Football

North Callaway stout on 4th down, edges Montgomery County 42-38

Friday’s conference matchup with Montgomery County was draining in many ways for North Callaway.

The Thunderbirds defeated their Eastern Missouri Conference foe 42-38 for their fifth consecutive win, but the road to get there was far from straight. North Callaway committed five turnovers, with three of them resulting in Wildcat touchdowns, and Braydn O’Neal was sacked five times by different Wildcats. But, at the end, the Thunderbird defense stalled Montgomery County drives deep in North Callaway territory.

Montgomery County (2-6, 2-4 EMO) marched eight plays down to the North Callaway three before it hit a wall and then couldn’t put one in the end zone after starting at the Thunderbird 21 because of O’Neal’s second interception. O’Neal still finished with 243 yards on 18-for-28 passing and four touchdowns – three to Sergio Moreno – while running for 100 yards and a score on 22 carries. Moreno caught 10 passes for 157 yards.

Head coach Kevin O’Neal said there were plenty of down moments, especially the turnovers, so it was good to see North Callaway (6-2, 5-1 EMO) maintain the same level of effort throughout.

“Our kids play hard,” O’Neal said. “Their effort was definitely there. Mentally we made mistakes so we have to get stronger on that side. We have to get a little stronger mentally, but our physical effort (was there) and I’m proud of them.”

North Callaway’s lead grew to as large as 22-6 in the final seconds of the first quarter after Moreno pulled in a 29-yard pass from O’Neal. O’Neal extended plays with his legs much of the first quarter, including on an 8-yard touchdown run to get North Callaway on the board first.

The Thunderbirds had a lot of momentum early after recovering a fumbled kickoff at the Montgomery one-yard line. So North Callaway gave the ball to its big defensive lineman Brandon Speight for the score.

The sacks started to pile up against O’Neal in the second quarter, starting with James Pollard wrapping him up in the backfield. Following a 64-yard fumble recovery touchdown that cut North Callaway’s led to 22-14 early in the second quarter, O’Neal found Lane Kimbley for a 22-yard touchdown pass to make it 28-14, but Montgomery County tied the game at 28 before halftime.

O’Neal said the Thunderbirds “came up big when they had to” in the fourth quarter even though their defense wasn’t executed so well for most of Montgomery’s late drives that threatened to score. The Wildcats didn’t and had time run out on them after Moreno popped up to snag a third-down pass to convert the game-sealing first down.

“He’s a guy that we know the defenses are going to try and take away,” O’Neal said. “We worked on a couple ways on finding a way to get him the ball. He came up big several times tonight.”

North Callaway hosts conference leader Bowling Green (8-0, 6-0 EMO), who defeated Wright City 83-7 at home in Week 8, on Friday.

Mexico loses 28-14 at Moberly in battle for first

There is still one more week to play in the football regular season, but Mexico had a golden opportunity for the district No. 1 seed on Friday.

North Central Missouri Conference foes Mexico and Moberly went in as the top two teams in the Class 3 District 5 standings, and the Bulldogs left Moberly as the No. 2 team after losing 28-14. The Spartans scored all of their points in the first half, rushing for 230 yards.

Head coach Steve Haag said the Bulldogs (3-5, 2-3 NCMC) could’ve win this game but felt Moberly was more hungry for the win. Mexico also had a couple mistakes on offense that loomed large – a fumble that turned into a Moberly touchdown and 13-0 deficit and a touchdown that could’ve been.

“We fumbled the first snap,” Haag said. “We gave them the ball right back. Then we didn’t punch it in on the goal line. Right before half, we are on the one-yard line and don’t get it put in. There were just missed opportunities.”

Mexico ran for 204 yards, with 118 of them being gained by Anthony Shivers. Shivers ran for a 42-yard touchdown in the second quarter to make 21-8 Moberly (4-4, 2-3 NCMC). Ryder Staddie had an eight-yard touchdown in the third quarter to make it 28-14 Moberly.

Haag said reigning all-state player Andrew Runge wasn’t available because of a hip pointer, and defensive lineman Tyler Thoenen was also out. The absence of a player like Runge will definitely be felt, but Haag said he liked how Mexico was still able to run the ball Friday.

“Anytime you have a starter out, especially an all-state kid, it’s going to impact you,” Haag said. “It always helps to have him in there, but we still ran the ball effectively. We just didn’t score enough.”

Mexico plays its final regular season game Friday at home against Warrenton (3-5), who lost 35-25 at home to Orchard Farm in Week 8.

