Spoofhounds avoid trap game with dominant showing
JON DYKSTRA/THE FORUM
Maryville senior fullback Tucker Turner carries the ball on Friday night in St. Joseph.
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — Matt Webb was very clear all week in his messaging. The Maryville Spoofhounds were not going to ask Matthew Walter to be Derek Quinlin on Friday night.
The team was going to trust their backup quarterback to run the system and count on the other facets of the game to step their games up to support the junior signal-caller.
The defense didn’t allow a first down until the closing moments of the third quarter. Seniors Colton Eighmy and Tucker Turner each ran for season-highs. Kole Zarbano, Wyatt Garner and Delton Davis each caught touchdowns. And the offensive and defensive lines were the game’s most valuable players.
“When your chief goes down, everybody has to raise their level,” Webb said. “I really think we did a good job of that and I am extremely proud of Matthew. He did a great job and had a great game.”
All that and Walter was himself — completing 10-of-14 passes for 130 yards, three touchdowns and not coming anywhere close to committing a turnover.
“We had a great week of practice this week,” Walter said. “The first couple drives were a little shaky, but after that, I got settled in. The O-line was making blocks. I had all the time in the world in the pocket and we just made plays.”
The one pass that ended up with a player who it wasn’t intended for ended the first half. The Spoofhounds had just taken possession of the ball again with 27 seconds left in the half.
Walter had been good to the point — 4-for-8 for 54 yards and a touchdown. The junior was clearly comfortable running the offense as he and Davis adjusted Davis’ route to a post at the line of scrimmage.
Walter dropped back and saw his senior tight end Cooper Gastler. It was about to be Gastler’s first receiving touchdown of the season, but then Davis did what he does better than just about anyone in the state — he went and got the ball.
“I threw it to Cooper, but I didn’t even see Del coming outta no where,” Walter smiled. “We checked to a route right before that — me and Del — but I didn’t know he was going to come pick that off.”
Davis was running his post pattern into a similar portion of the field and with the ball in the air, he saw it and attacked it. Davis caught the pass before it got to Gastler’s finger tips and because of the tight end’s route, he was in the perfect spot to block Davis’ man and allow the receiver to walk into the end zone with his 13th touchdown of the year.
Walter went on to complete his final six passes of the night including a 17-yard touchdown to Garner to finish his evening.
“He is a pretty darn good quarterback,” Maryville sophomore lineman Phoenix Phillips said.
The running game showed up in force with 249 total yards on the ground. Turner had 78 of those yards on 12 carries including a trio of first-half touchdowns.
“I feel like the line did a good job blocking and everyone executed pretty well tonight,” Turner said. “… I give all the credit to the offensive line. They made the gaps and I just ran through in.”
Eighmy was also effective with 13 carries for 75 yards.
“I give lots of credit to (Turner and Eighmy),” Phillips said. “They know how to find them (holes), and we know how to open them. It was really fun.”
While the Spoofhounds were running wild, the Cardinals could not establish anything through the air or on the ground. That started with the Hound defensive line completely destroying the Cardinal offensive line.
“The defense had that Lion mentality that Coach Webb was talking about a few weeks ago,” Phillips said. “We all went out there, communicated, talked to each other and just did our thing.”
Benton’s first first-down came late in the third quarter on a roughing the passer call. They got another roughing the passer call in the fourth quarter for a second first-down. The Cardinals did not pick up a first down other than by those two penalties until their final drive of the night with the starting defense on the bench.
“The point of emphasis was getting off the field on third down, and I think we did a good job of that,” Webb said. “I know they didn’t have any third down conversions in the first half and I think we held them for negative yards.”
The test gets much tougher this week with a Saturday trip to Chillicothe to play Class 4 No. 1 Lutheran North. It is the third team ranked in the top-2 that Maryville has played this year with a loss to Class 3 No. 1 Blair Oaks and a win over then-Class 3 No. 2 St. Pius X. Saturday’s game kicks off at 1 p.m.
“We went 1-0 this week and this week is over,” Walter said. “Now we have to focus on Lutheran North.”
