West Plains overcomes double-digit deficit in win over Glendale

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By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)

SPRINGFIELD – Cramps kept West Plains senior Heston Miller on the sidelines for much of the third quarter of Friday night’s game against Glendale, but he was back on the field for the fourth.

Not a moment too soon.

The Missouri State commit scored the go-ahead touchdown with 19.6 seconds to play in regulation, as the Zizzers stunned the Falcons with a 34-28, come-from-behind victory in a battle of Ozark Conference title contenders at Lowe Stadium.

Miller finished with a pair of touchdowns and 111 rushing yards on 17 carries, as the Zizzers (Class 4 No. 9) overcame a 10-point third quarter deficit to improve to 2-0 on the season.

“This is a big shot of confidence for us,” Zizzers coach Joel Wyatt said. “Wins like this are ones you look back on and think ‘Hey, that gave us some confidence and it brought us closer as a family.’”

The late comeback allowed the Zizzers to overcome a dynamic performance from Glendale quarterback Cole Feuerbacher, who factored into all four of his team’s touchdowns and finished with 524 combined rushing and passing yards.

Feuerbacher completed 35 of his 59 passes for 346 yards and two touchdowns, and ran the ball 27 times for 178 yards and two more scores. His final carry of the night was a 5-yard rushing touchdown that put the Falcons up 28-27 with 3:27 left in the fourth quarter.

But West Plains started the ensuing drive at its own 47-yard line and needed just seven plays and just over three minutes to regain the lead and deal Glendale its first loss of the year (1-1).

Wyatt said the Zizzers had enough confidence in their kicker and were only looking for a field goal on that drive, but Miller did not want to leave anything to chance. He broke loose for a 25-yard carry that got the Zizzers down to the 6-yard line, then scored on a 2-yard run two plays later.

“After they scored and they were up by one, I was like ‘We have to march this thing down,’” Miller said. “‘I have to score the ball, no matter what it takes.’ I put a lot into getting that touchdown.”

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME

The Zizzers entered the season needing to replace 25 lettermen, 15 starters and former coach Matt Perkins, who accepted the job at Rock Bridge after leading the Zizzers to the quarterfinals.

But the reloaded Zizzers find themselves tied atop the Ozark Conference standings with Lebanon and Camdenton after edging a team that received votes in the most recent Class 5 rankings.

“I think it proves a lot of people wrong,” Miller said. “Nobody expected us to be good.”

The team’s Week 1 result – a 16-7 win over Bolivar – might have shaped public opinion, but beating Glendale at home sends notice to the rest of the state that the Zizzers intend to contend.

“Last Friday, we were a little sloppy on offense,” Wyatt said. “It was the first varsity start for eight of our 11 starters. We’ve got some weapons. We’ve got some tools. Our offensive line is just going to get better and better. We had to replace four guys up there, but we’re just going to get better.”

Miller wasn’t the only West Plains player to miss significant action on Friday night.

Cramps also sidelined senior tight end Watson Hafer for the entire second half.

“We had to stay so vanilla on offense with Watson out because he’s so versatile playing tight end and then flexing him out,” Wyatt said. “We had to just stay very, very vanilla and just run plays that we can only get going from the same formation where they probably knew what was coming, but hats off to our guys for executing and being physical.”

Feuerbacher threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Mason Stamper with 7:34 remaining in the third quarter, giving the Falcons a 22-12 lead. But the Zizzers responded with a pair of touchdowns before the quarter ended to enter the fourth quarter with a two-point advantage.

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO OF THE GAME

Briggs Hughston, a 6-foot-6 sophomore, hauled in a 12-yard touchdown pass from Aiden Simpson to make it 22-18, then senior Carter McCracken scored on a 71-yard interception return.

McCracken played the entire game with an oversized cast after severing a portion of his pinky finger and cutting his ring finger to the bone while repairing a car prior to the team’s jamboree.

He missed the last two weeks while recovering from surgery and just returned to practice Thursday.

“It’s crazy,” McCracken said. “I caught it one-handed. I didn’t think I could hold onto the ball at all.”

McCracken was slated to be one of the team’s primary ball carriers prior to the injury – and could still lock down that role once the cast is removed. He hopes it’ll happen in a few weeks.

“We weren’t thinking he was really going to get many reps at all because he’s just been standing on the side, waiting to get that thing casted up,” Wyatt said. “It was huge.”

With McCracken unable to play on offense quite yet, the Zizzers have leaned more heavily on Miller and Simpson. Miller (11 yards) and Simpson (1 yard) each had rushing touchdowns to give West Plains a 12-6 lead with 4:37 left in the second quarter, but Feuerbacher scored on a 1-yard run two minutes later and the Falcons converted a two-point attempt to enter the half up 14-12.

But McCracken put the Zizzers back on top in the third quarter, then Chase Larsen hit a field goal to make it 27-22 with 9:25 left in the fourth and set up the wild ending.

“They have good players and they executed,” Glendale coach Mike Mauk said. “They made the throws, made the catches, made the blocks in order for them to go down and do what they did. They have some very good players.”

The Falcons have one of the region’s best duos in Feuerbacher and wide receiver Wyatt Andrews, who caught 20 passes for 227 yards and the game’s opening touchdown.

“They’re so good,” said Wyatt, the West Plains coach. “I’m glad we don’t see them again. You just hold your breath every play. Then when you think you’ve got (Feuerbacher) bottled in, he’s going to make a guy miss and then scramble around until we lose coverage and hit the open man. Those two are as good as it gets. Not just around southwest Missouri, but in the state. They’ve got some serious chemistry and they’re going to put up some huge numbers this year.”

After posting a win while two of their own best players missed significant action, the Zizzers also hope to see a few big numbers of their own in the coming weeks.

They’ll host Hillcrest (0-2) next week, while the Falcons will look to rebound when Rolla (1-1) visits.

“It’s a big stepping stone,” Wyatt said. “A huge win. If you look at the scoreboard, I don’t think it indicates just what we had to overcome. … We had guys rolling in there that probably thought they weren’t going to get a snap of defense tonight – or offense, because both those guys are two-way (players). I just can’t say enough about the grit and the fight of this team.”

WEST PLAINS (2-0) 0 12 12 10 — 34
GLENDALE (1-1) 6 8 8 6 — 28

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