The McDonald County Mustangs football team came in the Oct. 6 game against East Newton Patriots with four wins. In those four wins, the Mustangs outscored the opponents by a combined 30 points.

In those four win the Mustangs needed a late defensive stop or a late drive on offense to secure the victory. But against East Newton, the Mustangs took any suspense out of the outcome early on the way to a 54-0 win.

"Both sides of the ball -- we gave up negative 10 yards allowed and put up 54 points," said coach Kellen Hoover. "Those are nights you wish every night could be where everything is clicking. The offense was firing on all cylinders. Our boys were as physical as I have seen them. They wanted to finish every single play with either a flatback or a guy on skates. You can see that with how we blocked. Something finally clicked with our guys up front. It was just cool to see them work together to give those big running lanes to Izzy (Isrrael De Santiago), Timber (Timber Teague), Oakley (Oakley Roessler) and Peyton (Peyton Barton). It was great to get everybody involved and everybody had same success except for the passing game. We didn't throw it much, but we did complete 100 percent of our passes (2 for 2)."

Caleb Curtis got the Mustangs off to a good start by returning the opening kickoff 37 yards to the East Newton 47-yard line. It took McDonald County just five plays, including three plays good for 11 yards each -- a Barton to Kennedy Hodson pass and runs by De Santiago and Barton -- before De Santiago scored from nine yards out for the first of his five touchdowns. Dylan Allison missed the kick to leave the Mustangs with a 6-0 lead with 10:20 left in the first quarter.

East Newton took advantage of a roughing-the-passing penalty to move from its own 20 to near midfield before coming up short on fourth and one at their own 49-yard line.

McDonald County covered the 49 yards in seven plays, including five runs by De Santiago for 42 yards capped by a six-yard touchdown. Allison's PAT gave McDonald County a 13-0 lead with 3:39 left in the first quarter.

East Newton went three and out on its next possession, with McDonald County taking over on the Patriot 37. Barton hit Roessler for 31 yards on the first play before De Santiago scored from five yards out. Allison added the extra point for a 20-0 McDonald County lead with 2:06 left in the first quarter.

McDonald County scored its fourth touchdown of the first quarter when De Santiago scored from 34 yards out on the Mustangs' first play following a short East Newton punt with 28.9 seconds left in the quarter. Allison's kick was wide leaving McDonald County with a 26-0 lead.

Barton got into the scoring column on the Mustangs' next possession, capping a 45-yard drive with a 20-yard touchdown. Allison kicked the extra point for a 33-0 McDonald County lead with 10:33 left in the second quarter.

De Santiago carried three times for 27 yards on the Mustangs' next possession before the senior running back scored his fifth touchdown on a 20-yard run. Allison's kick made it 40-0 with 5:45 left in the first half.

Teague joined the fun with a three-yard touchdown run on the Mustangs' next possession. McDonald County marched 55 yards in five plays for the touchdown, including a 25-yard burst by De Santiago. Allison booted the point to give McDonald County a 47-0 lead with 1:33 left in the first half.

McDonald County scored its final points on its first possession of the second half. The Mustangs marched 47 yards in six plays, capped by Roessler's six-yard run. Allison's kick made the final score 54-0.

"With this being the first year of this system, things are starting to click as far as blocking schemes, as far as routes, as far timing and routes, as far as just everything coming together," Hoover said. "It is just cool to see the work the kids put in -- because they have worked their tails off -- has started to pay dividends."

De Santiago finished with181 yards and five touchdowns on just 16 carries. Roessler added 63 yards on six carries while Teague had 43 yards on seven carries and Barton had 33 yards on four carries.

McDonald County finished with 347 rushing yards and 389 total yards. Barton was two for two in the air for 42 yards. Hodson had one catch for 11 yards and Roessler had one catch for 31 yards.

East Newton finished with a minus 10 total yards after sacks totaling a minus 74 yards are included. The Patriots threw for 27 yards on seven for 12 passing, while Brett Pendergraft ran for 17 yards on 12 carries.

"I just love to see hats to the ball," Hoover said. "If they did break one arm tackle, there were two other guys there to make the tackle. If a guy stood someone up, there were two or three guys to knock the pile over. That's the thing I will take from the game -- we were running and playing really fast. On defense when you can play fast, good things are going to happen."

Cole DelosSantos led the McDonald County tackle chart with eight stops. David Roark added seven tackles while Matt Calhoun, Bucky Harrell and Teague had five each.

McDonald County improves to 5-3 for the season, 3-3 in the Big 8 Conference, heading into its final regular season game at Aurora on Oct. 13. Districts begin on Oct. 20 at a site and an opponent not yet determined.