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Nevada's first loss comes in Silver Tiger Game
The explosive plays on offense that defined the Nevada High School football team in its first three games of the season were still there in week four against Lamar Friday night at Logan Field.
It’s just that they did not come until the second half.
The crimson and gray Tigers by that point trailed by three touchdowns, and for the rest of the game struggled to keep the visiting red and black Tigers from finding the end zone — ultimately resulting in a 48-22 Silver Tiger Game defeat.
“We missed some blocks in the first half on some of our bread-and-butter-type plays, and got that cleaned up at halftime. And lo and behold, when you execute and do what you’re supposed to do, some good things happen,” said NHS head coach Wes Beachler, whose team is now 3-1 overall and 1-1 in Big 8 West Conference play. “It’s good for our kids to see that kind of physical play and that kind of speed, because that will benefit us later in the year.”
After both defenses opened the game by forcing the opposing team to turn the ball over on downs, it looked like the hundreds of fans who packed the stands and lined the fences were in for a low-scoring slugfest between the two rival schools.
But Lamar (4-0, 1-1) scored on its second possession — a four-yard touchdown run by Austin Wilkerson (PAT good) — and repeated its defensive effort by forcing another Nevada turnover on downs, which it converted into an 18-yard reverse TD (PAT good) early in the second quarter.
Nevada’s run game, meanwhile, continued to spin its wheels, and the Tigers were forced to punt their final three possessions of the half.
“They were filling the gaps very hard, very aggressive, and tackled well,” NHS junior quarterback Cade Beshore said of Lamar’s defense. “We felt like we played pretty hard, but they’re just a good team all around. They have very few weaknesses. Just a tough team.”
After Lamar found the end zone again on a 25-yard TD pass, Nevada trailed 21-0 at halftime and made some key blocking adjustments that produced points almost immediately out of the break.
On the team’s first play from scrimmage to start the third quarter, junior running back Case Sanderson ran up the middle, broke a few tackles, and out-hustled the secondary into the end zone for a 64-yard touchdown (Sanderson also tossed the successful two-point conversion pass to Drew Beachler).
“It was perfect execution. We had to do that in order to stay in the game,” Sanderson said. “The pullers coming around, they made some blocks. In the first half, they were missing the blocks, not staying on them.”
Following another score by Lamar (a 37-yard QB keeper by Joel Beshore; PAT good), NHS junior wingback Avious Steadman answered with a 70-yard touchdown run around the left side (two-point try no good).
“We’ve got some athletes, once we get them in space, it’s going to be beneficial for us. Once we got that rolling, we were doing pretty well,” Coach Beachler said. “Him and Case both are going to have the ability to make plays like that. We’ve just got to be better able to create that space for them and give them a head start.”
Nevada’s defense, keyed by a tackle for a loss by sophomore linebacker Henry Campbell on second down and a tackle by senior linebacker Logan Marquardt for a short gain on third down, forced a much-needed punt with about six minutes to go in the third.
But Lamar’s defense made its own adjustments and forced another Nevada turnover on downs — then cashed it in with a goal-line TD run by Logan Crockett (PAT good). Crockett then found the end zone from 43 yards out on the team’s next possession to open the fourth quarter following a Nevada punt (PAT good).
Steadman returned the ensuing kickoff 70 yards to the house, and Sanderson ran in the two-point conversion — but Lamar put the game away with another TD run by Beshore.
After the game, the coveted Silver Tiger Trophy (aka Oscar) returned once again to Lamar.
“I don’t know that one loss to anybody is going to make or break their career. We’ve got to see what we can do from this point forward,” said Beachler, whose team will travel to Monett (1-3, 1-1) next week. “I know it’s a big game. It’s a Big 8 West opponent. But I’m just not of the mindset that this game is any more valuable than any other game, because you have to play every game the right way.”
Cade Beshore agreed.
“First loss,” he said. “We’ll lick our wounds a little bit and now get ready for Monett.”