Spoofhound trenches shine going into Homecoming

JON DYKSTRA/THE FORUM
Maryville junior Major Scarbrough (35) and the rest of the Spoofhound defensive line converge to make a tackle earlier this season in Chillicothe.

MARYVILLE, Mo. — The headlines surrounding Maryville’s 46-42 win over St. Pius X last Friday in a clash of top-5 ranked teams and favorites in the Midland Empire Conference will revolve around school records for Derek Quinlin and Delton Davis along with big plays by Don Allen, Wyatt Garner, Tucker Turner and all the skill guys.

All those skill players will be the first to tell you that without the offensive line keeping Quinlin clean to deliver those passes, he can’t throw for 409 yards and the receivers can’t put up the days that they did.

The offensive line is young too, at least on the right side of senior center Owen Wonderly where freshman Mace McKim and sophomore Phoenix Phillips reside. What McKim and Phillips lack in varsity experience, they make up for in sheer size and strength.

“Mace McKim and Phoenix being the two new guys on our O-line have really improved every week,” Maryville coach Matt Webb said. “When I talk about our team’s improvement overall, that is certainly part of what I’m talking about.”

McKim is listed at 6-foot-3, 250 pounds while Phillips, who holds a Division-I offer from Missouri State, stands at 6-foot-3, 285 pounds.

“Their size certainly helps them,” Webb said. “They are tall and long and big. Their leverage really helps because of their arm length, and they are really athletic kids for their size. That certainly helps with what we want to do. They are going to be a special group going ahead. I’m glad one’s a sophomore and one’s a freshman because we got a lot of football games ahead with those guys.”

Quinlin receives a lot of well-deserved credit for orchestrating the offense, especially when a designed play breaks down, but for the Spoofhound front, the senior captain responsible for that is center Wonderly.

“He was elected captain by the team because he is a leader,” Webb said. “The kids look to him. He makes all of our protection calls. When you think of some of those statistics and records being broken and stuff like that by our skill guys, those don’t happen unless Owen makes the right calls to send people to block how a defense is trying to attack us. Owen certainly does a great job of having that senior leadership role as our center and making all of our calls on our offensive line.”

On the other side of Wonderly are a pair of veterans who shine in their own right with junior Lucas Vierthaler and senior Landon Liebhart. The line is deep too with Wesley Snead returning from injury along with players like Brandon Wilmes, Gus McCollough, Jackson Nielson and Kolton Jensen.

This week, the Spoofhounds face Cameron (2-2; 0-2 MEC), a group that is rapidly improving under coach Wes Bell and nearly went to 3-1 last week, but fell in overtime to Chillicothe 26-20 in overtime.

“He brought in the flex-bone option scheme last year on offense and that stuff takes time with the timing of the option and plays, and getting the players to execute it,” Webb said. “I see a lot of improvement in their overall program — offense, defense and kicking. I just really see them getting better. Towards the end of the season last year, they won some games towards the end and really got some confidence going into the offseason.”

Cameron’s option attack will place an emphasis on the Spoofhound defensive line to be sound on Friday night in the Hound Pound, but Webb has been proud of the work his defensive front has put in so far this season.

“I can really see in our first four football games — us playing with really good technique with our hands and they are listening to coaching,” Webb said. “Those things are important because our run fits kinda start up front.”

The defensive ends are a pair of returning starters from last season with juniors Major Scarbrough and Vierthaler. Scarbrough had two sacks and a fumble recovery against St. Pius X last week.

“He’s got great leverage,” Webb said of Scarbrough. “That height and long arms really help him with technique. He shoots his hands quick. I’ve coached D-line for a long time and it doesn’t necessarily (matter) how big you are — it is how quick your hands can be. It’s kinda that boxer mentality. A lot of great boxers have great hands and Major uses his hands really well and he’s got great length.”

In the middle, it is another deep position with Phillips and Snead starting, but Nielson playing a big role and McKim adding to the size at Webb’s disposal.

“There is a lot of depth there now,” Webb said.

With a Dragon squad coming in that has struggled in recent seasons, Webb says there will be an emphasis this week in practice to put last week’s big win behind them and be ready for a hungry Cameron team.

“There’s a great song that I like the remix by Metallica called ‘Turn the Page,’ and we play music at practice,” Webb said. “We will have ‘Turn the Page’ on at practice this week. You treasure those wins. It was a very important win, but you turn the page and you move onto the next game real quick.”

The mental games don’t end with trap-game avoidance. It is Homecoming for Maryville, but unlike most coaches, Webb doesn’t view Homecoming festivities as a nuisance.

“It is busy and it is fun,” Webb said. “Homecoming is something that should be fun. We have a lot of events scheduled through the school and these guys are students first. They participate in the dress-up days and the parade and Homecoming court and everything that a normal student wants to do. They are part of the student body and they should have fun.

“I know that coaches don’t like it usually because of all the distractions, but we talk a lot about every week, if you are a Spoofhound football player you are going to have noise. That noise may come from St. Pius jumping on your 50-yard line before the game just because you are the Spoofhounds, or that noise may come from a parade that somebody schedules on a Friday before a football game.”