By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
With barely two minutes left in the first half, Monett receiver Dale Slater made a juggling catch in the end zone for a 15-yard touchdown.
The score brought the Cubs to within one touchdown of heavily-favored Neosho, and with Monett set to get the ball after the half, things were looking up.
But the touchdown set off a wild finish to the first half that saw three scores and two turnovers – including a fumbled hitch-and-pitch – in the final 2:18.
When the dust settled, Neosho led 35-14 at halftime and went on to win 49-20 Friday at Bob Anderson Stadium in the first round of the Class 4 District 6 football bracket.
Neosho, the second seed, improved to 7-3 overall and will host third seed Marshfield in next week’s district semifinals. Top-seeded Webb City won 55-13 against McDonald County and will host fourth seed Carl Junction in the other semifinal.
Seventh-seeded Monett finishes the year 4-6.
Friday’s game started innocently enough, with the Wildcats marching 61 yards to open the game and scoring on a 1-yard run by Drake Perry.
Monett moved the chains once on its first possession, but a punt for negative-three yards was a harbinger of things to come.
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The Wildcats played a field position game early, pinning the Cubs at the 4-yard line and then getting the ball at the Monett 43. That led to an 8-yard run by quarterback Gage Kelley for the second score of the game.
Monett answered with a 59-yard touchdown on a third-and-9 when Slater caught a quick slant pass and outran the defense.
Three plays later, Neosho’s Donnie Fox found some room running left and scored from then 50 to make it a 21-7 game with 7:35 left in the second quarter.
With time winding down in the half, Monett went to the air on a fourth-and-6 and Brink connected with Slater for 30 yards to the Neosho 15. Two plays later, the pair connected again when Slater made the juggling catch in the end zone.
But just when Monett found itself back in the game, Neosho’s Bret Camerer returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown, running up the middle and then veering left toward the home sideline untouched. Neosho led 27-14 after a missed extra point.
“We didn’t kick it deep the first two times,” Monett coach Derrek Uhl said. “We scored, we felt pretty good, we kicked it deep and they returned it.”
Monett punted, and with a minute left the Wildcats looked for a big chunk through the air but were intercepted by – who else – Slater, who returned the ball to the 48 with 21 seconds still to go.
Monett’s Uhl called for the hitch-and-pitch, and it started off well enough. Brink passed to Gavin Wild on the right side, but Wild’s pitch wound up on the grass and was recovered by Neosho at the 50 with 15 seconds left.
Neosho gave the ball to Cade Lyerla, who ran to his right and cut back across the field to score a 50-yard touchdown. Kelley added a two-point conversion to make it 35-14.
“That was huge,” Neosho coach Leon Miller said. “That gave us some momentum. Those two scores together kind of set the tone for the second half.”
“That was a crazy turn of events there,” Uhl said. “Not good for us.”
Neosho’s Lyerla capped a 73-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown run at the 3:39 mark of the third to make it 42-14. Elijah Green intercepted a Brink pass in Monett territory on the Cubs’ next possession, setting up a 2-yard score by Neosho’s Fox to make it 49-14 early in the fourth.
Monett went deep on first down from its own 26 and Brink connected with Jamie Guinn over the middle for a 74-yard touchdown.
After that, Neosho fumbled, Monett threw an interception on a reverse halfback pass, Neosho fumbled again, and the clock finally ran out on Monett’s final drive.
“At times we played real well, at others we gave up some big plays,” Miller said. “That’s something we’ve got to fix.”
Those big plays were almost always through the air. Uhl said Brink had his best game of the year, throwing for more than 240 yards.
“To score 20 and we threw the ball … going into it we didn’t know that was going to be a thing,” Uhl said. “But our quarterback played really well.”
“We’re not built to just throw the ball but tonight we did a little bit,” he said. “We don’t want to be in those situations, that makes it tough.”
