By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
After starting last fall with a 2-2 record, the Cassville football team went through a stretch where it lost by 6 at Harrisonville, then by 7 at Mt. Vernon, and then by 5 against Nevada––three teams that combined for 23 wins––and the Wildcats finished the season with a 4-6 record.
“We played a lot of young kids last year,” head coach Clay Weldy said. “We only had five seniors on the team and most games we were only playing three of them because one was hurt the first half of the season, another was hurt the second half. Only having three seniors on the field was tough last year but hopefully good for the future. Our kids competed in every game, and we had a bunch of games we lost where we were right there down by one score in the end and you wish a play here or there goes another way. Our kids competed but it was frustrating because for how close we were our record should have been way better if we’d made a few more plays in games. A lot of that was maturity because of how young we were.”
For the first time in a few years Cassville will take the field with a veteran roster this fall that includes 10 returning lettermen and 8 returning starters; Weldy hopes that experience will flip the script on some of those close games this season.
The Wildcats offense graduated a left guard, quarterback and running back but returns the bulk of its experience from last fall. There are a handful of returning starters on the line in seniors Isaac Luney (second-team Big 8 center) and Gunner Knight (honorable mention Big 8 guard), as well as juniors Harley Madison (10 games) and Jayce Magula (8 games). Senior Ethan Sizemore started as a sophomore and is back this year after missing most of the 2024 season with an injury. Senior Trevis Moore returns at tight end after playing in 7 games.
Behind those players, Cassville returns three running backs with experience in junior Easton Hughes (6 games, 261 yards, 4 TD) and seniors Tristan Thompson (5 games, 180 yards, 2 TD) and Andon Goutney (4 games, 164 yards, 1 TD). Senior Colton Roark returns at receiver after he was named a first-team Big 8 player last fall with 449 rushing yards, 41 receptions for 635 yards, and 15 touchdowns. Junior Carlos Barrientos (10 games, 8 catches for 66 yards) also returns at receiver.
Thompson is a two-year starter at linebacker and played fullback offensively; he’s in the mix to take over at quarterback this year along with junior Jaren Stearns. Hughes will be the fullback, and juniors Masin Bryan and Kamden Beebe have also been getting time at running back along with Goutney.
“We return some kids but I keep mentioning we had a three-year starter at quarterback to replace and that’s a big spot to figure out,” Weldy said. “Our running back that graduated was an all-conference player and a really good back and we’ve got to replace him. I’m optimistic but we’ve got some spots to fill that are important to our offense. I don’t know right now if it’s going to be one guy or a committee at those positions, but what we have coming back I’m really excited about. We had a lot of sophomores last year who are now a year bigger and stronger and I’m just excited to be playing mostly juniors and seniors after playing a lot of sophomores and freshmen the last few years. It’s nice to be on the other side of that finally.”
Cassville’s defense returns junior Ricky Norris (21 tackles, 3 sacks) and sophomore Zach Myers (31 tackles, 1 fumble recovery) as starters on the line. Hughes (2nd team Big 8) returns at linebacker after making 61 stops with a fumble recovery and interception, and Thompson returns at linebacker after recording 68 tackles, 2 sacks and an interception. Bryan also brings experience to the position after starting in 2023 and missing most of last season with an injury. Roark (60 tackles, 1 FUM, 1 INT, 1 TD) and Goutney (17 tackles) are returning at cornerback; Roark earned second-team all-conference honors defensively. Barrientos (44 tackles, 2 INT) returns at safety.
“I’m hoping we’re well rounded, we want to lean on our defense,” Weldy said. “The way we play football we hope defensively we’re getting stops and creating good fields for our offense to eat the clock and we hope to be physical on both sides of the ball. That’s the way we want to play football. Last year we played a lot of young guys and there were times we weren’t mature enough physically to make some plays. Missed some tackles because we just weren’t strong enough. A lot of these guys have put on good size in the weight room so on both sides I hope we’re way more physical than we were a year ago.”
Cassville will jamboree at Southwest Baptist University before hosting Seneca to open the regular season. The Wildcats will host Harrisonville Sept. 26 in a non-conference game.
“We take pride in being in the Big 8, we know it’s extremely tough and physical and there are no games off in our conference,” Weldy said. “Every single week is going to be tough and it’s that way every year. Our one non-conference game we play Harrisonville, a good Class 4 school. We know we have nine guaranteed weeks of tough football, and we assume week 10 is a tough district game as well. That’s the way it always is and there are always multiple teams in our conference making playoff runs.”
“The biggest thing is we’re ready to get going,” he said. “Our group was frustrated last year how we finished the year and frustrated in some games we let go. I think our guys are pretty focused this year on playing better, so we’re excited to get going and hopefully put a better product on the field this year.”
