Mustangs’ Early Lead Evaporates
AURORA’S PASSING ATTACK TOO MUCH FOR YOUNG TEAM
The Payton Evans to Preston Naylor combo was too much for the McDonald County Mustangs.
The quarterback and wide receiver connected for all four of Aurora’s touchdowns to lead the Houn Dawgs to a 28-14 win over McDonald County on Oct. 14 at MCHS.
Aurora took advantage of a short field on its first possession, scoring on Naylor’s 24-yard pass from Evans with 6:05 left in the first quarter. Jeremy Schlobrock kicked the first of his four PATs to give the Houn Dawgs a 7-0 lead.
It took McDonald County only 20 seconds to answer. Oakley Roessler returned the ensuing kickoff 82 yards before being knocked out of bounds at the Aurora 8-yard line. Peyton Barton hit Cole DelosSantos on the first play
from scrimmage for the touchdown and the pair teamed up again for the conversion to give McDonald County an 8-7 lead with 5:45 left in the first quarter.
The Mustangs defense forced Aurora to a three and out on the Houn Dawgs next possession, but a bad snap resulted in a 13-yard loss, giving the Mustangs the ball on the Aurora 34-yard line.
Barton hit Issrael De Santiago for 8 yards and Roessler for 7 before finding DelosSantos in the end zone for the pair’s second touchdown, this one from 19 yards out. Barton’s pass for the conversion was incomplete, leaving McDonald County with a 14-7 lead with 3:33 left in the first quarter.
But for the rest of the game, the Aurora defense and the Evans-to-Naylor combo took over. Aurora tied the game with 3:25 left in the first half on Evans 25-yard pass to Naylor. Aurora took a 21-14 lead at halftime when Naylor made a one-handed circus catch of an Evans pass on fourth and goal from 12 yards out with 37.7 seconds left in the half.
Aurora scored its clinching touchdown with 10:17 left in the fourth quarter on Evans 29-yard pass to Naylor to cap off a sevenplay, 63-yard drive.
“We made critical errors at crucial times in the ball game,” said coach John Diehl. “That game was very winnable. We did a lot of good things Friday night. The defense played rather well and made some good goal-line stands. It is just the fact that we must play mistake-free football to win. The thing everyone has to remember, including myself, is that this is an extremely young team. Next year they are going to have a year of experience at the varsity level, some of them two years, under their belts. They are going to be familiar with the defense. They are going to familiar with the offense. It should be a completely different type of program next year.”
Barton finished with 20 completions in 41 attempts for 163 yards and two touchdowns. DelosSantos caught seven passes for 71 yards and two touchdowns while Jake Will had four catches for 35 yards. Roessler finished with three catches for 26 yards and De Santiago had three catches for 19 yards. Timber Bowers caught two passes for 4 yards and Micah Burkholder caught one pass for 8 yards.
Roessler carried the ball 10 times for 58 yards to lead the ground game. The Mustangs finished with 53 rushing yards after taking away 43 yards in losses on five sacks.
Evans completed 18 of 32 passes for 269 yards, including eight to Naylor for 132 yards. The Houn Dawgs were held to just 56 yards rushing, led by Evans 48 yards on 15 carries.
De Santiago had 17 tackles and Will 16, including two sacks, to lead the defense. Bucky Harrell added seven tackles while DelosSantos, Roessler and Elliott Wolfe had five each.
The game was the final home game for seven senior players including Will Dean, Carlos Sanchez, Wyatt Griffith, Kyle Hall, Corvin Black, Jake Will and Kammeron Barnes, along with manager Journey Sanny.
“We are going to definitely miss their leadership and dedication to the program,” Diehl said. “Kids like Jake Will and Will Dean have done a phenomenal job for us this year. I am very pleased with what they did.
“Kyle Hall and Corvin Black fell on tough times with injuries early in the season. Carlos did a fantastic job this year, both offensively and defensively, and worked real hard in the weight room.
“Wyatt Griffith came out of nowhere this year. He hadn’t played in a couple of years. He wasn’t a starter early in the year, but as the year went on he was a starter on both sides of the ball. That type of leadership and dedication is going to be missed, but we have young kids coming up and hopefully they will fill the void the seniors will leave.”
McDonald County falls to 0-9 heading into district play where the Mustangs will face top-seeded Carl Junction on Friday night at Carl Junction High School. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.