Last week’s shootout didn’t go North Callaway’s way this time.
After beating Bowling Green 76-54 at home, the Thunderbirds lost 84-50 at Palmyra (3-2) after allowing 518 rushing yards to …
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Last week’s shootout didn’t go North Callaway’s way this time.
After beating Bowling Green 76-54 at home, the Thunderbirds lost 84-50 at Palmyra (3-2) after allowing 518 rushing yards to the Panthers, including 303 yards and six touchdowns to Wyatt Augspurg.
The game was tied at 42 at halftime, just like the previous week, but Palmyra’s offense couldn’t be stopped on Friday. The Panthers scored a touchdown on every drive in the second half except for the last one when time ran out.
“They were more physical than us up front than us on the line,” head coach Kevin O’Neal said. “We couldn’t get our running game going. They outmanned us up front, too, so they were able to break some big runs.”
North Callaway, who went in tied for tenth in Class 2, finished with 181 yards and were led by Jaiden Galbreath’s 98 yards and two touchdowns. Galbreath had the 303-yard game in the previous game for a career night, but O’Neal said Palmyra keyed in on him.
The Thunderbirds stayed even with Palmyra because of plays such as an interception returned for a touchdown by Brandon Biggers on a tipped ball on the first play of the game. Collin Moore also had a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
“We didn’t have very many long offensive drives as we only had a couple of them that we made some good plays on,” O’Neal said. “They’re defensive line was really good, and we had trouble controlling the line of scrimmage. We got a couple runs out on the edge, but we didn’t make enough big plays tonight.”
Before this Friday’s 7 p.m. home game against Louisiana (4-1, 2-1 EMO) to try to remain undefeated in the Eastern Missouri Conference, North Callaway hopes its defense can improve after back-to-back weeks of offensive showcases.
“We have to be more disciplined defensively, we have to tackle better and get off blocks better,” O’Neal said. “Against good teams that are physical up front, we have to learn how to match that physicality to get off blocks and make plays.”
O’Neal said he hopes more intensity and competition in practice can help improve the physicality and bottle up the running backs better than North Callaway did against Augspurg.
“They’re an I formation team, and they run option,” O’Neal said. “We’re going to have to be disciplined and know what our assignments are to make sure we don’t let their running back get in space because we let that happen and he ran all over us.”
