By Scott Vanscoy (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Lamar Tigers extended their winning streak to 47 games, winning the state Quarterfinal against Ava, 28-22, on Saturday afternoon. This was the first meeting between the two schools that anyone can remember. In previous years, Lamar faced Mountain View Liberty (6 times), Strafford (once), and Fair Grove (once) in this quarterfinal. Today’s win puts the Tigers in their ninth straight Final Four. Ava hoped their game plan would throw a wrench into the Lamar machine.
Lamar got on the board first with a one yard touchdown run by senior Cooper Lucas. Ava responded with a little less than two minutes to go in the first quarter when Connor Moran ran seven yards for a touchdown. At the end of the first quarter, the score stood at 7-6 in Lamar’s favor.
Lamar took their first possession of the second quarter the length of the field, capped off by a six yard touchdown run by Duncan Gepner. Lamar’s second possession was halted when Ava recovered a fumble in the end zone for a touchback. On Ava’s ensuing possession, with :55 seconds left, Lamar intercepted Ava quarterback Caleb Johnson, keeping the score in favor of the Tigers, 14-6, at the half.
At halftime, Ava Bears coach Dan Swofford told his boys they were in this game.
“The first half gave us the chance to believe in ourselves, and we said hey, we got a chance, here,” said Swofford. “I told them we can beat these guys if we just keep doing what we’ve been doing.”
In the third quarter the two teams swapped possessions, with Lamar eating a lot of time off the clock. The Tigers scored the only touchdown of the quarter when Cooper Lucas ran it in for 11 yards, giving Lamar the lead, 21-6. Like two heavyweight boxers going at it in the championship round, Ava was knocked down but not out.
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The fourth quarter saw things continue in Lamar’s favor when they scored their fourth touchdown of the game on TW Ayers’ three yard scamper. With Lamar holding a commanding 28-6 lead, Ava started to swing back. The Bears were forced to pass but still used the run to keep Lamar off balance. When Caleb Johnson hit Stephen Copeland for a 21 yard touchdown pass, the momentum started to shift. Making the two point conversion, Ava had now cut Lamar’s lead to 28-14.
Lamar, sticking with the run, turned it over on downs at midfield, giving Ava the ball with 7:45 remaining. Lamar’s Chase Davey picked off an errant Ava pass with 4:45 to go. While trying to run out the clock, Lamar fumbled the ball with 3:30 to go in the game. On the next play, Ava’s Johnson hit Copeland for a 35 yard touchdown pass, making the score 28-20. The Bears converted the two-point conversion, putting them within six of the defending state champions.
With Ava out of time outs, Lamar just needed to make a first down with time running out. The Bears forced Lamar to punt with :19 left in the game. Needing a touchdown, Ava had 58 yards to go and 19 seconds to get there. On second down, Ava had the opportunity with the receiver open but they just missed on the play. Lamar’s defense stepped up and forced Ava to throw a desperation pass and on the last play Lamar sacked Ava’s quarterback.
“It was a good game, from the fans’ point of view; a little nerve-wracking from the coach’s point of view,” said Lamar coach Scott Bailey. “If you are a fan, it was a good situation at the end, if you are a coach you’d really like to be a in a different situation. As I’m standing here now, I’m wondering if, as a coach, if I did anything right this week because it didn’t seem like we played very well. A lot of that probably has to do with Ava coach Swofford being coached up and playing really well and took a lot of things away from us. Turnovers is something that hasn’t been a problem for us in our program. Today they were jumping up and biting us.”
“We didn’t do a lot of changing in the first half, we just played hard,” said Swofford. “When it’s all said and done, we just said hey, they beat us. We gave it our all. I’m very complimentary of Lamar. Coach Bailey came down here and came to one of our camps this summer and talked to my team. He gave us the dream and desire to play in this game so this was kind of a dream come true.”
Lamar senior running back Mike Danner was injured in the first quarter and was listed as “wait and see.”
“It was a pretty expensive ball game,” said Bailey. “When you’ve got kids banged up and injured, it becomes expensive. There’s no doubt that Ava came to play today; Lamar came to play, too. Two pretty good teams, we were fortunate that we were able to come out in the third quarter and get a little breathing room in that lead, put some drives together and take some time off the clock.”
This makes Lamar’s ninth straight semifinal appearance.
“We’ve done it for a while, now, and it is a special time of year with your kids, it really is,” said Bailey. “That’s why I say this game was expensive, because we’ve got some kids beat up. That takes away from some of the joy of being with your kids this time of year and getting those extra practices. When you start thinking about the situation that we are in, it beats the alternative, that’s for sure. I’m the poster boy for winning ugly so I’d much rather win ugly than lose pretty any day.”
Earlier this week, Ava senior Anthony Hunt suffered injuries in an automobile accident and was unable to play in today’s game. In a show of camaraderie, the Lamar Student Council coordinated with Ava to raise money for his medical expenses. In what they called “The Miracle Minute” the students collected over $2,000 for the family.
Lamar will travel to St. Louis to face Lutheran North (12-0). Lutheran North beat last year’s state runner-up Trinity Catholic 48-46 in its district title game. On Saturday, the Crusaders advanced to the semifinal round by beating Caruthersville 64-7. Lamar was ranked No. 1 in the final statewide media rankings while Lutheran North was No. 3.
Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. next Saturday.
Lamar 28, Ava 22
Lamar 7- 7 – 7- 7 28
Ava 6 – 0 – 0 – 16 22
First quarter
Lamar—Cooper Lucas 1-yard TD run (PAT good)
Ava—Connor Moran 7-yard TD run (PAT no good)
Second quarter
Lamar—Duncan Gepner 6-yard TD run (PAT good)
Third quarter
Lamar—Cooper Lucas 11-yard TD run (PAT good)
Fourth quarter
Lamar—TW Ayers 3-yard TD run (PAT good)
Ava—Stephen Copeland 21-yard TD pass from Caleb Johnson (2 pt. conv. good)
Ava—Copeland 35-yard TD pass from Johnson (2 pt. conv. good)
