Tigers cash in Cassville turnovers, stay unbeaten with 46-20 victory

This year’s Silver Tiger Game just got a whole lot more interesting.

The Nevada High School football team took advantage of three fumble recoveries and an interception to defeat Cassville 46-20 on the road Friday night, while the defending Class 2 state champion Lamar Tigers buried McDonald County 31-7 — setting up a showdown between the heated Big 8 West rivals next week at Logan Field in which both teams will enter the game 3-0.

Here’s what the visiting team will see on Nevada’s game film from last night:

On just the third play from scrimmage, NHS wingback Avious Steadman snagged a pass across the middle of the field from quarterback and fellow junior Cade Beshore and ran away from the defense for a 40-yard touchdown.

Left-handed running back Case Sanderson, another junior, then passed to receiver Drew Beachler (yep, a junior) to convert the two-point attempt.

On the team’s first play on defense, senior linebacker Logan Marquardt fell on a fumbled snap — a turnover which was cashed in with a one-yard touchdown run by junior tailback Jordan Johnson (two-point conversion failed), set up after Beshore connected with senior tight end Kartman Highley on a 27-yard pass.

Cassville got on the board with a goal-line TD run and extra point with about three minutes to go in the first quarter, but Steadman responded two plays later with a 59-yard sweep up the left sideline and into the end zone (Beshore found Highley for the two-point conversion).

After the Wildcats (1-2) answered with a touchdown pass of their own early in the second quarter and Nevada’s offense stalled, the Tigers regained momentum with another fumble recovery, this time by sophomore Henry Campbell with about two minutes until halftime.

That set up another 14-yard pass from Beshore to Highley that put the Tigers in the red zone, where Beshore eventually threw a jump ball to Beachler in the corner of the end zone from 16 yards out. The 6-foot-5 receiver easily reached above his defender to haul it in, and after Sanderson ran in the two-point conversion Nevada had a 30-14 lead at the break.

Cassville quickly cut into the deficit early in the third quarter with 62-yard touchdown pass, but Sanderson answered right back with a 25-yard touchdown run on the other end (set up, once again, by a 19-yard pass from Beshore to Highley).

Sanderson then threw another pass to Beachler for the two-point conversion.

Later in the third, it was senior Anthony Vance’s turn to recover a fumble, which the Tigers turned into a 12-play drive that resulted in a one-yard TD run by Steadman (who also had a 33-yard run on the drive). Sanderson ran in the two-point conversion in what turned out to be the final score of the game.

NHS sophomore defensive back Brice Budd laid claim to the defense's fourth turnover: an interception with about nine minutes left in the game.

The game marked Nevada’s first this season in which it failed to score 50 points, but the Tigers sure came close — and no doubt will be looking to put up as many as possible against rival Lamar in week four.