The six-time state champion Lamar Tigers are undefeated and ranked first in the state for a good reason -- a number of good reasons -- No. 7, No. 41, No. 17, No. 24, No. 40, No. 62 , No. 70 and a host of others.
The Tigers built a 28-0 lead by the first minute of the second quarter and went on to hand the McDonald County Mustangs a 50-8 loss on Sept. 22 at Lamar High School.
"Lamar is not just a good team, they are a good program," said Kellen Hoover, McDonald County coach. "They have built what they have from nothing. They were 0-10 in Coach Bailey's (Lamar head coach Scott Bailey) first year and I have a lot of respect for Coach Bailey. He has built this into what they are with belief and toughness. They have built a culture of winning.
"Truthfully, that is something we aspire to be. We want that for our kids. We want what they have built. That was a good measuring stick to say, 'Were here. We're where we are and we get to go compete against a program like that.' We're able to see where we need to get 'here.' We need to raise our level of play. We need to raise a lot of thing within our program to get to that point."
Led by defensive ends Cooper Lucas (7) and T.W. Ayers (41), Lamar forced the Mustangs to go three and out on their first four possessions. Offensively, the Tigers scored three quick touchdowns (30-yard run by Lucas, 25-yard run by Trevor Medlin and a 68-yard run by Ayers) to take a 20-0 lead with 2:22 left in the first quarter.
Lamar added its fourth touchdown on a three-yard run by Lucas early in the second quarter before McDonald County was able to pick up its initial first down.
Starting on their own 30, the Mustangs moved to midfield on a 16-yard run by quarterback Peyton Barton and a five-yard face mask penalty before the drive stalled.
Barton then bombed a 47-yard punt to pin the Tigers back to their own two-yard line.
On first down, Lucas tried to bounce an inside run to the outside, but was brought down in the end zone for a safety by sophomore defensive back Michael Williams.
Taking over on the Lamar 49-yard line after the ensuing free kick, McDonald County covered the 49 yards in three plays, capped by Barton's 16-yard touchdown run. Cole DelosSantos' catch of a 31-yard pass from Barton on the first play keyed the scoring drive.
Lamar added a touchdown in the final two minutes of the half with Michael Danner covering the final four yards to give the Tigers a 35-8 lead at halftime.
Lamar scored on its first two possessions of the second half -- a 33-yard run by Lucas and a three-yard run by Michael Henderson to end the scoring.
McDonald County had a chance to score late in the game, using an 18-play drive to march from its own 11-yard line to the Tigers' one-yard line before coming up short. Barton hit Reece Cooper twice for 19 yards and Isrrael De Santiago ran for 36 yards on four carries to highlight the drive.
De Santiago led the tackle chart with 12 stops while DelosSantos had 10 and David Roark and Timber Teague had nine each and Caleb Curtis and Williams had seven each.
McDonald County finished with 214 total yards, including 119 on the ground. De Santiago ran for 62 yards on 21 carries while Barton added 52 yards on 10 carries to lead the ground game.
Barton finished with 95 yards through the air by completing nine of 21 passes. DelosSantos caught three passes for 47 yards while Oakley Roessler had three catches for 26 yards. Cooper finished with 19 yards on two catches and Kennedy Hodson had one catch for thee yards.
Lamar ran for 449 of its 452 total yards. Lucas had 231 yards on 16 carries and Ayers added 73 yards on just two carries while McKarus had 60 yards on 10 carries.
McDonald County falls to 3-3 for the season, including a 1-3 mark in the Big 8 Conference. The Mustangs host Monett on Sept. 29 at MCHS. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
Sports on 09/28/2017