ANDERSON -- The McDonald County Mustangs stampeded for over 300 yards rushing on their way to a 35-13 victory over the Marshfield Jays on Friday, Sept. 2, at Mustang Stadium.
The offensive outburst helped the Mustangs post their first victory of the season and came on the heels of a very positive week of preparation leading up to the game.
"Our kids put together a great week of practice and I'm proud of them for that," said McDonald County coach Kellen Hoover. "They practiced with a lot more urgency this week, and we tried to turn it up a little as coaches. They accepted that and seemed to appreciate that. So a really great week of practice led to a significantly better outcome for us."
The win evens McDonald County's record at 1-1. Marshfield falls to 0-2.
The Mustangs ran wild for 305 yards on 47 carries with Jordan Saylors racking up 188 yards on 29 carries and quarterback Destyn Dowd 109 yards on 17 carries with four touchdowns. Jack Parnell had one carry resulting in an 8-yard score.
"I'm just really happy with the way we ran the football," Hoover said. "Anytime you can run the ball up and down the field, you're really happy with how your offensive line played and how your running backs played. I'm just really proud of them for coming together and playing a really physical game after (the season-opening loss to Mount Vernon) in which we thought we weren't as physical as we could be."
The Jays took the opening kickoff and appeared to be on their way to the first score of the game when McDonald County's Slyte Osborne recovered a fumble at the Mustang 6-yard line.
The possession change came with a big dose of momentum for the Mustangs as they covered the 94 yards in 14 plays, with Dowd gaining the last yard for the score.
Richard Gasca's extra point kick gave the Mustangs a 7-0 lead with 2:45 left in the opening quarter.
Hoover said he liked seeing how his defense never gave in on Marshfield's opening drive.
"(The defense) showed a little bit of that last week," he said. "They showed a willingness to battle when their backs were against the wall. They had a stand like that last week. So, they've got that in them, and I'm just proud of them that they did it again tonight. They didn't just give up a touchdown because they were driving and were deep in the red zone. They fought and clawed, and I'm happy with the way they kept making them snap it again until something good happened for us."
The Jays did get into the end zone midway through the second quarter on a 6-yard run by Dayvion Harris, who led the visitors with 129 yards on 20 carries.
Marshfield missed the extra point attempt, leaving the score at 7-6 with 6:29 to go in the half.
McDonald County answered the Marshfield score by closing out the first half scoring with an eight-play, 77-yard drive bolstered by a 30-yard completion from Destyn Dowd to Cross Dowd, and, two plays later, a 27-yard run by the quarterback, who later ended the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run with 3:07 left in the half.
Gasca converted his second kick to give the Mustangs a 14-6 advantage.
Jack Parnell's interception with just over a minute left on the clock shut down another Marshfield drive.
McDonald County's first possession of the second half resulted in more points for the Mustangs when Destyn Dowd took the ball in from 7 yards out with 7:13 on the clock.
Gasca's third point-after try of the game sent the Mustangs up by a 21-6 margin.
The home team opened the fourth quarter with another points-producing drive. This series covered 58 yards in 10 plays and was kept alive twice when Saylor recovered a fumble for a loss of 4 yards and big lineman Toby Moore scooped up another loose ball for a gain of 1 back to the line of scrimmage.
Parnell's run around the left end covered the final 8 yards and, after another Gasca PAT, the Mustangs owned a 28-6 lead with 7:01 left in the game.
Destyn Dowd capped the McDonald County scoring with an 11-yard run with 2:48 to play. Gasca was again true with the PAT for a 35-6 Mustang lead.
The Jays did manage to put more points up on their side of the scoreboard when quarterback Bryant Bull scrambled out of the pocket and tossed a 55-yard pass to Travis Greenfield for a touchdown with 44 seconds remaining.
"We've just got to be a little better on the scramble drill there, but our defense just did a great job putting pressure on their really good quarterback," said Hoover. "We did a good job up front, I thought, of containing him and making him have to work for everything. I thought our linebackers filled extremely well and the back end of our defense did a really good job in our coverage, too, to give those guys time to get to the quarterback."
Bryant finished completing six of 16 pass attempts for 101 yards while the Jays ran for another 144 yards.
Destyn Dowd completed six of 14 attempts for 58 yards.
Cross Dowd caught two passes for 28 yards, Parnell two for 16, and Gordon one for 11.
The Mustangs return to the road Friday night when they play at Logan-Rogersville. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
BENNETT HORNE/MCDONALD COUNTY PRESS McDonald County team captains Weston Gordon (46); Cross Dowd (4); Angel Mendoza (75); Ivan Serna (70); and head coach Kellen Hoover walk to the center of the field for the coin toss prior to the start of their game against the Marshfield Jays Friday, Sept. 2, at Mustang Stadium.