Bucking The Trend
It took first-year McDonald County head football coach Kellen Hoover just one game to lead the Mustangs to a win to put an end to a 16-game losing streak.
McDonald County opened its 2017 season with a 19-6 win over the Salem Tigers, the Mustangs’ first win since September of 2015, a span of 16 games.
The Mustangs used a stingy defense and a power running game that wore down the Salem Tigers in the fourth quarter to record their first victory of the Hoover era.
“I couldn’t ask for a better group of kids,” Hoover said. “They have made my job easy since day one. The assistant coaches did a great job. This was really a team win.”
Both teams showed first-quarter jitters, with Salem turning the ball over twice on fumbles while the Mustangs had a punt blocked on their second possession, but neither team’s offense was able to take advantage of the other’s mistakes.
McDonald County started its first scoring drive on the Salem 24-yard line after the Tigers were stopped on a fourth and four when Cole DelosSantos stopped Tiger quarterback Cameron Camden for no gain.
Peyton Barton hit Kennedy Hodson for six yards on first down before tailback Israel De Santiago broke free for a 51-yard run. De Santiago added a seven-yard run and Oakly Roessler ran for four yards to give the Mustangs a first down on the Salem seven-yard line.
Roessler appeared to put McDonald County on the scoreboard on the next play, but a late flag moved the ball back to the 21-yard line. Barton then ran for nine yards and De Santiago added four more before Roessler crashed into the end zone at the near pylon on fourth down from eight yards out with 5:28 left in the first half. Dylan Allison’s kick was blocked, leaving the Mustangs with a 6-0 lead.
It took McDonald County just two and a half minutes to get its second touchdown. Roessler recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff following the Mustangs’ score, setting up McDonald County on
the Salem 12-yard line.
Timber Teague ran twice for four yards before De Santiago went around right end from eight yards out to make the score 12-0 with 3:55 left in the first half. Allison’s second PAT of his career hit the left upright.
Neither team threatened in the remainder of the first half, but Salem took just two plays in the second half to cut the score to 12-6.
After forcing the Mustangs to go three and out to open the third quarter, Camden went around right end out of the wishbone and went untouched 45-yards, for the Tigers’ only points, with 8:56 left in the third quarter.
But after stopping McDonald County on the Mustangs’ next three possessions, Salem came up empty when the Tigers fumbled once, went three and out once, and was stopped on a fourth and four when DelosSantos stopped Chandler Gray for a two-yard loss.
After the fourth-down stop, McDonald County took over on its own 38-yard line with six minutes left in the game. The Mustangs marched 62 yards in 12 plays to score the clinching touchdown on Barton’s quarterback sneak with 1:16 left in the game.
Of the 12 plays, De Santiago carried seven times for 52 yards to key the drive, which did not include a pass.
“The offensive line at the end of the game said ‘put it on our back’ and we just turned around and handed it off to finish the game off,” Hoover said. “That was just really cool to see our kids take charge and say we are going to get this done.”
De Santiago finished with 156 yards on 22 carries to lead the ground game. Teague added 30 yards on 10 carries, while Roessler finished with eight yards on three carries.
“We wanted to get Izzy (De Santiago) 20-25 carries and lean on him in the fourth quarter, and that was what ended up happening,” Hoover said. “He just wore them down. He gets harder to tackle as the game goes on.”
Hoover said the offensive line (Micah Burkholder TE, Will Gordon T, Elliott Wolfe G, Tanner Harnar C, Trystan Leach G and Rendon Lane T) did not have an easy task but answered the challenge.
“They had some size up front,” Hoover said. “They were not easy to move. Our kids had to fight through some adversity. They saw a couple of different fronts and came out in the fourth quarter and got the job done.”
Hoover said he was very pleased with how the defense played, allowing 185 total yards, including 162 on the ground.
“Every single one of those kids really just flew around,” Hoover said. “That’s a testament to Coach McCullough (defensive coordinator Sean McCullough) and the other defensive coaches. They were prepared, and that was from all the hard work the coaches and kids have put in. The kids have been working their tails off. I think we had one break, but aside from that one play, our kids played great. I thought our safeties did an incredible job. It was cool to see those two (Hodson and Roessler) flying up and getting into the run game. It was great to see the speed in which they played the game.”
Roessler finished with 15 tackles, while David Roark had 12, De Santiago 11, Trey Black eight and Hodson, Teague and Wolfe six each.
The defense forced five fumbles, two by Wolfe and one each by Dylan Akins, Caleb Curtis and Hodson. Recoveries were made by Aklins, Black, DelosSantos, Roessler and Teague.
Barton finished by completing four of 10 passes for 76 yards. DelosSantos (29 yards) and Hodson (47) caught two passes each.
McDonald County puts its 1-0 record on the line on Friday, Aug. 25, when the Mustangs host Marshfield in the home opener. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.