By Derek Shore (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Cassville, Mo – Leading up to Week 1, the Lamar Tigers grew accustomed to practicing on a wet and soggy field the last few weeks due to heavy rain in the area.
On Friday night, that paid off.
After a two-hour rain delay, Lamar and Cassville took to a wet and muddy field, with the Tigers blanking the Wildcats, 28-0 in the season-opener.
“The delay part (was new to us),” Lamar head Scott Bailey said. “I thought our kids handled it really well. I will say some of our young kids didn’t handle it as well. They haven’t been apart of something like this and don’t understand what I am wanting. I thought they handled it for the most part.”
Bailey was quick to credit Cassville for getting the game in Friday, rather than rescheduling for Saturday.
“To be honest, I want to thank Cassville,” Bailey continued. “It would have been easy for everybody to say, ‘Let’s just play tomorrow and not make everyone wait around here.’ We got to drive all the way back to Lamar and then drive all way back here to play this game.
“They didn’t do that. They stuck with it and stuck with it.”
Starting the game off with a lengthy drive, Lamar running back Cooper Lucas utilized a solid block by his offensive lineman, sneaking into the end zone for the early 6-0 lead on an opening drive that lasted up to six minutes.
The Tigers increased their lead to 8-0 after a successful two-point conversion midway through the first quarter as well.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
With 5:51 left in the opening frame, Cassville quarterback Shannon Haney scampered for a 38-yard run on the first play of the Wildcats season. That said, Haney’s run was called back due to a hold and Cassville was forced to punt after a few incompletions.
“Our (line)backer got cracked and didn’t get to the quarterback and he’s down our sideline,” Bailey said. “Scheme-wise, I thought they were better, especially early and taking advantage of some of the things we do on defense.
“We had to make some adjustments to limit that. Trying to teach a 15, 16, 17 year old kid assignment football sometimes doesn’t work out very well.”
At the 8:31 mark in the second quarter, Lamar quarterback Stuart McKarus flipped a shovel pass to Michael Danner, who ran for 24 yards on a misdirection play capped by a Lucas ten yard run to the goal line.
On fourth and goal, tight end TW Ayers blasted a one-yard run into the end zone to close out the second half with a 14-0 advantage.
Cassville was forced to punt on the first possession of the second half. On the ensuing drive, though, the Tigers running back Trevor Medlin ripped through the Cassville defense before another two-point conversion made it 22-0.
Subsequently, Lucas went 69 yards for his second touchdown of the contest in the fourth quarter to round out the scoring 28-0 for Lamar. The senior finished with a game-high 169 yards rushing on the night.
“He’s a good player,” Cassville head coach Lance Parnell said. “He’s a good player on both sides of the ball. Big, strong and physical kid that runs extremely hard. One guy isn’t going to bring him down.
“He’s a dang good football player.”
The Tigers extended their winning streak to a whopping 36 games with the victory and certainly were tested in the opening week.
“That Cassville team is much-improved from over week one a year ago,” Bailey said. “There is a bunch of guys down here that are trying to restore that program to what it was prior. They deserve a lot of credit for the improvement in that program from last year to this year.
“Physical. Definitely had our hands trying to establish our run game, especially early. We were able to put drives together. As things wore down, we were able to break a long run with Cooper and get the game in hand.”
Collectively, Lamar rushed for 367 yards on 44 carries while collecting 19 first downs. McKarus tallied 85 yards on 17 carries, throwing for 24 yards on two attempts. Medlin had 58 yards on four carries, including a touchdown run.
On the flip side, Cassville totaled 187 yards (159 rushing and 28 passing), garnering 12 first downs. Haney, who ran for 86 yards on 16 carries, also completed five passes in 15 attempts. Running back Logan Carlin accumulated 48 yards on nine carries.
“We put a focus, if you go back a year ago tonight, we walked out on Lamar and we physically took a beating,” Parnell said. “We came back that Monday, going back a year ago with that group, that we knew we had to become a more physical football team.
“It was a process last year. This group they have just continued that. I thought we played a physical football game tonight. I thought our kids stepped up to the plate and matched Lamar’s physicality toe-to-toe.”
Parnell sees positives that his team can take away going forward.
“You saw our kids compete,” he said. “Lamar, that’s a very, very good football team. I thought, offensively, we moved the ball very, very well at times. We weren’t able to punch it in the end zone.
“I thought we did some good things offensively. Defensively, I felt like we competed very well.”
With six-straight state titles, Lamar (1-0) continue their winning ways into East Newton next Friday night.
“I don’t even think about it,” Bailey said when asked what it will take to get back to the state championship game. “We got a long way to go before we start talking about stuff like that.
“We got to figure out how to get better after this game. We got to figure out how to play East Newton next week. We got a lot of good teams in front of us before we ever start talking about things like that.”
Meanwhile, Cassville (0-1) goes to Reeds Spring on the same night.
“We got to tackle better,” Parnell said. “Defensively, we must tackle better. Offensively, we have got to eliminate the silly penalties we had tonight. We had some drive-stopping penalties, couple key holds, and a couple offsides.
“Those are things we got to clean up. We pride ourselves in doing the little things right and being a disciplined football team.”
