Defense Unable To Cage Cubs
Offense Comes Up Empty Against Monett
The McDonald County defense held the high-powered Monett Cubs scoreless on three first-quarter possessions, but the Cubs scored three times in the second quarter and twice in the third to claim a 35-0 decision on Sept. 30 at Monett High School.
“We played a good ball game,” said coach John Diehl. “We just made critical errors at very crucial times. What we need to do is eliminate the mistakes and when we do that we will be a very good ball club. The other thing you have to look at is the last three weeks were very difficult for us. Monett is 6-1 now and Lamar is 7-0. Look at what Lamar did to Valle Catholic. Valle Catholic had the longest winning streak in the nation and Lamar crushed them. These are the type of teams we are playing.”
The McDonald County defense overcame two interceptions by the offense in two of the three first Mustangs possessions by forcing the Cubs to punt. Will Dean led the Mustangs, sacking Monett quarterback Ian Meyer twice for a loss of 14 yards.
But the Cubs put together a seven-play, 53-yard touchdown drive at the start of the second period to take a 7-0 lead on Meyer’s 29-yard touchdown run with 11:32 left in the first half.
Meyer then hit Cody Thompson with a 22-yard touchdown pass on the Cubs’ next possession before Meyer threw his second touch-
down pass of the quarter to Mason Swearingen with 4:18 left before intermission to give Monett a 21-0 halftime lead.
McDonald County’s best drive of the opening half came on the Mustangs’ final possession of the half. McDonald County marched from its own 38-yard line to inside the Monett 10-yard line, but the Cubs stopped quarterback Peyton Barton about 4 yards short of the end zone as time expired.
Following the play, Monett was called for a personal foul, but after the officials conferred, the penalty was assessed on the second half kickoff instead of giving McDonald County another down in the first half.
Monett opened the second half by scoring on its first two drives. Meyer capped an 80-yard drive with a 15-yard touchdown drive on the Cubs first possession before Michael Branch ran for a 30-yard touchdown late in the third quarter.
Monett controlled the ball for most of the second half, running 28 plays to McDonald County’s 15, including three consecutive three and outs.
Barton led the Mustangs offense, throwing for 140 yards on 13 of 27 accuracy. Cole Delos-Santos caught five passes for 65 yards and Jake Will caught five for 45 yards to lead the receivers. Isrrael De Santiago had two catches for 9 yards and Oakley Roessler had one catch for 21 yards.
McDonald County was held to just 8 yards on the ground after losses from Barton being sacked four times for 35 yards were included.
Meyer completed 14 of 20 passes for 96 yards and Branch ran for 84 yards on 11 carries to lead Monett.
McDonald County finished with 148 total yards while Monett had 282.
Delos Santos had 13 tackles and De Santiago had eight to lead the defense. Will and Dean added five each while Barton and Marshall Foreman had four. Foreman also had the Mustangs first fumble recovery of the season.
McDonald County, 0-7 overall and 0-5 in the Big 8 Conference, faces East Newton on Oct. 7 at East Newton High School and Aurora on Oct. 14 at MCHS to close out the regular season.
“We have the opportunity to play schools that are the same caliber as us the next two weeks in East Newton and Aurora,” Diehl said. “I am not taking anything away from either one of them. They are both very good schools with very good football programs and coaches, but these are schools we are going to be able to compete with.”