By Scott Vanscoy (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Cassville Wildcats defeated the Reeds Spring Wolves, 35-0, on a cold and wet Friday night. Cassville took advantage of Reeds Spring’s first quarter turnovers to jump out to a 21-0 lead. Cassville’s defense dominated Reeds Spring throughout the game in the matchup between Big 8 Conference foes.
Cassville struck first after a Reeds Spring turnover when wide receiver Jerome Ewing threw a reverse option pass to DJ White for 40 yards and the score. On Reeds Spring’s next possession, Cassville’s defense forced them to punt near the goal line. The punter slipped in the wet conditions, muffing the punt, giving Cassville the ball on their own 5-yard line. Shannon Haney would score on a quarterback keeper on the next play. Haney connected with White from 33-yards out for his second touchdown of the quarter, giving the Wildcats a 21-0 lead.
“We really wanted it; after the loss last year this is a game we had circled going into the season,” said White. “All summer I worked on my route running, my concentration, and getting faster… and Shannon Haney is great.”
The Wildcats had the momentum and would not relinquish it the rest of the night.
“We took advantage of a fumble and a miscue on a punt that really gave us great field position,” said Cassville head coach Lance Parnell. “We were able to capitalize on both of those turnovers and put points on the board to get off to an early lead.”
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The only scoring in the second quarter was when Bowen Preddy scored the first of his two touchdowns on the night. Preddy took it in from 3-yards out, giving the Wildcats an insurmountable lead of 28-0 at the half.
In the second half the conditions were worsening as the temperature dropped and the rain continued, making the passing game almost impossible. Cassville was content to run the ball, killing time and controlling the tempo. Preddy scored his second touchdown on a 3-yard run to put the Wildcats up 35-0.
“The offensive line, when we were up close to the end zone, made great holes for us to get through,” said Preddy. “Overcoming and taking advantage of opportunities and then accomplishing what we needed to do. Scoring those touchdowns was really all on Logan Carlin in front of me and the linemen in front of me creating huge holes and giving great opportunities.”
Head coach Lance Gosch of the Reeds Spring Wolves tipped his hat to Cassville and their defensive effort.
“Cassville is a heck of a ball team,” said Gosch. “They’re awful good on both sides of the ball. We made some mistakes early and got behind and when you get behind like that, with a team like Cassville; it’s tough to come back on. We knew they were good up front and big and aggressive, they did a good job. We have Aurora next week. They’re good, they are going to play hard, and they are going to be well-coached. We’ll have to coach the kids up next week and make sure we play hard and see if we can’t get one done.”
The undefeated Wildcats could have easily been looking ahead to next week’s matchup with undefeated Lamar but Coach Parnell was not going to let that happen. His team was focused and determined to avenge last year’s loss to the Wolves.
“Defensively, I thought we played very, very well up front,” said Parnell. “Reeds Spring runs the football very well and I thought up front our defensive line played well. We really controlled the line of scrimmage. I’m pleased with my quarterback; he is allowing us to pass the ball a little more this year. Haney is in his fourth year starting, he started for us as a freshman and it had not been his strength the first couple years. He’s worked very, very hard at it and he does a good job throwing the football. We’ve got some kids that do a pretty decent job of catching the football, as well. DJ White, he’s a junior, he’s our leading receiver. He runs really good routes and had a big night tonight catching the football.”
The win set the undefeated Wildcats up for the game long-anticipated game against the undefeated Lamar Tigers next week.
“Next week is the biggest game of the season, we are all super stoked for it and we have been preparing for the whole season for Lamar,” said Preddy. “We are ready to make a statement.”
Cassville 35, Reeds Spring 0
Cassville 21 – 7 – 7 – 0 35
Reeds Spring 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 0
First quarter
Cassville—DJ White, 40-yard TD pass from Jerome Ewing (PAT good)
Cassville—Shannon Haney, 5-yard TD run (PAT good)
Cassville—White, 33-yard TD pass from Haney (PAT good)
Second quarter
Cassville—Bowen Preddy, 3-yard TD run (PAT good)
Third quarter
Cassville—Preddy, 3-yard TD run (PAT good)
Fourth quarter
No Score
