By Allen Hilliard (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
West Plains set the tone early in Friday’s 49-0 win over Rolla, as junior Brayden Lidgard took the opening kickoff back for a touchdown.
“We all came out pretty good and had a lot of energy,” Lidgard said about the fast start.
“That was kind of our mindset when we came out on both sides of the ball. I felt like we needed to get on them early because they knew we were beat up from last week,” West Plains head coach Steve Ary said of the fast start.
After a Rolla punt, the Zizzers were able to score an 87-yard touchdown pass from Allen Marcak to Garrett Warren. After the extra point the Zizzers lead the game 14-0.
“We have our No. 3 quarter back in the game right now. He has been a gamer for us and has been strong,” Avery said of Marcack.
Warren would score again just four minutes later as he caught a 79-yard pass to give the Zizzers a 22-0 lead after a two-point conversion. That would be the final score of the first quarter.
“It felt good. It gave us some relief off of Smash (Lidgard). It kind of focused on me for a little while. We made good reads and threw good balls,” Warren said this about his part in scoring.
West Plains continued to run the ball and gave Lidgard score on a one-yard touchdown run at the 7:13 mark for his second touchdown of the game. West Plains increased its lead to 29-0.
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The Bulldogs were able to recover the ball after a punt and recovered a fumble by West Plains to give them good position. They would have to give the ball back to the Zizzers one minute later after a missed field goal attempt.
The Zizzers extended the lead to 35-0 on a 70-yard touchdown run from Lidgard for his third score of the game. Titus Seley picked off a pass from the Bulldogs on their own 20-yard line to give West Plains a 42-0 lead as time ran out.
West Plains added its final points at the 5:21 mark after a 35-yard run by Caden Parker in the third quarter.
Rolla pulled out some offense off a 60-yard gain by Dalton Cox with four minutes to go but the Bulldogs closed the game out as West Plains ran an 80-yard interception to the 10-yard line to run the clock out.
The Zizzers had 543 total yard in the game. The West Plains team had 367 yards on the ground and 177 in the air. Lidgard totaled 213 years while Warren had 145 in the win. They combined for five touchdowns on the night. Parker tacked on another 75 yard on the ground. Allen Marcak was 3-3 in the game with 2 touchdown passes in the game.
The Rolla Bulldogs had a total offense of 165 yards in the game. Rolla had 120 yards of passing yards and 65 yards in the air. Jack Hounsom led the team with 95 yards total while Trey Quick earned 76 yards late in the game. Hounsom was 9-15 throwing the ball and tallied 65 yards.
