The final seconds of the Cassville football game Friday were marked by a standing ovation from fans, admiration at the effort given in the second half of a 21-14 loss to McDonald County.

It’s an effort Cassville football coach Clay Weldy hopes can carry over against a second state-ranked Class 4 Big 8 opponent on Friday in Nevada.

“[Nevada is] a state-ranked Class 4 team that play physical,” Weldy said. “We hope to take what happened in the second half last week and build on it. We played harder, but we have to be better execution-wise. We had some opportunities we did not take advantage of.

“It was still a loss. We played well, but not well enough. We keep telling the guys if we can take advantage of these opportunities, think how great we’d be.”

Against McDonald County Friday, the Mustangs took the opening kickoff, and end-over-end that bounced at midfield and McDonald County fell on it at the 40.

The Wildcats forced a turnover on downs, but after a quick three-and-out, the Mustangs struck with a 39-yard touchdown pass.

The game opened up in the second quarter, as on the first play, McDonald County hit a 52-yard touchdown pass. The game started looking like a runaway after an 81-yard Mustang drive ended with a 10-yard touchdown run and a 21-0 lead with 3:10 left in the half.

Cassville had other ideas. On the final drive into the horn, Trey Wilson pulled in a 25-yard catch from quarterback Bodee Rose to put Cassville near the red zone. Garrett Ewing then pulled in a short pass and busted up the middle to put the Wildcats on the board.

The third quarter was as slow as the second was fast. Both teams traded punts twice, but a Ewing interception at the Wildcats’ 41-yard line breathed life into the game.

Wilson pulled in an over-the-shoulder grab near the home sideline, taking it to the house to bring the game within a score with 34 seconds left in the third.

Cassville’s defense shined in the final frame, especially on a fourth-and- 1 from the 1-yard line. A bad snap helped, but the Wildcats flew to the stumbling quarterback and took over on downs 10 yards closer to their goal.

Another long Ewing catch to midfield was called back for a hold, and the Wildcats were forced to punt it away.

As the coaches played games with the final minutes on the clock, the Wildcats found yet another way to bring the game to life.

A fumble recovery at Cassville’s 21-yard line gave the team 1:13 to find paydirt with no timeouts.

A Ewing grab moved the ball up to the 45, and a follow-up catch, dragging his toes s he made the grab and fell out of bounds, stopped the clock with under 20 seconds and at the opposing 45 However, a tipped pass on the next play floated in the air long enough for an alert Mustang to make the interception and seal the scoreline.

“We played well the whole second half, even before,” Weldy said. “We scored before the half and kept the momentum. This was a state-ranked Class 4 team, and that was the best defense we’ve played all year. We were gang tackling, being more physical, getting to the quarterback and hitting their receivers.

Senior running back Bryson Jacobson also said the second half was a strong one for Cassville.

“We woke up in the second half,” he said. “I think we played really well as a team and put it all together and stopped their pass game.” Two areas Weldy and Jacobson said were points of emphasis in the ran game and pass defense.

“They are so good up front it made it hard to run,” Weldy said. “We struggled in the first half to get through their linebackers, and some passing opportunities started opening up. We missed a few, but we have a sophomore quarterback, and he’s getting better as the year goes on.

“They are a great passing team, and that made us want to defend harder,” Jacobson said. “We have to play our hearts out every play and don’t give up ever.”

Weldy said this week, the Wildcats have put an emphasis on the basics as usual, but more than halfway through the season, things are progressing.

“We work on fundamentals and are big on the little things, but sometimes we branch out in practice,” he said. “Like, defensively, we may spend some time on working to create turnovers, little things to put a spark in practice here or there.”

The Wildcats hit the road Friday to face Nevada, with kickoff set for 7 p.m.