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.

Still ahead 28-20, North Callaway fumbled for the second time to give Montgomery shots toward the end zone in the final seconds of the half. Quarterback Adam Czerniewski, who threw for 235 yards and two touchdowns on 18-for-32 passing, didn’t miss Travis Hill from 20 yards out. The fumble pushed North Callaway’s offense back from midfield but so did the pressure the Wildcats were bringing.

“We knew we were going to get a lot of pressure,” O’Neal said. “He forced a couple and had a couple fumbles there. We got to get better at taking care of the ball. It’s going to happen here and there, he’s trying to make plays. Sometimes, we just didn’t make those plays and Montgomery made them.”

North Callaway took advantage of a slow third quarter by Montgomery’s offense – three-and out, lost fumble and interception – by O’Neal throwing touchdowns to Moreno on a 32-yard crossing route and a 12-yard strike up the middle for a 42-28 lead halfway through the third quarter.

Hill – along with the two touchdowns and eight catches for 93 yards – leaped to intercept a pass near the goal line that eventually turned into a Hill touchdown catch in the front left corner of the end zone while beating the defender for the ball. A safety because of an intentional grounding penalty tacked on two points for the 42-38 score after the third quarter. Montgomery kept hitting receivers over the top of the secondary, including a 31-yard play to Jacer Brower on the touchdown drive.

“We had a corner out tonight, so we had a couple guys rotating in that haven’t had a whole lot of playing time,” O’Neal said. “Montgomery’s coaches did a great job at noticing that, and using that to their advantage. We had to make some adjustments on our end too.”

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 and Class 2 No. 6 Bowling Green (8-0, 6-0 EMO), who defeated Wright City 83-7 at home in Week 8, on Friday.

Cross country

It was fitting North Callaway to have all-conference runners when it hosted the Eastern Missouri Conference meet on Saturday. 

Three North Callaway runners earned all-EMO honors, including Pressley Schmauch and Grace Rasmussen on the first team for the girls and Tristan Young on the second team for the boys. The top 14 in each race earned all-conference honors, with the former seven taking first team.

Out of 44 runners, Young finished with a time of 18:11.04 to take 11th in the boys 5,000 meters, and North Callaway was fourth as a team. Brendan Reinhard was the boys’ next best finisher with an 18th-place time of 18:59.56. Bowling Green’s Ben Chance won the individual championship with a time of 15:25.68, and the Bobcats’ four all-EMO runners contributed to a team title with 27 points.

In the girls’ 5,000 meters with 35 other runners, Schmauch finished with a third-place time of 21:34.18, and Rasmussen was sixth with a time of 22:30.40. Cassidy Murphy was the girls’ next best finisher in 26th with a time of 26:03.02. Montgomery County had the individual champion in Lyric Ford, and her winning time of 18:16.81, and the team title with its five all-conference runners.