‘Cats collect forfeit win over Miller Career Academy

By Kyle Troutman [email protected]

Cassville Athletic Director Lance Parnell was prepping the field and on his way home for a change of clothes when he checked his email and learned the Wildcats’ Week 7 opponent, Miller Career Academy, was not coming to play.

Speculation aside, Cassville still does not know why the Phoenix failed to make the trip from St. Louis for the contest.

“We have not been given any reason why,” Parnell said. “I got the email at 2:48 p.m. Friday saying the football team would not be boarding the bus to travel. It said they were sorry for the inconvenience and understand the game would be a forfeit loss.

“We called their athletic director’s office and cell and got no answer, and the school district was not answering. We eventually called MSHSAA and they confirmed Miller Career Academy was not coming. They called the St. Louis public schools athletic director, and she was unaware they were not traveling. We still have no idea why. We sent emails but have received no response, and it doesn’t matter now.”

Per a contractual agreement, Cassville was suppose to pay Miller Career Academy a sum of money to help with their travel, but no funds ever changed hands. The Wildcats player the Phoenix in 2006 and 2007, assisting financially with travel in those contests both times.

Cassville was originally scheduled to play Springfield Central in Week 7, but that school notified Cassville on Aug. 1 that they would not be able to field a team, forcing the Wildcats and multiple other Big 8 schools to find another opponent.

Parnell said though it was an unfortunate turn of events only hours away from Homecoming festivities, he was proud of how the district and community responded.

“I’m very proud of the Cassville community for coming out and supporting our students for essentially a pregame show, Homecoming coronation and band and cheer performances,” Parnell said. I could not be more proud and could not ask to live or work in a better place.”

Parnell said once the district learned there would be no game, administration and staff sprung into action. He credited high school and district admins and staff for notifying workers of the forfeit and putting together an evening that included the coronation, band performance and cheer performance.

Clay Weldy, Cassville football coach, said the Wildcats were obviously disappointed the game went unplayed, and his heart was heaviest for his seniors who lost their last home regular season game.

“The positive is we still have a lot of ball left,” he said. “We’re going to move on to Mt. Vernon, a team that’s in our conference in our district. So, that game has a lot of importance to it. 

“The kids handled it pretty well for what happened. On the bright side, we got a win and we came out healthy; we wish we would have played the game because you only get so many opportunities to play games in high school. That’s frustrating, but our kids are pretty resilient, and they’re excited about the future.”

Weldy said the team was together most of the afternoon prior to the game, and they ate pizza after the homecoming festivities and went on about their evenings.

“I think a lot of guys went out and did stuff together because it was homecoming weekend,” he said. “They had a touch football game going on in the field house before the Homecoming coronation, so we just let them blow off some steam and relax.”

Looking ahead, the Wildcats have another wrench in the schedule this week, facing Mt. Vernon on the road on Saturday at 1 p.m. instead of the normal Friday night lights game time.

“We’re going to do a team breakfast and do a walkthrough, then head to Mt. Vernon,” Weldy said. “We’re trying to earn home games when it matters in district time, especially since we only had four home games and just lost one. If e can take care of these games in the regular season, we’ll get a better seed and have a better chance for home games.

“We have to go take care of business to secure some home games four ourselves.”

Cassville has held steady as the No. 3 squad in Class 3, even following the Week 6 loss to Lamar. District-wise, the Wildcats lead the seven-team pack, with Seneca in second and Nevada in third. The Wildcats defeated Seneca earlier this season, putting them in prime position to hold on to the No. 1 seed in the district with games against the Mountaineers, sitting in fourth, and Nevada still to play.

“Obviously, the next two weeks are really important,” Weldy said. “Both games are on the road against district opponents, so we have to take care of business and secure that No. 1 seed. We need to take care of Mt. Vernon and then go from there.”