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Nevada Tigers fall to Oak Grove in hard-fought contest
By James R. Campbell
Herald-Tribune
The Nevada Tigers played the state-ranked Oak Grove Panthers evenly for three quarters Friday night at Logan Field, but missed blocks and tackles and special teams snafus eventually sent them to their second loss in three games, 40-20.
Heavy rains that lasted most of the afternoon stopped just at gametime and Head Coach Wes Beachler said afterward that his ground game-oriented squad would have prevailed on a dry field.
The Panthers got things going early with two minutes gone in the first quarter as quarterback Jonathan Latshaw tossed to wide receiver Derrick Dow for an 83-yard tally, then speedy Levi Harmon ran 80 yards for another with 7:34 left in the period.
It looked like the Tigers could be in for an unpleasant evening, but wingback Dalton Hendren took the ball into the end zone from a yard out to make it 14-7 after fullback Lucas Denman had driven it to Oak Grove's 32-yard line and then to the 12.
Taking heart in their newfound ability to stop Latshaw's passing and contain speedy halfback Aaron Graham, the Nevadans regained possession of the football on the hard tackling of Sam Ellifrits, Cole Sanderson, Andrew Schmidt, Alex Francis, Kegan Bell and others.
Time was running out in the first half as wingback Bradey Denny pounded the ball to the 3-yard line before fullback Lucas Denman fell over with 24.4 seconds left and tied the score 14-14.
The first play from scrimmage in the second half saw Hendren, gaining 132 yards on 19 carries on the night. Hendren took quarterback Alex Payne's handoff through the right side between 310-pound tackle Nick Conner and tight end Nathan Colopy and ran lickety split down the right sideline, past the cheering crowd, all the way down to the Panthers' 5-yard line.
Denman got it to the 3 before Beachler called the same play for Hendren and the 190-pounder ran right for the TD, giving the home team the lead, 20-14. Denman's kick missed.
That was the high point, although it took Oak Grove most of the quarter for fullback Tyler Brown to knock the ball over the line on fourth down from the 1-foot line with 3:52 left.
A missed reception of a punt that sailed, a couple of bad snaps to the punter, failing to keep Oak Grove's linemen off the punter and quarterback and an interception return from a touchdown did in the home team, late in the game. Defensive back Brett Norton, one of the Tigers' better tacklers, missed the game with a foot injury.
Denney had returned the kickoff to the 40-yard line just after Oak Grove tied the score, but a 15-yard penalty for what the referees called an illegal block in the back on the 30 line put the Tigers way back to their own 15 and into bad field position that they never escaped.
The Panther's Graham got 101 yards on 20 tough carries and left the game with seconds left, holding his abdomen from another punishing tackle. His team was ranked fourth in Missouri in Class 3, an announcer noted. Oak Grove is east of Kansas City.
"I'm not disappointed in our kids," Beachler said. "Their effort was good in sloppy conditions, but I didn't do a very good job of coaching special teams. If we'd played on a dry field, we would have won."
He explained that Hendren was just a step from breaking free, scoring another touchdown and extending Nevada's lead in the third quarter when he slipped and fell down.
Score by Quarters
First Quarter
10:05, Jonathan Latshaw pass to Derrick Dow, 83 yards, Jacob Stanley's kick good, 7-0 Oak Grove.
7:34, Levi Harmon 80-yard run, kick good, 14-0 Oak Grove.
Second Quarter
6:05, Dalton Hendren 1-yard run, Lucas Denman's kick good, 14-7
24.4 seconds, Denman 3-yard run, kick good, 14-14.
Third Quarter
11:41, Hendren 3-yard run, kicked missed, 20-14, Nevada.
3:52, Tyler Brown 1-foot run, kick blocked, 20-20.
End of quarter, Brown 1-yard run, pass failed, 26-20, Oak Grove.
Fourth Quarter
3:38, Aaron Graham 1-yard run, kick good, 33-20.
2:51, Kyle Martin 50-yard interception return, kick good, 40-20.