The Seneca Indians scored touchdowns on their first three possessions to build a 22-0 lead on the way to a 41-13 win over the McDonald County Mustangs on Sept. 1 at Seneca High School.
The Indians used a power running game to churn out 498 yards on the ground, including 201 yards on 16 carries by sophomore Trey Wilson. The Mustangs defense came into the game allowing an average of 115 rushing yards a game in its wins over Salem and Marshfield.
"I didn't have us ready to go," said McDonald County coach Kellen Hoover. "We didn't prepare like we should have last week. We weren't ready to win the physical battle and that's kind of what we pride ourselves on. We did have a few opportunities in the first half when our defense did force some turnovers, but we didn't capitalize. When you are at their house, you have to take advantage of those chances and we didn't do that."
Seneca started its first possession on its own 12-yard line after forcing the Mustangs to punt. It took the Indians just eight plays to cover the 88 yards, capped by Wilson's 34-yard touchdown run with 6:51 left in the first quarter.
After forcing the Mustangs to go three and out, Seneca started its second possession on its 25-yard line. The Indians covered the 75 yards in eight plays with Wilson scoring his second touchdown from four yards out. The drive was keyed by a 25-yard run by Cole Hatfield on fourth and four from the McDonald County 48-yard line.
It took Seneca just a minute and a half to add to its lead. Wilson recovered a McDonald County fumble on the Mustangs 28-yard line and, after a five-yard penalty, the sophomore scored his third touchdown in the first quarter to give Seneca a 22-0 lead with 1:01 left in the period.
McDonald County squandered a scoring opportunity after Seneca took over on its own 20-yard line following a Mustangs punt. Cole DelosSantos recovered a fumble on Seneca's first play from scrimmage, giving McDonald County the ball on the Seneca 10-yard line. But Seneca held, taking over on downs at the 13-yard line.
McDonald County's Dylan Akins then recovered a second fumble in consecutive plays by the Seneca offense, again giving the Mustangs the ball at the 10-yard line.
McDonald County was able to capitalize on this turnover when Isrrael De Santiago scored from three yards out. Dylan Allison's kick cut the lead to 22-7 with 5:36 left in the first half.
Seneca drove nearly the length of the field on its next possession, but the Mustangs defense held on fourth and six from its own 11-yard line.
But after picking up a first down, the Mustangs fumbled and Seneca recovered at the McDonald County 24-yard line.
Facing a third and three, quarterback Gavin Clouse hit a streaking Max Roark down the sideline for a 20-yard touchdown with less than a minute to go in the first half to give Seneca a 28-7 lead at intermission.
Seneca stretched its lead to 35-7 when Hatfield scored from 39 yards out after McDonald County fumbled on its opening possession of the second half.
McDonald County then put together its best drive of the night, marching 72 yards in 12 plays capped by Peyton Barton's 29-yard touchdown pass to Oakley Roessler that cut the score to 35-13 with 3:44 left in the third quarter.
Seneca closed out the scoring on Hatfield's six-yard run that was set up by Wilson's 82-yard run.
"We competed much better in the second half," Hoover said. "There was just a period, for whatever reason, competition went out of us. I thought we came out after half and fought, but it's hard to fight back with a team that wants to control the clock like they do. Hats off to Seneca. Their coach (Ryan McFarland) does a great job getting numbers in certain places and made it tough on our kids."
McDonald County finished with 234 total yards, 134 on the ground. Barton ran for 67 on 16 carries to lead the Mustangs, while De Santiago added 57 yards on 21 carries. Barton completed nine of 22 passes for 100 yards. DelosSantos caught four passes for 29 yards to lead the receivers while Kennedy Hodson had three catches for 18 yards and Roessler had two catches for 53 yards.
Hatfield joined Wilson in topping the 100-yard barrier for the Indians, finishing with 123 yards on 16 carries. Clouse added 36 yards through the air on four of 14 passing.
DelosSantos led the tackle chart with 15 while David Roark had 13 and Roessler had 10. Akins, DelosSantos and De Santiago added fumble recoveries.
McDonald County, 2-1, continues Big 8 Conference action on Sept. 8 at Cassville. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
"It's time to get back to work," Hoover said. "The kids are down obviously, but it's our job as coaches to pick them back up. I think the leaders of the team try to do that a little, too. We are all in this together. We didn't call a perfect game as coaches. All of us have to get a week better this week as we go into Cassville, another good team we go on the road for. We are up to the challenge, but we have to have a great week of preparation."
Sports on 09/07/2017