By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
After riding a bus for three hours, the West Plains football team found itself trailing twice in the second half at Carl Junction Friday night with the top district seed on the line.
But the Zizzers, who beat the Bulldogs by a touchdown in last year’s regular season finale, repeated the feat with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to earn a 37-30 victory in a back-and-forth game.
“We knew it was going to be a hard-fought game, we knew it would take four quarters,” West Plains coach Brock Kenaga said. “Traveling three hours is really hard to do. I was worried about us being able to get off the bus and play at a high level, and at times I could kind of see us lagging, but as the game went along I felt like we started playing a little better, started playing a lot better up front. Our linemen started really finding their niche and I really felt like that was the key to the game.”
After the teams played to a 17-all tie in the first half, which ended with scores on five straight possessions, the visitors punted to start the third quarter and then Carl Junction drove 61 yards––with a 3-yard run by Marcus Lopez-Durman on a 4th-and-1 play inside the West Plains 20-yard line––and jumped ahead 24-17 on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Mason Gilbert to Bryant Hanks and Mason Cowger’s extra point.
West Plains (7-2) retook the lead with an 80-yard drive that featured a fourth-and-1 run by Ethan Miller at the 40 that converted by inches. Miller passed to Jackson Taylor for 23 yards on a third-and-11 and then Taylor scored from the 1. The Zizzers lined up for an extra point, but Miller as the holder took the snap and ran left before passing to Jacob Moore for the 2-point conversion. West Plains led 25-24 with 2:18 left in the third.
Rayden Wilson recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff return to give the Zizzers the ball at the Carl Junction 35. They got as close as the 17 before a fumbled snap lost 10 yards and then Carl Junction’s Hanks batted down a pass in the end zone on fourth-and-long.
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On first down for the Bulldogs (5-4), Gilbert passed to Tadem Jones for a 31-yard gain, and on the next play Lopez-Durman ran 42 yards to the end zone to put Carl Junction up 30-25 with 10:02 remaining in the game. The Bulldogs went for 2 but failed to score when Gavin Marshall broke up a pass in the end zone.
With the ball at the 34 on their next possession, the Zizzers’ Miller heaved a deep pass under pressure to Malakai Maupin who made a leaping catch at the Carl Junction 26. Miller threw a touchdown pass to Wyatt Due on the next play to give his team a 31-30 lead with 8:47 on the clock. The 2-point try was no good.
The West Plains defense came up big on the next possession. Carl Junction moved the ball to near midfield, but Rucker Freeman sacked Gilbert for a 9-yard loss and then Josiah Long nearly intercepted a pass on third down to force a punt.
With valuable time running off the clock, the Zizzers had the ball inside the Carl Junction 40 before running out of steam and they faced a fourth-and-7 with 3:25 remaining. Jacob Moore made a leaping catch along the sideline for a 10-yard gain, and runs by Taylor moved the ball to the 11 when the Bulldogs used their last timeout with 2:33 left. Three plays later, Taylor scored from the 3 to make it 37-30 with 76 seconds left.
Rayden Wilson sacked Gilbert for a 12-yard loss in the closing seconds, and Carl Junction ran out of time after an 11-yard completion.
“We were just so close all night, just seemed like we weren’t in rhythm but those front three, our big front three defensive linemen, they are really a special group and whenever we really needed them they were ready and did a great job,” Kenaga said.
Carl Junction jumped out to a 7-0 lead on a 25-yard touchdown run by JoJo Ballard. Cowger added a 23-yard field goal and Gilbert passed to Jones for a 37 yard catch-and-run score.
West Plains cut it to 7-6 on an 11-yard touchdown throw from Miller to Moore in the back of the end zone. Miller threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Warren Lawson in a similar spot, and Moore threw a pass to Maupin for the conversion. A 37-yard field goal by Reed Cobb tied the game at 17 on the final play of the first half.
“We had a lot of players really step up and make some really big plays tonight,” Kenaga said. “Jackson Taylor was consistent the entire night. He’s a fantastic player, and when we really needed it there on that last drive, Jacob Moore made an unbelievable catch on the sideline. Those guys are seniors and those are the guys you have to lean on and they were able to do it tonight.”
West Plains totaled 74 plays and 390 yards, with Miller completing 19 of 35 passes for 297 yards and 3 scores. Taylor added 23 rushes for 112 yards and 2 scores. For Carl Junction, Gilbert completed 10 of 15 passes for 129 yards and 2 scores. Lopez-Durman rushed 21 times for 150 yards and Ballard had two rushes for 58 yards and one touchdown.
West Plains gets a bye next week as the top seed in Class 4 District 6.
“We’re looking forward to a week off to recover a little bit and then back to the grind,” Kenaga said.
