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Tigers flattened by undefeated, No. 5 ranked Cassville, 50-8
The Cassville Wildcats left little doubt as to why they’re the No. 5 ranked team in Missouri Class 3 football as they flattened the Nevada Tigers, 50-8, Friday night at Logan Field.
The Big 8 Conference West division loss moves Nevada to 1-6 overall (1-3 Big 8 West), while Cassville improves to 7-0.
“Just a lot of little things we’ve got to get better at,” said Nevada head coach Wes Beachler. “It comes down to execution. It doesn’t matter the quality of opponent you’re playing — we played a great team, but you have to execute at a higher level than we did tonight.”
Cassville found the end zone early and often, with their first touchdown coming courtesy of Ethan Hoppes’ 55-yard punt return down the right sideline to pay dirt. Shannon Henry’s quarterback keeper on the two-point conversion handed the Wildcats an 8-0 advantage with 8:30 remaining in the opening frame.
“That’s never a good way to start when you play a good team,” said Beachler. “We talked all week about we couldn’t have negative plays. We had to be satisfied with picking up three, four yards at a time. If we popped a play once in while, that’s a good thing, but we had to avoid negative plays. And we got a negative play on the third play of the game, and we couldn’t recover on that drive. To get stopped early, and to give up a punt for a touchdown, momentum is kind of a big deal in football, and that started things going in the wrong direction for us.”
After converting a fourth-and-3 on a fake punt Cassville quickly capitalized as tailback Anthony Tolbert took a toss-sweep, gained the left edge, and sprinted down the sideline for a 37-yard touchdown romp.
“It was a spot there that it was just a numbers game,” said Cassville head coach Lance Parnell of the key fake punt conversion. “And I felt like we had the numbers, so we were able to keep the drive alive.”
Late in the first quarter Tolbert bolted in from 14 yards out, and Nevada found themselves in a 23-0 hole at the conclusion of the first.
A Cassville scoring drive midway through the second was capped by sophomore tailback Zach Coenen’s two-yard plunge. A failed two-point attempt left the Wildcats with a 29-0 advantage.
With Nevada unable to generate any offense Cassville quickly regained possession, and found the end zone on Henry’s 11-yard scamper, with the extra point putting the Wildcats in front, 36-0 with 5:18 remaining in the half.
Cassville padded its sizable cushion when Henry connected with junior wide receiver D.J. White on a 12-yard touchdown strike. The extra point swelled the Wildcats’ lead to 43-0 at the half.
The first half numbers were heavily slanted in Cassville’s favor, as the Wildcats racked up 214 yards on 20 rushing attempts, while Nevada managed just 47 yards on 19 attempts. Cassville rolled up 312 yards of total offense, to 56 for Nevada, while the Wildcats picked up 15 first downs to Nevada’s two.
“We felt like the only way you could beat Cassville this year, is by avoiding negative plays, moving the sticks, keeping the ball out of their hands, making it a close game in the fourth quarter, and hopefully getting a few breaks here and there,” explained Beachler. “We just weren’t able to sustain drives.”
Added Beachler: “I don’t know if there’s any pluses when you’re down 43-0 at halftime. We just got to continue to get better at the things we need to get better at.”
Said Parnell: “We knew we would have a physical football game up here. Coach Beachler does a great job, and I knew his kids would be disciplined and be strong and physical. The (game-plan) was to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, be able to run the football, and stop the run. And I thought we were able to do that in the first half.”
On Cassville’s opening possession of the second half Coenen broke off a 64-yard run to the Nevada 1-yard line. Coenen then finished off the drive, punching it in from a yard out, as the extra point gave Cassville an insurmountable 50-0 lead.
Nevada’s lone touchdown came with 1:18 remaining in regulation as junior tailback Kolby O’Connell plowed in from the 2-yard line. Junior quarterback Matt Thorp then connected with Kaden Denney on the two-point play, accounting for the final 42-point margin.
Said Beachler of Nevada’s upcoming match-up with Lamar, the No. 1 ranked team in Class 2 football: “I think just execution. We have to be a more disciplined football team on both sides of the ball.”
Concluded Parnell: “We have a great group of kids that have worked very, very hard in the offseason, in the spring and summer. They’ve busted their tail in the weight room. They’ve played a lot of football, (many) of these guys have started for three years, so we’ve got a lot of experience coming back. Good group of leaders, and guys that just love playing together.”
Up next
Nevada renews its tradition-rich rivalry with No. 1 ranked Lamar. The “Silver Tiger” game is slated for Oct. 12 at Lamar.