Centralia contains Countryman, South Shelby in 28-12 win

Centralia knew going in that South Shelby had a good quarterback in reigning all-conference player Trey Countryman. The Panthers like their quarterback as well.

Following a week Cullen Bennett threw four touchdown passes, he passed for another while finishing with 110 yards on 8-for-13 passing to give Centralia a balanced attack in a 28-12 victory at home against Clarence Cannon Conference foe South Shelby. The Panthers outrushed the Cardinals 270-248 and were led by 181 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries by Kyden Wilkerson and 71 yards on 12 carries by Breylen Whisler.

Head coach Tyler Forsee said Centralia (7-1, 5-1 CCC) didn’t stop Countryman, who finished with 177 yards and a touchdown, but contained him as well the Panthers could, intercepting him twice and keeping him at a 55 percent completion percentage.

“(Countryman) does a great job at getting the ball out of his hands and getting them to his playmakers,” Forsee said. “Their receivers are fast and do a good job at blocking on the outside. We put a lot of guys in coverage this week and said, ‘If you’re going to beat us, it’s going to have to be on the ground.’”

Forsee acknowledged South Shelby (5-3, 3-3 CCC) did almost beat Centralia on the ground behind Kendal Hammond’s 174 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries. The Cardinals had a 12-7 lead at halftime until Centralia’s offense scored quickly in the second half. Bennett hit Beau Hatton 13 yards for a first down, extended even more by a horse collar tackle penalty before Wilkerson ran in a touchdown from 22 yards out on the fourth play of the drive.

Bennett had two big completions on the next drive as well, finding Logan Rosenfelder for 29 yards and Mattie Robinson for 26 yards. Wilkerson capped off the drive with a one-yard run for a 21-12 Centralia lead after the third quarter.

“I know (110 yards) doesn’t sound like a ton of yards, but they came at crucial times,” Forsee said. “I thought (Bennett) did a great job throwing the ball, sitting in the pocket and going through his progressions and making the right reads. He’s getting more confident throwing the ball, and our receivers are doing a better job even at running routes and coming up with those plays. I was very impressed with our pass game.”

Class 2 No. 9 Centralia travels to conference foe and Class 2 No. 8 Macon (7-1, 5-1 CCC), who lost 32-8 at Monroe City in Week 8, on Friday.

Van-Far injuries, second quarter hurt in 36-6 loss to Louisiana

Van-Far was able to rattle off a huge play early Friday for its homecoming game but didn’t muster much after.

The Indians lost 36-6 to Eastern Missouri Conference and district foe Louisiana after falling behind 28-6 at halftime. Van-Far only trailed 8-6 after one quarter because of a 61-yard touchdown pass from Nikos Connaway to Cody Smith, but a turnover and players missing time helped Louisiana score touchdowns to break away.

Early in the second quarter, Van-Far (1-7, 1-5 EMO) fumbled on a punt that gave Louisiana the ball at the Indians’ 15. The Bulldogs (2-6, 2-4 EMO) needed one play to extend their lead and scored on another first snap of a drive to firmly take control.

Head coach Lucas Gibson said he has four starters hurt – including two linemen – so that makes it difficult on the Van-Far offense, who likes to run the ball to maintain control once the Indians snag that control early in the game.

“It was definitely our worst game,” Gibson said. “Our few numbers are showing up it seems like. We’re getting toward the end of the season, and we keep losing kids to injury and different things.”

Van-Far travels to conference foe Mark Twain (3-5, 2-4 EMO), who lost 46-8 at South Callaway in Week 8, on Friday.

Turnovers turn into 26-7 loss for Paris at Scotland County

Paris needed to make a comeback, but Scotland County’s defense was the one coming back toward the Coyotes’ offense Friday.

After trailing 6-0 at halftime on Friday at Lewis and Clark Conference and district foe Scotland County, the Coyotes threw three interceptions that were returned for touchdowns and finished with five turnovers overall to lose 26-7.

Scotland County (1-6, 1-3 L&C) scored early in the first quarter on a 12-yard touchdown run, and starting with about eight minutes left in the third quarter, defenders started running some scores in the endzone.

The loss in Paris’ sixth straight, and the Coyotes (1-7, 0-5 L&C) will be looking to end the losing streak before districts in their final regular season game Friday at home against conference foe Marceline (4-4, 4-4 L&C), who edged Westran 13-12 in Huntsville in Week 8.

Look for the full stories in the Oct. 19, 2022, edition of The Mexico Ledger and on the website on the same day.