There was no score in two of the four quarters.
But the Mountain Grove Panthers outdueled the Salem Tigers in the other two periods.
In a deceiving final score, state-ranked Mountain Grove got two touchdowns in the second quarter and two more and a safety in the third to knock off Salem 30-6 in South-Central Association action at Schuchardt Stadium. It was Tiger Senior Night.
Salem falls to 2-5 overall and 1-4 in the SCA. The Panthers, ranked No. 6 in last week’s Missouri Media Class 3 state poll, improved to 6-1 and stayed perfect in the conference at 5-0.
The result left Mountain Grove in first place and Salem in fifth place of the Class 3 District 5 standings. Mountain Grove is 6-1 with 44.69 points while Clever is second at 6-1 and 39.90 points, St. James third at 3-4 and 28.57 points, Strafford fourth at 2-5 with 23.33 points, Salem fifth at 2-5 with 21.93 points, Buffalo sixth at 1-6 with 18.29 points and Pleasant Hope seventh at 0-7 with 10.57 points.
Friday, it was a scoreless first quarter and an eight-point game at halftime.
“That first half was very exciting,” said Salem head coach Neal Myers. “I thought our defense played very well, and on offense we were moving the ball to control the clock, which is what we wanted to do.
“But they wear you down. Looking at it, we made some mental mistakes in the second half. The boys are coming around to it both offensively and defensively. They’re getting comfortable flying around.”
The Panthers broke the ice with around nine minutes left in the first half. A long run by junior running back Eli Golden set up the first Mountain Grove TD, when Golden capped the drive with an eight-yard scoring run. Dameon Martin added the first of his four extra point kicks.
Late in the second period Mountain Grove made it 14-0 by completing an 80-yard scoring drive. Junior fullback Braydon Curtiss ended the drive with a seven-yard TD run.
The Tigers would get on the scoreboard with a breakaway run of their own, courtesy of junior running back Sylis DuBois. DuBois broke off a 60-yard touchdown run in the final seconds of the half. The PAT attempt failed, leaving it 14-6 at intermission.
Mountain Grove took advantage of a special team miscue on Salem’s first offensive series of the second half. The Tigers were in punt formation, but the snap sailed into the endzone, where the Tigers recovered for a Mountain Grove safety.
With Salem being shut out the rest of the way, the Panthers’ heavy run attack put things away with two more touchdowns before the third quarter ended.
On a 53-yard drive, Mountain Grove got its third TD on a Golden run with around three minutes remaining in the period.
And the game’s final score came when Panther quarterback senior Aden Estep escaped on a 41-yard touchdown run inside the final minute of the third quarter.
No passes were completed in the game. Salem ran for 171 yards - with DuBois leading the way with 128 yards on 16 carries. Mountain Grove rushed for 403 yards, with Curtiss finishing with 195 yards on 25 carries; Estep 109 yards on seven carries and Golden 60 yards on six attempts.
Another stiff challenge in a different way awaits Salem this week, as the Tigers travel to Mountain View to take on league foe Liberty. Kickoff Friday is set for 7 p.m. The Liberty Eagles improved to 5-2 overall and 3-2 in league play by blasting Cabool 64-0 on the road last week.
Liberty fell out of the Missouri Media Class 2 state poll two weeks ago after losing to Mountain Grove.
“We’re going from ground and pound (against Mountain Grove) to basketball on grass (against Liberty),” Myers quipped. “(Liberty senior quarterback Parker) Tune can wing it all over the place, and he’s accurate with it. It will be the first time this year we’ve faced an offense like this.”
Oct. 10 at Salem
Mtn. Grove 30, Salem 6
The score by periods:
Mtn. Grove 0 14 16 0-30
Salem 0 6 0 0- 6
The scoring plays:
Mtn. Grove: Golden eight-yard run, Martin kick.
Mtn. Grove: Curtiss seven-yard run, Martin kick.
Salem: DuBois 60-yard run, kick fails.
Mtn. Grove: Safety.
Mtn. Grove: Golden run, Martin kick.
Mtn. Grove: Estep 41-yard run, Martin kick.
Individual Statistics
Rushing - Salem: DuBois 16 for 128, Malone 6 for 35, Land 4 for 2, May 4 for 2, Ray 4 for 1, Ragsdale 2 for 3. Mtn. Grove: Curtiss 25 for 195, Estep 7 for 109, Golden 6 for 60, Murphy 5 for 39.
Passing - Salem: Ragsdale 0-6-0-0. Mtn. Grove: Estep 0-6-0-0.
Receiving - Salem: None. Mtn. Grove: None.
Tackle Leaders - Salem: Sapaugh 12 (solos)-2 (assists), Schloemer 7-4, Hayes 2-4. Mtn. Grove: N/A.
