Menu
Tigers clash with Cassville
Nevada Middle School's seventh and eighth-grade football teams hit the gridiron, splitting a pair of road matchups with Cassville on Thursday.
Led by tailback Jack Cheaney's three touchdown performance, the Nevada seventh-grade squad won their game, 22-6. Nevada's eighth-grade gridders fell, 34-14.
Cheaney rushed for a pair of scores, and added a receiving TD via a Gabe Smith screen pass.
"This was an important win for the seventh-grade team," said NMS head coach, Toby Thorp. "Cassville has a quality football program, and to go out and execute like we did on the road was great."
Nevada's defense was also solid, as Cassville's lone touchdown came in the waning moments of the contest.
"The defense played well," Thorp said. "Cassville has a couple of big, physical kids at tailback. It's important with kids like that to get to them early, before they can get rolling."
Added Thorp: "Offensively, we felt like we needed redemption after last weeks poor performance against East Newton. We moved the ball well on the ground, and the offensive-line dominated from whistle-to-whistle. The offensive and defensive lines were probably the stars of the night for the seventh-grade team. We had good movement on offense, and controlled the line of scrimmage on defense."
Nevada's Brice Budd starred in the eighth-grade game. Budd hauled in a receiving TD from QB Riddick Shook on a go-route — and later in the game, took back a kick return 85 yards to paydirt.
"Cassville is very talented and big," Thorp noted. "The game was a lot closer than the score indicates. We played pretty well on defense. Kids were in the right spots, we just struggled to tackle their (big, fast)tailback."
Thorp added: "When we broke down film with the kids, we counted four different times that we were able to get a receiver behind the defense, and either didn't get them the ball, or didn't get it to them in stride. I think most coaches look at games they lose as the ones that got away. But I think this was one the boys will win down the road — as we get a little bigger and more skilled."