Cassville working on defense, consistency to get road win

By Kyle Troutman ktroutman@cassville-democrat.com

The Cassville football team was only 2 points behind Lamar after a score at the start of the fourth quarter, but the Wildcats were unable to flip the score to their advantage and suffered their third loss of the season, 35-26.

Clay Weldy, Cassville head coach, said Cassville’s offense was able to move the ball, but defense remains a challenge.

That’s probably the best we moved the ball all year, but we’ve got to get better on defense,” he said. “We have to be more physical and get off the field.”

Cassville has the ball for just over 2 minutes in the opening frame. The Tigers opened the game with a 62-yard drive culminating in a 7-yard touchdown run nearly 3 minutes in. The Wildcats’ Mace Bredeson opened Cassville’s scoring account with a 92-yard touchdown on the ensuing kickoff, and Cassville would not touch the ball again until 2:00 left in the quarter, following a 2-yard Tigers touchdown.

On the first play of the second quarter, Jaren Stearns hit Colton Roark down the right sideline for a 43-yard touchdown strike to bring the score to 14-12 in favor of the Tigers.

Following a Lamar punt and Cassville fumble, The Tigers added a 6-yard touchdown run to go up 21-12 with 3L:50 left in the half. The Wildcats’ next possession reached Lamar’s 4-yard line, but a pass to the end zone was picked off to keep the 9-point difference at the break.

Cassville came out of the locker room ready, returning the kickoff to the 49-yard line, chewing up the remaining 51 yards in six plays and scoring on a Masin Bryan 6-yard run.

Lamar then took more than 7 minutes off the clock with a 70-yard drive and 2-yard touchdown, answered by a 60-yard, five-play drive that could have knotted the score with a 2-point conversion, but Stearns’ sweep left and dive to the pylon was just short.

The ensuing kickoff was low and driven, bouncing between two Tigers and to the 1-yard line, where the returner picked up the ball with a foot out of bounds. Ninety-nine yards and 8 minutes later, Lamar extended the lead to 9 with a 24-yard touchdown run.

Cassville started its final drive at its own 41, but a third-down pass down the home team’s sideline was intercepted, and Lamar was able to convert a first down and kneel out the remaining time.

Andon Goutney, defensive back, said physicality was a key in the game, and the Wildcats could have done more.

“I think we could have been more physical on defense and stopped their run better,” he said. “We also had some things on offense, like blocking, where we shot ourselves in the foot.”

Weldy said the difference in the game was a couple key penalties, including one where the Wildcats gave the ball back to Lamar.

“We had a holding call on their punt, and they were able to convert that fourth-and-short,” Weldy said. “We have to finds out ways to stop hurting ourselves. We played hard, just hurt ourselves.”

At 1-3 this season, all of Cassville’s losses have come to state-ranked teams, and Weldy said the schedule won’t get any easier.

“I don’t care who we play — they will all be tough,” he said. “We’ve played three state-ranked teams in the last four weeks, and we’re right there. Our mistakes have made things harder on ourselves.”

Stearns had his best day yardage-wise, going 6-for-9 for 146 yards and a touchdown. Weldy said the effectiveness of the pass game was a result of favorable matchups for the Wildcats.

“We look at every week differently, and there were a few matchups early against Lamar that we liked,” Weldy said. “It’s all personnel-driven. Jaren threw the ball well, the line protected him well. Colt has been good for us all year, and Mace had a nice night tonight.”

Goutney said to get a road win this season — at Nevada in Week 7 or Monett in Week 8 — Cassville has to maintain consistency.

“We came out ready to play against Lamar,” he said. “We came out fiery, but we can’t fall off on those third and fourth downs. We hope to stack two wins at home, and hopefully that will help us on the road.”

Cassville returns home on Friday to host Harrisonville, the only non-Big 8 contest of the season. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.