Offense bogs down in mud, Thunderbirds bow to Wildcats

The mud made a mess of the North Callaway Thunderbirds' offensive intentions.

North Callaway owned a decisive statistical edge over Wright City on a field left mucky by constant rain, but the Thunderbirds stalled out on numerous scoring chances in falling to the Wildcats in a 22-18 Eastern Missouri Conference loss to the Wildcats on Friday night.

Senior quarterback Cole Branson scored on a 3-yard touchdown run with 42 seconds left in the game to draw North Callaway within four points, but the Thunderbirds failed on the two-point conversion attempt. North Callaway kept its comeback hopes in play by recovering an onside kick at its own 42-yard line with :39 to play, but four straight Branson incompletions gave the ball back to Wright City.

The loss dropped the Thunderbirds back to the .500 mark at 4-4 on the season and 3-3 in the EMO. The Wildcats, meanwhile, halted a four-game losing streak, improving to 2-6 overall and 2-4 in conference play.

"We did not come ready to play and Wright City did," North Callaway head coach Kevin O'Neal said. "We missed out a lot on our passing game and the field conditions affected what we wanted to do."

O'Neal spoke last week about the possibility of the Thunderbirds profiting from their passing game if the Wildcats' defense sold out to stop the run. Branson was able to rush for a game-high 165 yards and three scores on 17 carries Friday night, but completed just 15-of-38 passes for 150 yards and was intercepted twice.

Senior tight end Trevor Crisp had four catches for a game-high 52 yards receiving for North Callaway. Junior wide receiver Tyler Mattes also chipped in with four receptions for 32 yards, while sophomore slot receiver A.J. Stubblefield had two catches for 38 yards.

North Callaway compiled 354 total yards - including 189 rushing - while Wright City had just 159 net yards, all coming on the ground. The Thunderbirds - who picked up 16 first downs to just four for the Wildcats - also moved inside Wright City's 30 on five different occasions, including three times inside the 10, but came away without points on each trip.

"I thought there were things we could take advantage of, but we didn't make the plays when we needed to," O'Neal said. "When the field conditions are sloppy, the defense kind of has the upper hand; they load the box and come after you."

The Wildcats took an early 8-0 lead after quarterback Kyle Tuepker plunged into the end zone from 1 yard out with 8 minutes, 3 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Wright City added the two-point conversion on a pass from Tuepker to Troy Muse.

North Callaway bounced back to take a 12-8 advantage when Branson responded with touchdown runs of 1 and 49 yards, respectively, the latter coming with 1:02 to play in the quarter. The Wildcats, though, immediately reclaimed the lead when Tuepker answered 9 seconds later with a 76-yard kickoff return for a score.

The contest then settled into a defensive battle through scoreless second and third quarters. Wright City went up 22-12 when Tuepker broke free for a 90-yard touchdown run with 3:51 left in the game. Tuepker tallied 93 yards rushing on 20 carries.

The Thunderbirds return home this week to end the regular season with a critical matchup against EMO opponent Van-Far that will impact the Class 2, District 6 standings. The Indians are 4-4 overall and 2-4 in conference play after bowing at Clopton/Elsberry 14-12 on Friday night.

Despite their respective setbacks, North Callaway (34.55 points) and Van-Far (32.2) are in third and fourth place, respectively, in District 6.

"I know their kids are playing hard and they have some special athletes," O'Neal said of the Indians. "We'll have our work cut out for us."