Cubs gash Tigers in regular-season finale, 28-0

Looking to conclude the regular-season on a high-note, the Nevada Tigers instead fell to the Monett Cubs, 28-0, on Senior Night Friday at Logan Field.

Nevada (1-8, 1-5 Big 8 West) was unable to capitalize on a first quarter turnover deep in Monett territory, turning the ball over on downs. On the ensuing possession Monett drove 89 yards on seven plays, capped by tailback Jamie Guinn’s seven-yard scamper around the right side into the end zone as Monett led, 7-0.

Nevada’s ensuing possession was its longest of the half, a 10-play drive that reached the Monett 21-yard line. The Tigers, however, again stalled out, and after being pushed back to the 35 turned the ball over on downs.

On the next play from scrimmage Guinn gained the right edge and bolted 65 yards, tight-roping the sideline to paydirt. The extra point handed Monett a 14-0 advantage with 4:32 remaining in the first half.

The opening drive of the second half ended in disaster for the Tigers, as a bungled hand-off exchange between quarterback Matt Thorp and tailback Jaren Powrie was pounced on by Monett defensive lineman Ray Villalta.

Monett scored four plays later as Guinn swept right for the 15-yard touchdown dash. Guinn’s third rushing score of the game swelled Monett’s advantage to 21-0 with 9:55 left in the third.

The Tigers had just one third quarter drive netting positive yardage. Completions to Carter Swearingen and Trey Beachler moved the chains, as Nevada neared the Monett 20. This drive met the same fate as Nevada’s others in which they moved the ball, as they turned the ball over on downs.

From that point Monett chewed more than eight minutes off the fourth quarter clock. Karter Brink added the exclamation point, scoring on a three-yard quarterback keeper. The methodical 15-play, 79-yard scoring drive widened the gap to 28-0 with just over four minutes remaining in regulation.

The victory was Monett’s fourth in its past five games, as the red-hot Cubs wrapped the regular-season 4-5 overall.

“There are no bad teams in the Big 8 West,” said Nevada head coach Wes Beachler during his postgame radio interview with Larry Gazaway. “(Monett) is another good football team, and we know they’ve been playing well as of late. But we had our chances early, and it seems to be a broken record. We had (first half) opportunities to make some plays and didn’t make them. And those can turn a game.”

Added Beachler: “You put a score in the end zone first and make it 7-0, then that can change a game. We had an opportunity to score again when it was 7-0 (Monett), and could have made it 7-7. Those things can change a game, and we just don’t sustain drives. Every time we start driving the ball, we have one negative play that puts us in a second-and-long, and we don’t come out of those very well.”

Throughout the contest Monett utilized blitz-heavy packages.

“We were expecting that, and that’s why we tried to run some edge plays, and a quick-passing game out of that,” explained Beachler during the postgame radio presser. “But we just didn’t do a very good job of picking that up at times. They sent multiple blitzes a few times — and we’ve got to hit the quick pass in that situation. And also, we’ve got to be able to block the edge. When they’re bringing it up the middle like that, we have to be able to get the edge sealed and get to the outside, and make some plays happen — and we weren’t able to do that.”

The final offensive numbers were heavily tilted in Monett’s favor, as the Cubs rolled up 358 yards of total offense to Nevada’s 160. The Cubs gashed Nevada for 234 yards on the ground and added 124 through the air, while Nevada compiled 96 on the ground and 64 in the passing game. Additionally, Guinn toted the ball seven times for 97 yards and a trio of touchdowns. For the season, Guinn has 11 touchdowns of 50 yards or more.

“There were times where we weren’t very disciplined with our eyes,” noted Beachler. “Our eyes got in the backfield and gave them some big plays.”

Beachler said he was pleased with the play of his seniors.

“I thought our seniors for the most part played well, I’m proud of them,” said the veteran head coach. “And we had some sophomores play really well.”

Added Beachler of the senior class: “I think they were pretty emotional, and the kids were ready to play. We had a good opening drive, and I thought we were playing hard. But we’ve been pretty banged up with injuries, and it’s just hard to get some continuity. We did have some good continuity with the offensive and defensive lines, I thought they played well at times. But we also haven’t seen the blitzing that Monett sent out tonight. I think it confused some of our younger guys. We’ve got to get better at that, in practice, reppin’ that stuff more.”

Said Monett head coach Derrek Uhl: “Offensively, Nevada scared me personally, because they do so many different things — you don’t know where the ball is. So we wanted to try to score first, try to get up on them and make them throw the football.”

Up next

Nevada’s district playoff opponent is yet to be determined. The Tigers, however, will be on the road for next Friday’s district playoff clash.

“We won’t know (our opponent) probably until around 7 p.m. (tonight),” confirmed Beachler.

Lamar streak over

The Lamar Tigers' nation-best 57-game win streak came to an abrupt halt Friday night. In a Big 8 West road showdown with undefeated power Cassville, Lamar blew a 21-7 lead, and was toppled on Drake Reese’s last-second 29-yard field goal as they fell 24-21.