Blevins rebreaks North Callaway digs record in five-set win at Sunnydale Academy

North Callaway volleyball played a five-set match for the second time this season on Monday.

Another bit of deja vu was when senior libero Riley Blevins set the school single-match digs record with 44 to lead the Ladybirds to a win (25-20, 24-26, 21-25, 25-20 and 15-10).

Blevins, who was crowned Homecoming Queen along with King Sam Pezold on Friday night, previously became the record holder after recording 32 digs in North Callaway’s five-set victory at home against Wright City about two weeks prior.

Freshman Peyton Boulware followed Blevins with 15 digs, Natalie Shryock had a team-high 18 kills, Jaden Smithee finished with a team-high 18 assists, and Lakyn Hartley had 13 assists.

North Callaway (8-13-1) played at Eastern Missouri Conference foe Bowling Green (5-11-1) at 6 p.m. tonight.

Thunderbirds can’t contain McRoberts, Wright City in 45-28 Homecoming loss

Duan McRoberts left his name on the minds of North Callaway during Homecoming.

On the same night the Thunderbirds crowned a new king and queen, Wright City’s McRoberts ran for 228 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries and returned an interception for a touchdown to hand North Callaway a 45-28 loss on Homecoming to its Eastern Missouri Conference foe. McRoberts outrushed North Callaway (2-5, 1-4 EMO) and its 126 yards on the ground.

Head coach Kevin O’Neal said Wright City (5-2, 4-1 EMO) has had the identity of being a fast team for years, and this year’s squad was no exception. These Wildcats proved to be toughest to deal with, however, in the 20 years worth of Wright City teams O’Neal has coached against.

“They have a lot of team speed – something we don’t have,” O’Neal said. “It’s probably the best Wright City team that I’ve coached against.”

McRoberts especially embodies what Wright City does best, O’Neal said, as the Wildcats took a 20-8 lead after the first quarter.

“He’s fast, and he can run between the tackles well as a hard runner,” O’Neal said.

Wright City read North Callaway’s offense well even when O’Neal said the Thunderbirds tried different things. At the forefront was O’Neal’s son and freshman Coltyn O’Neal making his first varsity start at quarterback. Coltyn O’Neal has seen time under center this season but played pretty much the whole game, finishing 11-for-31 with 156 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

O’Neal completed touchdown passes to senior Kyle Pennell and Collin Moore, and senior Lane Kimbley had a 25-yard touchdown pass to senior Cashton Holloway. Senior Riley Humphrey ran for a nine-yard touchdown to go with his 13 carries for 53 yards, helping Coltyn O’Neal and the offense out on Senior Night.

“He made some good reads and made a couple freshman mistakes, but he did well for his first start,” Kevin O’Neal said. “The seniors did a good job of helping him get through some things and kept his confidence up. We lost the game, but the seniors played hard all the way through and played for each other tonight more than they have this year.”

On defense, Humphrey had six tackles and his fellow seniors Landon Oney and Cooper Wortmann finished with seven and six tackles, respectively.

North Callaway plays at Eastern Missouri Conference foe Montgomery County (4-2, 3-1 EMO) at 7 p.m. Friday.