Nevada advances to District Title game with three overtime win over Bolivar

Nevada junior running back Avious Steadman scored three touchdowns but none were more important than the one he scored in the third overtime plus the two point conversion to give the Tigers a 40-38 win over the Bolivar Liberators in a Class 4 District 7 semifinal game Friday night at Logan Field.

The two teams battled for four quarters only to be tied 16-16 at the end of regulation. Both teams reached the endzone and added a two point conversion in the first two overtimes. In the third overtime, Bolivar took the lead on a three yard run by quarterback E.J. Ingram to give the Liberators a 38-32 lead.

However, for the only first time in the game, a two point conversion was stopped when Ingram was pinned down by Nevada shy of the goal line to leave the lead at six. After starting from the 25 yard line, the Tigers got the ball to the seven when Steadman was able to find room on the left side to tie the game at 38-all. After a Bolivar timeout, Nevada came out for the two point conversion and an encroachment call on the Liberators moved the ball to the one-and-a-half. The Tigers ran the same play with Steadman reaching paydirt that gave Nevada the win. Tiger head coach Wes Beachler says the play call was fairly simple.

Steadman added two other scores on the night on runs of 77 and 3 yards to give him 23 rushing touchdowns on the season. Quarterback Cade Beshore added an 11 yard scoring run and Case Sanderson had a 10 yard jaunt in the second overtime. Ingram had three rushing touchdowns and one throwing to lead the Bolivar effort.

Beachler gave high praise to his team for their will to win.

Nevada, now 9-2, will head to Kansas City next Friday night to take on the Lincoln College Prep Blue Tigers for the district title. The top seeded Blue Tigers advanced with a 41-14 win over Harrisonville.