By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
MARSHFIELD – There aren’t any games on Lamar’s football schedule this season.
Sure, the Tigers will square off against a new opponent every week. But their coaches have likened the season to an old-school boxing match, with each week representing a new round.
They won the first one via knockout.
Joel Beshore scored three of Lamar’s seven rushing touchdowns as the Tigers opened their season with a dominant 48-0 victory over Marshfield on Friday night at R.A. Barr Stadium.
Ty Willhite, Austin Wilkerson, Alex Wilkerson and Logan Kish also scored for the Tigers, who have reached the state championship game in nine of the past 11 seasons and won eight titles.
Lamar’s lone loss during that remarkable stretch in 2021 came to Lutheran last December, which has motivated the 36 lettermen and 16 starters who returned to the team this fall. With players eager to avenge that loss, Lamar’s assistant coaches introduced the boxing analogy before Friday’s kickoff.
“They were talking about some of the old boxing matches where there’s round 1 to 15,” Tigers coach Jared Beshore said. “If we play 15 games, which is how much it would take to get to the state title game, that’s how much we want to play. We just called tonight round 1 and I guess we’ll probably run with that mantra for the rest of the year.”
It’s easy to understand why.
The Tigers scored on their first six possessions and raced out to a 41-0 halftime lead.
“I think our kids wanted to prove a point,” Jared Beshore said. “We really put a focus on the discipline and the little things — because that’s what cost us at the end last year — and I think our kids answered the bell tonight. I’m really proud of how they played and they should be confident right now.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Week 1 results will become increasingly irrelevant as the Tigers advance into the later rounds of the title fight, but the result does serve notice to the rest of the state.
Even though the Tigers graduated 11 seniors from last fall’s team, this year’s group intends to contend.
“I think we made the statement that we’re not leaving and we’re here to stay,” Joel Beshore said.
Joel Beshore, who is the coach’s younger brother, threw for 119 yards and ran for 77 more — all in the first half. The 2021 all-state selection scored on runs of 32, 5 and 1 yard in a 14-minute span.
“He put in a lot of work in the weight room this offseason,” coach Beshore said. “He put on some extra weight so he could handle some of those extra carries that we require of our quarterbacks.”
After Willhite opened the scoring with a 34-yard run on the game’s second play, the younger Beshore scored on back-to-back drives to give the Tigers a 21-0 lead nine minutes into regulation.
Marshfield ran the ensuing kickoff to the Lamar 6-yard line, but the Bluejays couldn’t get any further. The Lamar defense forced them back four yards and the drive ended in a missed field goal.
The Tigers needed just seven plays to march 80 yards downfield and score again, with Austin Wilkerson’s 1-yard rushing touchdown capping the drive.
With Lamar’s offensive line – Rein Stephen, Ryan Davis, Jose Juarez, Nick Moore and Aiden Loveall – paving the way, Joel Beshore and Alex Wilkerson also added 1-yard touchdowns before halftime.
Kish added an 8-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter, while Juarez kicked six extra points.
“We like to run the football – and that’s no secret,” Jared Beshore said. “Our program is built on running the football, having a physical downhill run game — and it will always be like that. As long as I’m around, that’s going to be our main thing. We do do some extra stuff that maybe we haven’t done in the past through the air, but it’s just complementary to what we do. We want to run the football.”
The Tigers were just as dominant defensively, holding Marshfield to just 3-of-18 passing for 24 yards. The Bluejays finished with just 63 rushing yards, though virtually all of them came against reserves.
“Our game plan with our coach was we’re going to get on the quarterback now and we’re not going to let him get any time to pass the ball,” Austin Wilkerson said. “We came out and did that and it turned out good for us.”
Marshfield appeared to break the shutout with 1:11 left in the first half, but Bryant Bull’s 49-yard run was called back due to a holding penalty. The Bluejays never threatened the rest of the way.
“I feel like we’ve got a really good and solid football team,” Marshfield coach Cody Bull said. “I thought we showed it at times, but what I told our guys is we have to have 11 guys executing. Not 10 and a half. We seemed to be just enough off at times that it cost us. You play really good teams, those kinds of things give you a poor result.”
The Tigers now shift their focus to Round 2, their home opener against Logan-Rogersville (1-0).
But they wouldn’t have introduced the 15-round mantra unless they intended to go the distance.
Rounds 2-14 will determine if that’s possible.
“It’s a goal for all of us,” Austin Wilkerson said. “It’s something that we’re going to strive for and we’re not going to settle for anything lower than that.”
LAMAR (1-0) 21 20 7 0 — 41
MARSHFIELD (0-1) 0 0 0 0 — 0
