By John Miller (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Rogersville, Mo. — In an era of spread offenses, the Cassville Wildcats serve as an example that smashmouth football hasn’t gone out of style just yet.
Cassville tallied 397 rushing yards on 46 carries (8.63 yards/carry) and only threw the ball four times in a 43-6 rout at Logan-Rogersville on Friday night. Jericho Farris rushed for 175 yards and two scores, Zach Coenen added 91 rushing yards and a touchdown, and quarterback Hayden Sink scored two touchdowns for the Wildcats in the win.
Cassville (3-1, 1-0 Big 8 West) dominated the line of scrimmage from start to finish, out-gaining Rogersville 471-155. The Wildcats led 14-0 after one quarter and stretched it to 30-0 by halftime.
“Our offensive line played really well,” said Cassville coach Lance Parnell, who’s team finished second in Class 3 last season. “That group has been together and played a lot of snaps. Jericho runs extremely hard and has good feet. He made some really nice runs tonight … but I thought we played really well up front.”
Cassville out-gained Rogersville 335-66 in the first half alone.
“Our offensive line was critical,” Farris said. “They were doing the work and I was behind them getting yards.”
After missing the last few weeks with injuries, the senior duo of Sink and Coenen returned Friday and combined for over 150 yards on the ground with a rushing touchdown apiece. Sink completed 3-of-4 passes for 74 yards and a score.
Rogersville (2-2, 1-0 Big 8 East) struggled to find traction on both sides of the ball. Tailback Zach Bergmann was held to 54 total yards and a late touchdown. Dual-threat quarterback JJ O’Neal rushed for 50 yards on 10 carries and threw three interceptions. He got loose for a 31-yard rush late in the first quarter and a 14-yard rush in the second, but was tackled behind the line of scrimmage on four of his 10 carries.
“He’s a very dynamic athlete, and we knew that coming in,” Parnell said. “Being disciplined and doing your job every snap (was important). Our team speed isn’t bad defensively, and those guys did a really nice job of rallying to the ball.”
After getting a stop on Rogersville’s opening drive, Cassville used an 11-play, 78-yard drive to score the game’s first points on a short run by Sink. After forcing another punt, Cassville made it 14-0 on a 15-yard scamper from Farris. The rout was on.
Farris added a 44-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. He needed only 18 carries to get 175 yards and had only one negative rush on the night.
“He’s put us on his back for the first four weeks of the season,” Parnell said. “He’s playing great. I couldn’t have asked for us to come on the road and play with better intensity and execution than we did tonight.”
Cassville 43, Rogersville 6
1Q – CHS – 5:20 – Hayden Sink 2-yd run (Drake Reese kick)
1Q – CHS – 1:28 – Jericho Farris 15-yd run (Drake Reese kick)
2Q – CHS – 7:06 – Jericho Farris 44-yd run (Drake Reese kick)
2Q – CHS – 4:06 – Drake Reese 49-yd pass from Hayden Sink (miss)
2Q – CHS – 0:00 – Drake Reese 24-yd FG
3Q – CHS – 9:30 – Zach Coenen 14-yd run (miss)
4Q – CHS – 8:50 – Trey Wilson 36-yd run (Drake Reese kick)
4Q – LRHS – 0:00 – Zach Bergmann 11-yd run (no kick)
