12 against Joplin South at home. Kickoff is at 5:30 p.m.

Cross Country

The McDonald County junior high school boys cross country team took second place in the Big 8 Conference Junior High Cross Country Championships held Oct. 5 at Cassville High School.

Dawson Wolff led McDonald County with a seventh place finish to earn first team all-conference honors. Zian Gutierrez was next for McDonald County taking 15th place followed by Isaac Behm, 17th, Hunter Leach 18th and Levi Smith 19th with all four earning second team honors.

Rounding out the results for McDonald County were Remington Ziemianin in 28th, Garrett Anderson 36th, Cross Spencer 50th, Andrew Moritz 51st, Eli Jordan 57th, Cody Dumond 60th, Daniel Fox 65th, Eli Jackson 66th, Matthew McCall 76th, Lucas Friend 81st and Mark Wilson 84th.

Kelton Sorrell of East Newton won the race to lead the Patriots to the conference title.

Southwest Junior High School in Washburn competed as a nonconference entry and won the overall team title.

The McDonald County girls' team was led by Kalyn Stetina and Melysia McCrory. Stetina was third and McCrory was fifth to earn first team all-conference honors.

Alexis Wahlberg was next for McDonald County in 20th place followed by Haley Mick 25th, Ebony Munoz 38th, Hayley Walczak 41st, Hayley Staib 43rd, Britany Akins 54th, Madison Kopejtka 62nd, Blanca Pulido 64th, Adrianna Vazquez 65th, and Vicky Mendez 71st.

East Newton won the team title while Kierstan Potter of Lamar won individual honors.

Volleyball

The McDonald County seventh-grade volleyball team took second and the eighth-grade team was fifth at the Big 8 Conference Junior High Volleyball Tournament on Oct. 7. The seventh-grade tournament was at East Newton and the eighth grade tournament was at Cassville.

The seventh-grade opened the tournament with a 25-23, 25-11 win over East Newton to advance to the semifinals against Cassville.

The Lady Mustangs earned a trip to the championship match with a 25-12, 25-16 win over the Lady Wildcats.

In the championship match, Lamar handed McDonald County a 25-12, 25-13 to claim the conference title.

The eighth-grade team dropped a 16-25, 25-18, 24-26 decision to Seneca in its opener, but rebounded with two wins in the consolation bracket to take fifth.

In the consolation semifinals, McDonald County defeated East Newton 25-16, 25-16 before the Lady Mustangs beat Monett 25-12, 25-16 for fifth.

Sports on 10/12/2017