Spoofhounds drop top-4 showdown
By JON DYKSTRA The Forum
Maryville senior Gavin McAtee carries the ball on Saturday in Chillicothe.
CHILLICOTHE, Mo. — Playing Maryville football means taking pride in owning one of the hardest schedules in Missouri year in and year out. This year alone, the Spoofhounds have already played loaded squads in Blair Oaks and St. Pius X. They added to that track record tonight, scheduling Class 4’s top team, the Lutheran North Crusaders.
Although Lutheran North would go on to defeat Maryville 40-7, it proved a unique experience to prepare for the opponents that remain on the Spoofhound schedule and into playoffs.
“We’ll learn from it and try to make adjustments quickly for a quick turnaround against a good Savannah team,” Maryville coach Matt Webb said.
With Maryville starting the day on offense, junior running back Sadler Viau made his presence felt with three carries and a first down to start the game.
An unorthodox fumble, recovery and stumble gave another first down as Maryville made their way downfield. Senior Canon Creason would move the chains some more with his first rush of the night.
Viau would go to bring the Maryville offense to the 7-yard line. Looking to capitalize on the opportunity, the Lutheran North defense stopped the Hounds as they prepared for a fourth-and-goal, leading to a goal-line interception.
“In the beginning of the game, we started off pretty strong,” Viau said. “Eventually we just slowed down and couldn’t finish drives. It was there for a while, we just got to be able to finish drives as a team.”
Lutheran North took the goal-line stand and immediately transitioned into offense. Their first play of the night being a 93 yard touch-pass touchdown.
After being stopped by the Crusader defense, a deep Viau punt pinned Lutheran North back inside their own 20. Flags and stops would force a third-and-long for the Crusaders. As Lutheran looked to convert, junior Brody Shepherd jumped a pass and nearly intercepted the ball.
The stop would prove to be lethal. A botched Lutheran punt set the Hounds up on Lutheran North’s 35. This gave way to a long touchdown run from senior Gavin McAtee. A successful extra point brought it to 12-7 with nine minutes left in the second quarter.
A stop at the line of scrimmage from junior Cannon Scarbrough looked to give the Maryville sideline momentum, before Lutheran North would answer back with a big gain to flip the field — ultimately rushing for a touchdown.
Viau would save the next Maryville drive after fighting for every yard he could on a third-and-5. An aggressive play led to multiple flags, pushing the offense to a third-and-40, eventually leading to a punt.
“When Sadler gets a hold of one and flips field position, that’s a good thing,” Webb said. “He’s definitely a weapon and special teams is important to us. He did a good job.”
After another Lutheran North touchdown, junior Carson Hageman fought back with a kickoff return to midfield with 46 seconds left.
Although a last-second pass was caught, it didn’t convert as Maryville went into halftime down 24-7.
The Hounds continue to fight with the defense looking to stop Lutheran North on the goal line. A big fourth-down pass was knocked down by Shepherd to give Maryville the ball.
“When you’re down, you give up a fourth down and have to go back out there,” Shepherd said. “We just had to keep executing. We know our sideline is giving us energy, players out there are giving us energy. We just looked to push through and get stops.”
Maryville looks to get back on track at rival Savannah on Friday in the Highway-71 Showdown.
