Cassville football team has 4 of 5 offensive linemen coming back

BY KYLE TROUTMAN ktroutman@cassville-democrat.com

Following arguably one of the oddest seasons — with two losses to East Newton and a win over eventual Class 2 state champion Lamar — the Cassville football team is going into 2025 with a spark.

Clay Weldy, Cassville football coach, said the Wildcats have a wealth of returners, and the team hopes to rely on that varsity experience to finish games more efficiently.

“We finished last season 4-6 and lost in the first round of districts,” Weldy said. “We were competitive in most of our games throughout the season. We lost three games by a score or less, and several other games, we had leads. We just had trouble finishing games last year at times.

Winding up 4-4 in the Big 8 Conference with wins over McDonald County, Lamar, Monett and Aurora, Weldy said the schedule setup makes all games important.

“Eight of our nine games are conference games, and those are all big games,” he said. “There is not a single bad team in our conference, so we look at every game as important.”

Leading the way for Cassville will be the offensive line, which returns four of five starters.

“We also have a player who missed most of last season to an injury that started 11 games for us when he was a sophomore in 2023,” Weldy said. “And, we return our receiving core and several guys who got time in the backfield for us last season.”

Defensively, all three levels have varsity returners.

“We return a lot of guys that got experience last year for us on defense,” Weldy said. “Some started all 10 games, and some other guys started partially; but, we return more guys on both sides of the ball than we have in several years.”

Senior returners include three All-Big 8 honorees in Colton Roark, Isaac Luney and Gunner Knight.

“Colt had a big year for us on both sides of the ball,” Weldy said. “We need him to continue to get better and be an impact player for us this season. Isaac has been a starter the last two years for us, and we are expecting him to become the leader of the line for us this season. Gunner played both tackle and guard for us last year and got better throughout the year. We need him to be another important piece upfront again this year.”

Other seniors on the squad include: Trevis Moore, Tristan Thompson, Andon Goutney, Chance Freed, Ethan Sizemore.

“Trevis started most of the season for us at tight end, and he is now a year stronger and better,” Weldy said. “Tristan has been a starter at linebacker the last two years and has played some running back as well. We think he will be one of our team leaders this year, especially on defense. Andon played defensive back for us last year, along with running back. He is another senior we think we expand his role this season.

“Chance played linebacker for us last year. He is a tough kid that is always going 100% on every snap. Ethan started 11 games for us as sophomore in 2023, but then got injured in Week 1 this past season. He was able to come back and play in Week 9 and Week 10. We are ready to see a whole year of him on the field again.”

WILDCATS FOOTBALL

What: Season begins Friday at 7 p.m. at home against Seneca Returning: More players than in previous seasons More: Cassville aims to play best ball at end of season Three more seniors round out the eldest class in Sky Yang, Logan Wingo and Diego Haros.

“Sky played linebacker and wide receiver last year, but has put on some size in the offseason and we are excited to see where he ends up playing at,” Weldy said. [Wingo and Harris are both kickers].”

Easton Hughes is a returning junior All-Big 8 player, and other juniors expected to play on Fridays include Carlos Barrientos, Harley Madison, Jayce Magula, Ricky Norris, Jesse James and Masin Bryan.

“Easton started every game for us at linebacker and then played the last half of the year at running back as well,” Weldy said. “We think he has a chance to have a really good junior year. Carlos started for us at defensive back and wide receiver last year as a sophomore. He has grown physically quite a bit since last season, and we are excited to see how well he has improved. Harley played 10 games at tackle as a sophomore. We think he is going to take a big step forward this season.

“Jayce played eight games for us at tackle as a sophomore. He is coming off a knee injury late in the season. He is recovering really well, and we hope he is ready to go this summer. Ricky played defensive tackle for us last year as a sophomore, and he got better all year. We are excited to see how much better he will be this fall. Jesse played defensive tackle for us as sophomore last year. He’s another to be junior that can take a step forward and be a really good player. Masin started for us a freshman at linebacker in 2023 and then fought injuries last year and only got to play partially in our first 2 games last year. We are hoping he comes back healthy and ready to go and is able to be an impact player.”

Finishing out varsity lettermen is Zach Myers, who started nine games at defensive end as a freshman in 2024.

“He has a high ceiling and we are ready to see how much better he is this season,” Weldy said.

Another 19 newcomers bolster the roster, including three seniors, 11 juniors and five sophomores.

Weldy said goal-wise, the Wildcats aim to keep improving game by game.

“Our goal as a team is to get better as the season progresses,” he said. “We want to see improvements each week of the season. We want to be playing our best football when districts begin.”

Cassville’s season opens on Friday at home against Seneca. The Barry County Brawl against Monett will be on Oct. 17 at Monett. The Wildcats’ district has yet to be announced, and postseason play starts on Oct. 31.