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Sports:
Panthers still on top of the mountain
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| Houston running back Justin Schmidt is wrapped up by a pair of Mountain Grove defenders in the second half of Friday's 52-14 loss. It was the first defeat of the season for the Tigers, who fell to 3-1. |
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The Houston Tigers are greatly improved. They showed as much the first three weeks of the season.
But the Tigers still have work to do to catch the kings of the SCA.
Mountain Grove brought a screeching halt to Houston's undefeated start Friday night, amassing 651 yards of total offense and scoring seven touchdowns in an easy 52-14 victory.
The Panthers haven't lost a conference game since 2004. It's been even longer since the Tigers (3-1, 2-1 SCA) have defeated Mountain Grove.
"Nobody said this was going to be easy. Nobody ever said we'd win them all," Houston coach Chris Edwards said. "Obviously, your goal every year is to win every game all the way through, but there are very few teams in the state that do that. Our kids understand we have to get back to work."
It certainly won't be easy getting back on the winning track.
In what appears to be the toughest stretch of the schedule, Houston goes from one ranked team to another when the Tigers travel Friday night to Thayer.
Houston will be without three key players against the Bobcats. Leading wide receiver and tackler Ty Scheets is sidelined indefinitely with a shoulder injury. David Foster will miss two weeks with a back injury, and Brad Pounds will miss one game after suffering a mild concussion.
Edwards said he's focused on getting the trio healthy by district play.
"We're going to be patient and smart about it. We don't want to rush anyone back and lose them for the year," Edwards said. "We've got people to step in and we're counting on them to do their part. Injuries are not an excuse."
Pounds and Scheets were both knocked out of the game by halftime and visited the emergency room. Pounds is expected to resume practicing next week. Scheets, who was having a monster game before his injury, left the ER with his arm in a sling.
"Ty won't play for awhile," Edwards said.
The Tigers focused on stopping running back Evan Williams, who ran for more than 400 yards the previous week. They did. But the rest of the Panthers ran wild.
Landon Brandt ran for 176 yards, highlighted by a 79-yard touchdown run, on just 11 carries to lead a rushing attack that gained 363 yards. Eight different Panthers ran for 10 or more yards.
Mountain Grove (3-1, 3-0 SCA) rushed for more yards and scored more points than Houston's three previous opponents combined.
"One of the issues we have right now is team speed. It's probably our biggest weakness," Edwards said. "Some of that goes on the coaching staff. We've got to do a better job getting our kids able to adapt to speed on Friday night."
David Weybright provided the bulk of the Tigers' offense with a season-high 307 passing yards and a pair of touchdowns. A majority of those yards were hauled in by Scheets, who had three catches for 150 yards.
Dalton Wilson had his first two receptions of the season for 54 yards. Martin Crawford caught six passes for 37 yards, including a 4-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
Weybright's counterpart, Casey White, was nearly as good. He connected on 16 of his 26 attempts for 268 yards and a touchdown.
Mountain Grove scored three times before Weybright hit Scheets in stride down the left sideline for a 75-yard score. The Panthers answered with a methodical 10-play scoring drive and led 31-7 at the half when Christian Matthews connected on an 18-yard field goal as time expired.
Houston moved the ball to Mountain Grove's 21- and 29-yard line in the first quarter and failed to score.
"Moving the ball wasn't the problem," Edwards said. "We just turned it over a couple times and had some drives stall."
The Tigers' third quarter scoring drive began when Weybright was sacked for the first time this season. Justin Schmidt ran for 16 yards on the next play to get the drive going and on the ninth play, Weybright found Crawford on the right sideline for Houston's second and final score.
MTN. GROVE 52, HOUSTON 14
Mtn. Grove   14   17   7   14   --   52
Houston   0   7   7   0   --   14
First Quarter
MG -- Williams 7 run (Christian Matthews kick), 7:58.
MG -- Brandt 79 run (Christian Matthews kick), 1:47.
Second Quarter
MG -- Shannon 46 pass from White (Christian Matthews kick), 8:12.
HOU -- TScheets 75 pass from Weybright (Case kick), 7:05.
MG -- Chris Matthews 1 run (Christian Matthews kick), 2:24.
MG -- Christian Matthews 18 field goal, 0:00.
Third Quarter
HOU -- Crawford 4 pass from Weybright (Case kick), 4:47.
MG -- Chris Matthews 3 run (Christian Matthews kick), 0:43.
Fourth Quarter
MG -- McCay 4 run (Christian Matthews kick), 7:15.
MG -- George Lada 13 run (Christian Matthews kick), 0:38.
      MG   HOU
First downs   26   10
Total net yards   651   363
Rushes-yards   47-363   20-69
Passing   288   307
Punt returns   2-27   1-2
Kickoff returns   3-24   8-169
Comp-Att-Int   17-27-0   18-32-2
Sacked-yards lost   2-14   1-10
Punts-avg.   4-35.0   5-35.4
Fumbles-lost   1-0   2-1
Penalties-yards   6-45   3-15
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING -- Mtn. Grove, Brandt 11-176, Chris Matthews 9-50, Williams 8-30, McCay 4-23, Taylor 4-14, Lada 1-13, Shannon 1-12, Satterfield 1-9, Ary 1-8, Eagleman 2-7, Eaton 2-7, White 3-(minus 7). Houston, Schmidt 9-47, Weybright 7-20, Pounds 1-2, Case 2-1, Jones 1-(minus 1).
PASSING -- Mtn. Grove, White 16-26-0 268, Courtney 1-1-0 20. Houston, Weybright 18-32-2 307.
RECEIVING -- Harker 3-62, Chris Matthews 3-54, Williams 4-50, Shannon 1-46, Brandt 3-35, Eagleman 1-20, Smith 1-15, McCay 1-6. Houston, TScheets 3-150, Wilson 2-54, Pounds 4-47, Crawford 6-37, Foster 1-15, Schmidt 2-5.
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