Lamar tops Cassville behind Williams' tiebreaking run, stays unbeaten

Terren Williams' 8-yard run snapped a second-half tie, and No. 3 Class 2 Lamar (6-0) edged No. 3 Class 3 Cassville in a matchup of unbeaten Big 8 teams.

Lamar High School remained unbeaten Friday night behind a second-half touchdown run from Terren Williams, defeating host Cassville. The 8-yard score made the Tigers, No. 3 in Class 2, 6-0 and handed the No. 3 Class 3 Wildcats their first loss, dropping them to 5-1. Both teams entered 5-0 with the inside track to a Big 8 Conference title at stake. Senior lineman Logan Martin said the Tigers now stand as the league's only undefeated team.

Cassville had just erased a 14-point deficit to knot the score, and Lamar's next possession opened with two incompletions, creating third-and-10. Coach Jared Beshore put the game in Clayton Powell's hands, and the quarterback connected with Brayden Wolfe, who had beaten one-on-one coverage on the outside with a double move. The ball traveled roughly 20 yards in the air before Wolfe sprinted the rest of the way, making safety Carlos Barrientos miss before being stopped at the Cassville 17 to complete a 63-yard gain. Williams crossed the goal line three plays later for the decisive points, and Lamar's defense held over the closing 3:41.

Beshore said the decision came down to instinct and trust in his players. Powell and Wolfe have built their connection over years of throwing together, the coach noted, and Cassville had limited Wolfe, one of Lamar's most productive playmakers this season, through much of the first half and the third quarter. Beshore also praised the throw itself.

Neither team generated much offense early, and the game was scoreless through one quarter. On Cassville's opening drive, Dade Zajac's 37-yard field goal attempt was blocked. In the second quarter, Logan Martin broke through to block a punt; the ball glanced off his arm toward the sideline, where Williams recovered it and raced 14 yards for a touchdown with 8:51 left before halftime. Martin said his assignment did not include rushing the punter, but the opening was there and he took it.

Beshore had told his team during the week that games of this size hinge more on special teams, penalties and turnovers than on offense or defense, and he credited coordinator Heath Heckadon for putting the unit in position to deliver. Powell said the special-teams score sparked an offense that came out slowly. A 22-yard touchdown pass from Powell to Williams with 38 seconds left in the second quarter sent Lamar into halftime ahead 14-0.

Cassville answered coming out of halftime, covering 55 yards in six plays and scoring on a trick play to get within 14-7: Stearns pitched to Masin Bryan, who pulled up and lofted a pass over the defense to Mace Bredeson for a 40-yard touchdown. Lamar matched it with its own ruse, as Powell flipped a short pass to Wolfe behind the line, the defense crashed toward him, and Wolfe threw to an uncovered Kyler Ison for a 32-yard gain to the 6. Ison stumbled and fell after the catch, or he would have scored, and Williams ran in from a yard out two plays later.

Beshore called trading gadget plays the fun chess match of coaching, noting such calls become easy with well-coached programs and high-level players. Cassville answered anyway, driving 38 yards in nine plays after Bredeson's 40-yard kick return placed the Wildcats at the Lamar 38, with three penalties totaling 20 yards extending the march. Stearns found Bredeson all alone in the flats for a 17-yard touchdown, cutting the gap to 21-14.

After a Lamar three-and-out, the Wildcats pulled even on the fourth play of the following series, when Stearns threw up the left sideline while absorbing a hit and Bryan hauled it in at full speed with defenders nearby before finishing a touchdown that tied the game at 21 with 7:18 remaining. Once the Tigers moved back in front, Cassville came up short on fourth-and-short with roughly two minutes to play, then forced a stop and regained possession with 48.7 seconds left, but the clock expired before the Wildcats crossed midfield. Powell attempted 10 passes in the game.

Lamar's next scheduled game is on the road. The Tigers visit Fowler High School on Saturday, October 3, at 7:30 PM EDT.