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Valiant effort falls short as Tigers fall to visiting Cassville, 47-28
A perfect start to the season came to an end for the Nevada Tiger football team Friday night as they fell to the Cassville Wildcats in a Big 8 Conference West Division showdown, 47-28.
The loss moves Nevada to 2-1 overall, and 0-1 in the Big 8 West division.
Cassville received the opening kick off and scored on senior tailback Jericho Ferris' 58-yard run on a halfback option play.
Nevada quickly replied with their opening drive.
Facing a fourth-and-8, senior wing-back Kaden Denney bounced out to the left edge en route to a 20-yard TD run. The play also made Nevada five-for-five on fourth-down conversions this season.
Denney then followed-up with a half-back option pass to a wide-open Kartman Highley on the two-point conversion, putting Nevada on top 8-7, for what would be their only lead of the evening.
The high scoring opening frame continued, as Cassville followed with their second touchdown
drive of the quarter, punctuated by a Ferris 2-yard TD run. A failed extra point left Nevada trailing, 13-8.
Quickly back in possession after a Nevada three-and out Cassville again marched down field. Junior quarterback Cutter Hicks' 1-yard QB sneak, plus the extra point, put Cassville in front 20-8 with 10:28 to play in the second quarter.
Cassville then tacked on another TD, as Drake Reese's 15-yard scamper with 33 seconds remaining in the half handed the Wildcats a 27-8 halftime advantage.
Just past the midpoint of the third quarter Ferris' nine-yard touchdown run extended Cassville's advantage to 33-8. The extra point was blocked by Riley Trotter.
Nevada then responded with a scoring drive, capped off by quarterback Dylan Beachler's three-yard run. A failed 2-point play left Nevada trailing 33-14.
Cassville's lead swelled to 40-14 when Reese hauled in Hicks' slant across the middle and bolted 58 yards to paydirt.
The ensuing kickoff was run back for a 95-yard touchdown by Nevada junior Eli Cheaney. A successful two-point play left the Tigers trailing 40-22 late in the third.
With 10 minutes remaining in regulation sophomore running back Case Sanderson's six-yard TD, followed by a missed two-point play, trimmed the deficit to 40-28.
The Tigers then rolled the dice, recovering an onside-kick at midfield. Nevada, however, was unable to net any yardage, turning the ball over on downs.
Cassville then chewed up clock via its ground attack. With just over three minutes showing on the clock Ferris delivered the knockout blow with his fourth TD run of the evening, accounting for the final margin.
"They about had more points at halftime than we had given up in the previous two games," lamented Nevada head coach Wes Beachler, during his postgame radio interview. "A lot of defensive breakdowns, and some poor tackling in space."
Beachler was pleased with the way his club responded in the second half.
"Good defensive adjustments at halftime paid dividends," he said.
After the roaring 2-0 start to the season, Beachler said his squad may have had its head in the clouds to start the game.
"Feeling a little bit of a sense of entitlement, in my opinion," the veteran head coach said of his squad. "Did some things that are uncharacteristic of our ball-team — both in-and-out of school. So, we just need to revisit what it takes to win ball-games consistently, and we'll get that done this week."
Added Beachler: "We talked about complacency all of last week. Just didn't start out playing Nevada Tiger football the way we have the last two weeks. I'm still proud of the way they played in the second half, kept battling. Hopefully it's lesson-learned. We came in a little sloppy, a little too big four our britches tonight, and we got punched in the mouth."
Up Next
The tradition-rich "Silver Tiger" game against archrival Lamar. The Big 8 West division showdown is slated for 7 p.m. Sept. 18 at Lamar.
Lamar enters 2-1, after absorbing a dramatic 42-41 Big 8 West division loss to McDonald County Friday night.
"I don't have any doubts about how we'll approach practice next week," Beachler said. "Just had a few issues we needed to clear up, make sure everybody's on the same page, and I think I got that done in the postgame meeting. Disappointed by some of the choices we made this week. And we're not going to make them again, I'm pretty confident of that."
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