By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Pierce City’s offense imposed its will at the start of the regular season finale, but it was the Eagles’ defense that sealed a 22-14 win over visiting Stockton on Thursday night as both teams head into district play.
Opening the game with a nearly eight-minute, 17-play scoring drive featuring a fourth-and-goal plunge by running back Carson Jesperson, Pierce City (6-3) never trailed against a Tigers team on a seven-game winning streak. Stockton (7-2) rallied to tie it––for 13 seconds––in the fourth quarter, and then had a chance to potentially tie it again in the final seconds, but an end zone interception by Pierce City’s Eli Genzler ended it.
“It was a great football game,” said Pierce City coach Jim Genzler. “Stockton came in here and had won seven in a row, so we knew we were going to be in for a battle. With it being homecoming last week and with the short week this week, our kids responded and I’m so proud of them. They did a great job executing.”
Stockton tied the game at 14 on a 24-yard touchdown run with 10:16 left in the fourth quarter, with quarterback Easton Hubbard rushing for the two-point conversion. But on first down from the 35, Pierce City’s Salazar took a toss and beat the defense to the outside and raced down the sideline for a 65-yard score. An offsides penalty on the extra point moved the ball closer to the goal line and Jesperson tacked on the conversion for an 8-point lead.
The visitors faced a 4th-and-8 at their own 36 a few minutes later and opted to go for it, with Pierce City’s Quortin Parks breaking up the fourth-down pass to give the ball back to the Eagles.
Stockton got the ball at its own 8 with six-and-a-half minutes remaining. This time the Tigers converted on a 4th-and-1 from the 17, but Pierce City forced them into a 4th-and-9 three plays later and Stockton was forced to punt.
Pierce City returned the favor with a minute-and-a-half on the clock, and Stockton got one last chance from its own 33. On 4th-and-5, Hubbard connected with Landon Sexton for a 10-yard gain. The Tigers faced yet another 4th-down attempt near midfield with 21 seconds left. On 4th-and-9, Hubbard dropped back, dropped the ball and picked it back up in a crowded backfield, and then heaved it downfield where Sexton emerged to make a leaping catch at the Eagles’ 19-yard line.
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But on first down with 8.7 seconds on the clock, Genzler made his interception to end it.
“Our kids have responded all year to all kinds of stuff so going through that situation, they were like, next play. If something happens, next play. They executed and I couldn’t be more proud of them,” Jim Genzler said.
Pierce City took a 7-0 lead on the Jesperson touchdown to cap the game’s lengthy first drive––which also featured two 4th-down conversions.
“That’s kind of us all year, our offensive line has been really good and our backs have done a good job of riding them,” Genzler said. “We kind of put a stamp on that we’re a physical football team. Usually we want to take the ball first and impose our will on people. Our kids did a great job against a physical football team tonight.”
Stockton pulled within 7-6 after Jack Rickman’s 1-yard score with 7:47 left in the first half.
But a long kick return by Parks set up the Eagles at the Stockton 42, and at the 4:07 mark, Jesperson scored on a 1-yard run––a 4th-and-goal play––to make it 14-6 going into the half.
“We’ve definitely got to learn from it,” Stockton coach Luke Rader said. “The whole E plus R equals O––event plus response equals outcome. We’ve had a bad event, we have to respond positively if we want a positive outcome. The positive response is you’ve got to learn from it, fix what you messed up tonight and use that to make you better going forward.”
“They’re a good football team,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of good football players. They’re well coached and they do a lot of good things. I don’t want to take anything away from them, they did a great job.”
“We always emphasize let’s get a week better, that’s been our thing all year is let’s just keep getting a week better and I think we’ve been doing that,” Genzler said. “We’re excited to see what seed we get and see where we go for districts.”
