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Nevada football drops close one to Mac County
Friday night’s gridiron battle at Logan Field between Nevada High School and McDonald County seemed like one of those football games that came down to a couple of key plays.
According to NHS head coach Wes Beachler, it was even closer than that.
The difference in this one might have been one or two blocks.
“It was missed assignments at key times,” summarized Beachler, whose team lost 39-34. “We had several missed blocks at key moments that allowed penetration to run us down from the inside out, and we haven’t done that all year. So, we’ve got to get that fixed.”
Both Big 8 West teams entered the night at 6-1 on the season, with each one’s loss at the hands of unbeaten Lamar. And about midway through the third quarter, with the score tied 20-20, the Tigers and Mustangs looked as evenly matched as two teams could be.
But after that, Mac County forced a Nevada punt (more on that decision later), scored on a 37-yard touchdown pass and made the extra point, gave up junior wingback Avious Steadman’s third rushing TD but forced an incomplete pass on the two-point try, and added two more scores to the Tigers’ one in the fourth quarter to earn the victory.
“I don’t want to take anything away from them. They’re a good team,” Beachler said of the Mustangs. “But when you have missed blocks and missed assignments in critical third-down situations that stop you from getting first downs, that’s on us. We’ve got to get that stuff fixed.”
While McDonald County used most of the first quarter to take the lead with one passing touchdown and one rushing score, Nevada needed just one offensive play — a 74-yard TD pass from quarterback Cade Beshore to fellow junior tailback Case Sanderson (two-point conversion failed) — to stay within striking distance.
With about seven minutes to go in the second quarter, Steadman ran in his first score up the left sideline from 59 yards out, though the two-point try failed again to keep Mac County ahead 13-12.
Two possessions later, Nevada had a chance to go into halftime with the lead (and then get the ball to start the second half) when Beshore scrambled and found Sanderson for a 30-yard pass into Mac County territory with about a minute to go.
But the Mustangs blitzed their linebackers and slanted their tackles to keep Steadman from breaking free around the edge and into the end zone on four straight runs in the closing seconds — and the score remained 13-12 at the break.
“We would have loved to have scored in the red zone here before the half,” Beachler said. “I don’t know how many times we should have had Avious Steadman run down the sideline because we missed a block interiorly. Not on the edge. We had the edge blocked. We missed a block on the interior.
“I think he should have had two more touchdown runs, if we block things the way we’re supposed to.”
Steadman did find pay dirt from four yards out on Nevada’s first possession in the third quarter — set up by a huge kickoff return by fellow junior Jordan Johnson — and his two-point conversion run gave the Tigers their first lead of the game at 20-13, but McDonald County responded with a game-tying TD run and PAT.
Nevada on its ensuing possession went with a Johnson run for two yards, a reverse to Steadman for five more, and then a Steadman sweep for two — before facing a critical fourth-and-one from its own 37-yard line.
“Too far in our own territory in that kind of ballgame,” said Beachler, who immediately called for a punt. “If we don’t get it right there, they’ve got a short field. And they had been driving the ball on us pretty good. Why give them a 40-yard field when they’ve been moving the ball well?”
Instead, Mac County got the ball on its own 33 and drove 67 yards to regain the lead, capped off by a 37-yard TD pass and PAT.
Steadman pulled the Tigers within one with an electric 69-yard TD run in which he broke multiple tackles at the line of scrimmage before zipping past the secondary — but once again NHS failed to convert the two-point try.
The Tigers trailed 27-26 heading into the final period, at which point Mac County quarterback Cole Martin took the game over with several keepers and passes, and leading his team to two more scores. Nevada also had a costly interception off a deflected pass midway through the fourth when it trailed by 13 that all but gave the game to the Mustangs.
The Tigers’ final score of the game came on a Beshore keeper from five yards out with a minute to go (Sanderson ran in the two-point conversion, but Nevada failed to recover the ensuing onside kick).
“The season’s not over. If you put your tail between your legs or if you’re a turtle and hide your head in your shell for the rest of the year now, then you’re not the kind of young man that we want on the team anyway,” said Beachler, whose team will host Aurora in the regular-season finale next week. “That’s the goal now, is to have a good week of practice for Aurora and beat those guys and clinch that no. 2 seed and host some playoff games.”