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Week 5 Football Rewind

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By Chris Parker

The fifth week of the football season is in the books. Below are some of the things that stood out to me.

FIVE TEAMS THAT STOOD OUT

Mt. Vernon

Mt. Vernon went on the road to Lamar looking for the program’s first win over the Tigers in 15 years. The Mountaineers came away with a 42-32 victory which also keeps them in the hunt for a Big 8 Conference title. Gavin Johnston and Braden Dodson led the way for Mt. Vernon on offense. Johnston completed 16-of-25 passes for 272 yards and two touchdowns. Jarrett Zerby was the top target with six receptions for 97 yards. Dodson carried 29 times for 202 yards and four touchdowns while also leading the team with 15 tackles. Hudson Gaddy was strong on defense for Mt. Vernon with five solo tackles and five pass breakups. Mt. Vernon remains one game behind Seneca in the Big 8 Conference standings after the Mountaineers lost the head-to-head matchup in Week 2.

Webb City

The Cardinals found themselves in unfamiliar territory on Friday riding a three-game losing streak including back-to-back one-score losses. Unbeaten Neosho came in riding a wave of confidence looking for the program’s first win over Webb City since 1999. The game was tied at 28 with 4:35 left in the contest. The Cardinals took the ball and scored on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Jackson Lucas to Joseph Degraffenreid to give Webb City a 34-28 lead and the win. Lucas finished with 96 yards and two touchdowns on an efficient 7-for-11 passing along with 19 carries for 106 yards and two more touchdowns. Everything is still in front of Webb City despite the losing streak. The Cardinals are 1-0 in COC West play with a road game against Republic awaiting this week.

Bolivar

Bolivar bounced back from back-to-back losses with a dominant 47-13 win over a Marshfield team that came in with just one loss on the season. The Liberators did it running the ball with 327 yards on the ground as a team. They were also efficient on third down going five-for-seven. Defensively, Bolivar held Marshfield to 148 total yards. It marked Bolivar’s first Ozark Mountain Conference win. This week, Bolivar heads out to West Plains for another conference matchup.

Stockton

Don’t look now, but Stockton has rattled off four straight wins since a season-opening loss to defending Class 1 state champion Marionville. The streak was extended to four with a 34-7 road win over Central on Friday. What impressed me most about the win was they did it without senior running back Jack Rickman. Junior Logan Resar stepped in and tallied up 184 yards and four total touchdowns. Stockton is in a tough district featuring state-ranked Warsaw and Lamar, but if the season ended right now, Stockton would host Lamar in a potential semifinal as the No. 2 seed.

Monett

Monett got the first win of the Ben Mauk era in a 40-27 decision over McDonald County. It was always going to take an adjustment period for a Monett program that has long been a running team to get used to the high-flying passing attack that Mauk has installed. The Cubs had their best offensive output of the season with 40 points. Defensively, it was the second-best performance in five games and only the second time they held the opposition below 44 points.

PLAYS THAT STOOD OUT

Fair Grove’s Spensar Seiger shows off poise and vision

Fair Grove can beat you in so many ways. Here, they play gets off to a rough start as the snap hits quarterback Spensar Seiger in the facemask. Seiger doesn’t panic. He calmly corrals the ball and then works his way through the Clever defense for a long touchdown run.

Strafford’s Ryder Ross runs wild again

One week after Strafford’s Ryder Ross had 309 rushing yards he went for 243 and four touchdowns on 33 carries in a win over Reeds Spring on Friday. The thing I love most about this run is two seconds in when Ross breaks through the line and quarterback Jourdyn Edelstein immediately signals the touchdown.

Carthage’s run game leads the way

We have highlighted Landyn Collins in this space before. Today it is quarterback Brady Carlton. This duo is dynamic in the way they work together in the backfield. On this play you see Collins going with Carlton as an option for a pitch until Carlton sees a hole and flies through for a touchdown. Carthage rushed for 430 yards in the win over Willard.

Other performances of note

Below are some other big nights we heard about either via email submission, Hudl or MaxPreps. If you know of a big night in the future you would like to see shouted out here, please email stats@ky3.com. We can’t post about performances we don’t hear about.

