Braydn O’Neal carried North Callaway with his arm last week, but his legs were needed to make up some ground this week.

The Thunderbirds won 32-13 at Eastern Missouri Conference foe Wright City, scoring 32 unanswered points after falling behind 13-0 at halftime. O’Neal threw for 82 yards and a touchdown to Lane Kimbley but ran for 235 yards and three touchdowns of at least 20 yards.

Head coach Kevin O’Neal said Wright City’s defense upset North Callaway’s ability to drive down the field in the first half, committing two turnovers in the process.

“In the first half, we couldn’t really get into a rhythm offensively,” O’Neal said. “Wright City had a different look defensively than what we had worked on all week, so that threw us off. We went more to the quarterback running game with our running backs lead blocking for him."

O’Neal said Wright City’s defense brought pressure from different areas, had a different alignment on the line and had coverages that threw off the passing game. The Wildcats (4-3, 3-2 EMO) also limited Sergio Moreno to one catch for 15 yards following his four touchdowns and 154 yards last week.

When the quarterback is asked to run, O’Neal said there are different areas such as the offensive line that needs to be blocking well and the receivers and running backs are included in that mission. Moreno, Kyle Pennell, Eli Henry, AJ Siegel and Tucker Wright helped O’Neal make it to the edge on the quarterback-sweep plays. Then, it was just off to the races for Braydn O’Neal.

“He has good speed, quickness and he sees the field well,” Kevin O’Neal said. “He understands the game so that helps with all of that.”

For Wright City, Denzel Dowdy ran for a score and quarterback Joey Gendron found Jeremiah Davis in the first half, but the Wildcats were limited to 196 yards of total offense, including 92 yards on the ground. North Callaway’s defense forced a couple turnovers as well.

Kevin O’Neal said Wright City had long plays in the first half, and while the Thunderbirds were there, they couldn’t make the tackle. They “stepped it up” in the second half.

“Defensively, (our guys) definitely kept us in the game,” O’Neal said. “Even though we sputtered in the first half offensively, I think our defense did a great job of limiting a lot of their big plays. They have a lot of speed at their skill positions.”

North Callaway (5-2, 4-1 EMO) has won four straight and will host Montgomery County (2-5, 2-3 EMO), who was victorious in its second consecutive game after winning 22-14 at Louisiana in Week 7, on Friday.

Volleyball

North Callaway goes 2-2 in Belle, sets program wins record

North Callaway earned its second plaque this season while making some history.

The Ladybirds went 2-2 on Saturday during the Belle Tournament, defeating Plato in their first match and Belle in their final match to win the consolation prize to earn its second tournament placing this season after taking second place at the Calvary Lutheran Tournament on Sept. 10. The win against Belle was also the team's 10th win, setting a new program single-season wins record. North Callaway lost to Russellville and Centralia in the other matches.

North Callaway won 25-14, 25-15 against Plato behind phenomenal net play by Rylee Horstman and Bailey Hill, head coach Andrew Klein said. Following losing 25-16, 25-20 to Russellville and 25-18, 25-6 to Centralia, Klein said the team bounced back well after playing “a little defeated” in the second set against Centralia, winning 25-18, 25-15 against Belle. 

Klein said the Belle victory meant something after losing to Belle’s varsity and junior varsity in last year’s tournament and also because of the season wins record — the Ladybirds went 9-15-1 in 2016 — with at least four more matches to play.

“It was truly a team win,” Klein said. Senior (setter) Ellie Pezold and sophomore (outside hitter) Natalie Shryock connected well on assists and kills. Junior Adrian Brown passed well off the bench in her defensive specialist role.”

North Callaway (10-14-1, 1-5 EMO) hosted Eastern Missouri Conference foe Bowling Green (5-10-4, 2-3 EMO) on Tuesday prior to playing at Wright City (7-12-1, 3-3 EMO) on Tuesday.

Junior high cross country

Tripp earns medal for North Callaway JH at Gans Creek

Calla Tripp gave North Callaway junior high some representation among the medalists Saturday.

At the Brian T. Simpson Invite on the state cross country course of Gans Creek, Tripp finished 13th with a time of 14:00.84 in the girls 3,000 meters to earn a medal. The top 20 in each race earned a medal.

Georgia Bell raced to a 23rd-place time of 14:28.20 to narrowly miss hardware, Nevaeh Coleman was 66th with a time of 21:43.87, and Makayla Krueger finished 68th with a time of 33:15.06.

Emerson Reinhard finished 32nd in the boys 3,000 meters with a time of 13:41.94.

Christian Fellowship won the girls and boys race with Angelina Cottone having a time of 11:03.59, and Hayden Jokerst taking first with a time of 10:20.25.