Spoofhounds pummel Phoenix, head to State final
HENRY JANSSEN/DAILY FORUM
Maryville’s Elijah Green (5) puts out a nice block for Bobby Bruckner during the first quarter of Maryville’s 42-6 win over Miller Career Academy in the State semifinal game on Saturday. Bruckner finished with 57 rushing yards.
When playing in unfamiliar territory, it is important to set the tone early. It took less than five plays for Maryville football’s Bobby Bruckner to do just that with a 12-yard scamper in the Spoofhounds’ 42-6 win over Miller Career Academy in the Class 3 State Semifinal game on Saturday at St. Mary’s High School in St. Louis.
The opening drive ended with a 34-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Trey Oglesby to wide receiver John Zimmerman. The Spoofhounds took a 6-0 lead after the extra point attempt failed, but it still made them feel right at home.
Maryville head coach Matt Webb said his team had prepared for that moment long before the season started.
It was about expecting the unexpected.
“The first thing we got to do is beat the trip,” he said. “When you come across the state, you can’t have any distractions. We went to team camp up at North Dakota State in June (instead of the normal Northwest Missouri State University team camp) and going to somewhere where you have no idea what to expect from teams was directly correlated to today.”
The Phoenix answered with a 35-yard touchdown pass on their ensuing drive, but missed the two point conversion and the score remained 6-6 with 8:12 remaining in the first quarter.
Two plays into the next Maryville drive, Oglesby and Zimmerman hooked up again for a 46-yard pass that brought the Spoofhounds past midfield after being on their own 16.
Maryville finished off the 84-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run from Oglesby. Dowis took the two-point conversion in and gave Maryville a 14-6 lead with 4:30 left in the first.
The Phoenix showed they weren’t going to go down easily, however. They marched back down the field and picked up two tough third down conversions and a conversion on fourth-and-10 that brought the ball to the Maryville 14. Maryville started the second quarter with sacks on two of the first three plays to force a turnover on downs.
The Phoenix never got enough momentum back to make it a game.
After a pair of interceptions, Zimmerman took a handoff 20 yards for a touchdown and Jacob Reuter added the extra point to make it 21-6 Spoofhounds with 8:24 to go in the first half.
From there, the Spoofhounds continued to methodically march down the field and Eli Dowis took it in from six yards out with 32 seconds left. He also added the two-point conversion on a run and gaveMaryville a 29-6 lead that it took to the half.
Each team threw an interception in the third quarter and the only score of the third stanza came in the final minute when Oglesby found Zimmerman for another touchdown. This one was from 37 yards out and it put the Spoofhounds up 35-6 after a failed two-point conversion.
Zimmerman was wide open on the play thanks to the defense biting on a play fake from Oglesby and strolled into the end zone after catching the pass.
“I was supposed to run a post, but the safety and corner bailed with our tight end, so I just kind of leaked out and hoped Trey would see me and he did. There was no one around me.”
Maryville’s Matt Twaddle picked off a pass on the ensuing drive to give the Spoofhounds their fifth forced turnover of the game to end the third quarter.
Tyler Houchin scored on a six-yard touchdown run with 6:49 to go to put a cherry on top of the performance. Reuter’s extra point was true.
Houchin said the play of the defensive line had a big impact on the game.
“The D-line played really well and they got pressure on the quarterback,” he said. “A couple times they went out and hit the ball out and they caused a couple interceptions. We took advantage of those and scored off of them and that was the ball game.”
Zimmerman and Dowis both made a big impact on offense. Zimmerman erased any doubts that he has lingering effects from his leg injury by catching two touchdown passes and rushing for one while Dowis had 75 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Oglesby, despite finishing with two interceptions, threw for two touchdown passes and ran for one. He completed six of his nine passes. Bruckner added 57 yards on the ground.
The Phoenix, like a lot of teams, tried to stack the box against the Spoofhounds out of respect for their running game.
Dowis explained why that can backfire.
“The more people they put in the box, the more people we can hit on each play, so we just kept wearing them down,” he said. “They didn’t have many subs to come in, so once we wore them down, it was just off to the races.”
Maryville will take on Monett for the Class 3 State Championship at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 26 in Springfield at Missouri State University.
HENRY JANSSEN/DAILY FORUM
Maryville’s Cole Phillips (1) keeps an airborne Keith Austin from getting a two-point conversion during the Spoofhounds’ 42-6 win over the Phoenix on Saturday. Tomas Coalson is staying alert on the play.
HENRY JANSSEN/DAILY FORUM
Maryville’s Jalen Sundell sacks Miller Career Academy quarterback Brandon Harris during the Spoofhounds’ 42-6 win over the Phoenix on Saturday.
HENRY JANSSEN/DAILY FORUM
Maryville’s John Zimmerman finds a hole in the Miller Career Academy defense en route to a touchdown on Saturday. Maryville earned a 42-6 win and a spot in the Class 3 State Championship.
