By Chad Hayworth (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
CASSVILLE — Terren Williams scored all four Lamar touchdowns Friday as the Tigers withstood a furious second-half comeback from the host Wildcats to remain unbeaten in Big 8 play with a 28-21 victory.
Williams, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound senior, ran for a pair of touchdowns, caught a pass for a third and scored the game’s opening touchdown in the second quarter with a scoop and score of a blocked punt.
All, in all, not a bad day at the office, said his coach, Jared Beshore.
“He’s a special player, everyone knows that,” Beshore said. “He’s a team-first guy. He doesn’t care how many touches he gets. He doesn’t care how many plays he makes. As long as our team is in the best position to win the ball game, that’s all he cares about.
“He’ll block, he’ll run the ball, he’ll catch the ball, he’ll play defense and special teams. He does whatever we ask him to. There is no ego about him.”
On the other sideline, Cassville coach Clay Weldy said a series of penalties in crucial moments and other mistakes gave Lamar chances that his team couldn’t afford to give away.
“We just kept having these silly things happen,” he said. “It was us not controlling what we can control.”
Lamar’s size up the middle and speed on the outside left Cassville with few good options offensively, Weldy said. Finding and keeping momentum was at a premium Friday.
“They are big and athletic,” he said. “It makes it tough. Those Class 2 schools are going to have a really tough time matching up with that in the playoffs.”
Lamar got off to a shaky start, with a bad snap that sailed over the head of quarterback Brayden Wolfe and was recovered by the Wildcats. Cassville drove to the Lamar 19-yard line before stalling out and Dade Zajac’s field goal attempt was low and blocked at the line of scrimmage.
Cassville forced a Lamar punt on the first play of the second quarter, but a holding penalty, followed immediately by an illegal procedure call, put the Wildcats in a hole they couldn’t escape. Forced to punt from their own 21-yard line, the kick was blocked at the line, and the ball squirted toward the Cassville sideline, where Williams corralled it and ran into the end zone for Lamar’s first score of the night.
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“These big games, they don’t come down to offense or defense, they come down to a special teams play, a penalty, a turnover,” Beshore said. “Getting a score on special teams, that was a huge momentum shift.”
Cassville punted again on their next possession, pinning Lamar inside the 5-yard line with just under 5 minutes to play in the half.
Lamar got the ball out of the shadow of their own end zone and shifted into a two-minute offense, with quarterback Clayton Powell finding open receivers to get the ball near midfield. Chased from the pocket, he scrambled out of bounds at Cassville 45-yard line and was tackled out of bounds by a Wildcat defender, resulting in a 15-yard penalty that gave Lamar first and 10 at the 30. Two plays later, Powell found Williams over the middle for a 23-yard touchdown pass with 38.8 second left until half time.
Cassville turned up the pressure to start the second half when Masin Bryan threw a halfback option pass to Mace Bredeson for 40 yards and a touchdown, cutting the Lamar lead to 14-7 with 9:00 to play in the third.
Lamar answered with a trick play of its own, a double pass from Powell to Wolfe, who then hit Kyler Ison for 32-yards to the Cassville 6-yard line. A play later, Williams bulled into the end zone from the 1-yard line, pushing Lamar’s lead back to 14 points, 21-7.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Cassville’s Jaren Stearns hit Bredeson for a 17-yard touchdown strike, cutting the Lamar lead to 21-14 with 11:50 to play.
Lamar was forced to punt from its own 15-yard line on the ensuing drive, setting Cassville up with an excellent starting spot, the Lamar 41-yard line. On first and 10 from the Lamar 28, Stearns hit Bryan for a touchdown reception, tying the game at 21 with 7:18 to play.
On third and 10 from his own 20-yard line, Powell hit Wolfe down the Lamar sideline for a 63-yard gain, flipping the field and giving the Tigers first and 10 from the Cassville 17.
Three-straight runs from Williams was all it took to give Lamar back the lead, 28-21, with 3:47 to play.
Cassville, looking for a little late-game magic, attempted a hook and lateral play on third and 11 from their own 31. Stearns completed the pass to Carlos Barrientos, but his attempt to flip the ball to Kamden Beebe sailed wide. The ball was eventually recovered by Cassville after a 6-yard loss.
A Lamar pass interference call on the next play only left the Wildcats needing 3 yards on fourth down to keep the drive alive, but they couldn’t get it.
Williams led all runners with 92 yards on 17 carries and he caught a pair of passes for 28 yards. Powell completed 6 of 10 passes for 126 yards, and ran for 22 yards on six carries. Wolfe led all receivers with 91-yards on three catches and completed one pass for 32 yards.
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For Cassville both Easton Hughes and Stearns ran for 34 yards, while Stearns also completed 6 of 11 passes for 64 yards. Bredeson led the Wildcat receivers with three catches for 61 yards.
The victory puts Lamar, 6-0 and ranked No. 3 in Class 2, in the driver’s seat to win the Big 8 conference. But with three games to go, Beshore said his team can’t get caught up in the hoopla, especially with a homecoming game against Mount Vernon looming.
“We can’t have a Cassville hangover next week,” he said. “Mount Vernon has beaten us the past two seasons. We have to have a reset after tonight.”
Cassville, ranked No. 3 in Class 3, falls to 5-1. They face Miller Career Academy at home next week.
