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In their first trip to the state finals, the Cassville Wildcats couldn’t have asked for much more as they steamrolled through Cardinal Ritter 31-7 to win their first Show-Me Bowl and the school’s first ever state championship in a team sport.
Cassville failed to take advantage of great field position on their initial drive as they stopped Ritter on a fake punt getting the ball on Ritter’s 24. After failing to pick up a first down, kicker Aaron Jamieson missed his 35 yard attempt just wide to the right. It would turn out to be the only misstep he would make all day.
The next two Wildcat possessions ended in Jake Nolan TD passes. First a 53 yarder to Trevor Tanner. Then, following a Matt Stockton interception, a 10 yard throwback to Joseph Gouvion and the Cats were up 14-0 with Ritter having only 2 first downs.
The Lions would finally get on the board with 7:17 left in the second quarter on a 5 yard Trey Perry rush up the middle. Ritter moved 91 yards in 6 plays including a 42 yard pass reception, and a 35 yard run by Maurice Taylor. The Wildcat D seemed to be keyed on containing the big play ability of Taylor and was successful as the 35 yards accounted for almost half of his rushing yards on the day.
Following another interception of Ritter QB Calvin Mooney, Cassville made the half time score 17-7 on a 42 yard FG by Jamieson.
The story of the rest of the game was told in the first half of the third period as Cassville took the kickoff and embarked on a 89 yard 12 play drive. Jon Haney was the wrecking ball for the Wildcats as he rushed 7 times for 63 yards on the drive including the 7 yard TD run. Haney would finish as the Wildcats leading rusher with 108 yards. By the end of the drive, the Ritter defense, most of whom were playing both ways, had hands on hips and were breathing hard. Worn out. Cassville added another TD on their next possession on a 1 yard plunge by Jake Nolan to make the score 31-7, and they were on their way. Forced into a passing game, and with a defense that was reeling, the Lions just didn’t have enough to mount a comeback.
Cassville only allowed 97 yards passing on the day, and 146 on the ground as they held Ritter to 32 points below their season average. Probably the biggest factors were the sheer physicality of Cassville and the depth they possess at just about every position. Only Taylor seemed to still have fresh legs for the Lions in the fourth quarter and he was met by a host of Wildcat tacklers every time he touched the ball.
Cassville also did just about every little thing right having only one turnover on the day. That being a fumble into the endzone late in the fourth when the result was no longer in doubt. And 1 penalty on the final possession as they were killing the clock. In addition to his 42 yard FG, Jamison put all 6 of his kickoffs into the endzone to take Taylor out of the return game. Jamieson also had a 36.2 net average on his 4 punts for the game.
Just a phenomenal effort from Cassville. The had a perfect game plan that they executed perfectly to outclass Ritter and become the 5th Big 8 team to claim a state football title.