Braydon Bellah, Marionville
Bellah was four-for-four in Marionville’s 52-16 win over Diamond. He caught four passes from quarterback Bryer Guerin for four touchdowns and 150 yards.

Preston McCracken, Republic
Republic’s quarterback Preston McCracken continued his ascension with a monster game in the Tigers’ 49-38 road win over Joplin. He had 33 carries for 327 yards and six touchdowns.

Evan Salazar, Pierce City
Salazar eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark for the season with 20 carries for 263 yards and five touchdowns in a win over Skyline.

John Michael Collins, Nevada
Collins took 13 carries for 143 yards and two touchdowns in Nevada’s 28-7 win over East Newton. Will Jackson also had a strong game for Nevada with 17 carries for 138 yards and a touchdown.

Dylan Rebura, Nixa
Rebura handled a season-high 25 carries on the way to 183 yards and four touchdowns in a 56-12 win over Lebanon. For the season, Rebura has 104 carries for 956 yards and 17 touchdowns.

Michael Kelsey, Waynesville
Waynesville came up short against Ozark in a 27-19 loss, but Kelsey’s strong season continued with 24 carries for 169 yards and three touchdowns.

Kellen Lair, Fair Grove
Lair was, as he always is, dynamic with the ball in his hands in Fair Grove’s 61-21 win over Clever. He had seven carries for 172 yards averaging 24.6 yards per carry.

Mountain Grove Defense
Mountain Grove shut out Cabool 54-0 and it is because the defense lived in Cabool’s backfield with 18 total tackles for a loss in the game. Those 18 TFLs were spread among 13 different players.

Parker Tune & Jaren Rutledge, Liberty
Tune caught six passes from quarterback Gavin Reese for 146 yards and a touchdown. On the ground, Jaren Rutledge carried 19 times for 131 yards and four touchdowns.

Sam Clark, Ozark
Ozark picked up a big road win over Waynesville. Clark hauled in six passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns from quarterback Peyton Russell.

Five games to watch this week

Webb City at Republic

Going forward, the COC will have an East and West champion. Both of these teams enter Friday’s game 1-0 in COC West play. Republic has been rolling since a season-opening loss to Nixa. Webb City found its footing last week against Neosho to snap a three-game losing streak and hand Neosho its first loss. Republic has won two of the last three matchups including two in the playoffs.

Seneca at Carl Junction

This is a fun matchup made possible by conference realignment. This is the first game between the two programs since Oct. 9, 2015, back when they were Big 8 Conference rivals. They enter this game with both teams ranked in the top 10 of their respective classes. Seneca is unbeaten at 5-0 and ranked No. 2 in Class 3. Carl Junction is riding a four-game winning streak at 4-1 and is ranked No. 9 in Class 4.

Mountain Grove at Liberty

This year’s matchup between Mountain Grove and Liberty will, as it often does, have major implications at the top of the SCA standings. Liberty is the lone unbeaten team in conference play while Mountain Grove has one loss to Ava. If Mountain Grove wins, there will be three of four teams tied atop the conference. If Liberty wins, the Eagles will remain top the conference while the Panthers will need a TON of help to have any chance at even a share of the SCA title. Liberty has won three straight in this series with Mountain Grove’s last win coming on Oct. 1, 2021. The Panthers have just two wins over Liberty since Sept. 28, 2012.

Houston at Ava

This is one of two huge SCA matchups on Friday. Both teams enter the game with one SCA loss. The winner will remain right in the hunt for an SCA title either tied or a game back depending on the result of the Mountain Grove and Liberty game. Expect a vintage SCA game featuring a heavy dose of rushing. Houston has run the ball on 81% of its offensive plays this season while Ava has rushed on 91% of its offensive plays.

Nevada at Lamar

The Silver Tiger rivalry game returned in 2018, and Lamar has won all six matchups in the resumption of the game. This year, Nevada sits at 4-1 with its lone loss coming to Seneca while Lamar is on a two-game losing streak and is 3-2. This is one of the toughest picks of the week for me.

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