The Cassville Wildcats scored on all five of its first-half possessions while forcing McDonald County to punt on its five touches on the way to a 48-6 win on Oct. 4 at MCHS.
"They beat us everywhere on the field tonight," said coach Kellen Hoover. "Lance (Cassville coach Lance Parnell) did a good job with their game plan this week. They caused us a lot of problems offensively. They were more physical than us on both sides of the ball, and I think that was evident from the very beginning."
The Mustangs' best drive of the first half came on the opening possession of the game. Starting on its own 20-yard line, a common theme due to the kicking of Cassville's Drake Reese, McDonald County picked up a pair of first downs on passes by Cole Martin to move to midfield.
The Mustangs apparently had picked up another first down, but a holding penalty negated a 15-yard pass from Martin to Levi Malone that would have moved the ball inside the Wildcat 35-yard line. Instead, the 10-yard penalty, followed by a 10-yard sack, forced McDonald County to punt from deep in its own territory.
Cassville's D.J. White made matters worse when he broke a tackle by a pair of Mustang defenders on the Cassville 40-yard line before finding room down the right sideline for a 42-yard return that set up the Wildcats on the McDonald County 19-yard line.
It took Cassville just four plays to score, including a one-yard quarterback sneak by Deven Bates for a touchdown with 4:38 left in the first half. The first of six extra points by Reese gave Cassville an early 7-0 lead.
McDonald County failed to pick up a first down on its ensuing possession, giving Cassville the ball on the McDonald County 49-yard line.
It took Cassville just two plays to get on the scoreboard a second time. Zack Coenen went untouched straight up the middle for a 40-yard touchdown with 1:54 left in the first quarter to make the score 14-0.
Cassville added three second-quarter touchdowns. The first came on a six-yard run by Jericho Farris with 7:42 left in the first half. Bates then hit Bowen Preddy with a 28-yard touchdown pass with 4:12 left before Bates added his second one-yard sneak of the half to give Cassville a 34-0 lead at intermission.
"We have to get better," Hoover said. "We have to go back to work and that's everywhere -- that's up and down the roster. That's not just the guys who are playing on Friday night, but that's our workforce through the week, that's special teams, that's our coaches -- we all have to do better. If we want to be where this team needs to go, that's what it is going to take."
Cassville scored on both of its third-quarter possessions -- an eight-yard run by Preddy and a seven-yard run by Farris -- before McDonald County scored a touchdown on its final possession of the game.
Starting on the Cassville 40-yard line after a fumble recovery by Jackson Clarkson, the Mustangs took eight plays to cut the lead to 48-6 with 4:39 left in the game.
Martin hit Trent Alik with a 21-yard pass on fourth and 10 to get the drive going before Jack Teague and Junior Teriek gained 15 yards on the ground to give McDonald County a third and goal from the four.
Martin dropped back to pass but found no one open before going around right end to get into the end zone.
Martin finished by completing five of 19 passes for 67 yards. Teriek added 41 yards on 12 carries as Cassville held the Mustangs to 127 total yards.
Bates completed all six of his passes for 121 yards for the Wildcats, while Coenen and Farris both rushed for 68 yards that helped Cassville finish with 337 total yards.
McDonald County, 2-4 for the season, is at Lamar on Oct. 11. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
Sports on 10/10/2019