MOKANE - The South Callaway Bulldogs discovered that maintaining control can sometimes be like trying to harness a pinball.
South Callaway bolted to a 20-0 lead in the first quarter of Friday night's regular-season finale against Eastern Missouri Conference foe Bowling Green, then watched that comfortable advantage dwindle to four points at halftime. The Bulldogs, though, regained their edge by outscoring the Bobcats 25-0 in the second half to pull away for a 45-16 homecoming win.
Bouncing back from last week's 18-7 loss to Class 1-ranked, unbeaten Mark Twain for the EMO title, South Callaway raised its season record to 7-2 and ended conference play at 6-1. Bowling Green dropped to 5-4 overall and finished at 4-3 in the EMO.
"In the first quarter we had a lot of momentum and the players came out fired up, and we had a lot of things go our way," Bulldogs head coach Zack Hess said. "Then in the second quarter it flipped; it was kind of a blur and I want to get it out of my memory as fast as possible.
"We went into halftime and told the kids that we had the momentum, then (Bowling Green) got the momentum and we needed to get it back and keep it. There were some heated speeches and the boys came out fired up (in the second half)."
South Callaway pushed its lead to 26-13 on senior running back Cameron Richardson's 3-yard touchdown run with 4 minutes, 25 seconds to go in the third quarter. Fellow senior running back Patrick Barnard added to the Bulldogs' advantage with a 5-yard touchdown run at the 1:49 mark of the quarter.
Richardson's 5-yard touchdown run and junior kicker Dakota Kraft's extra point made it 39-13 with 10:08 remaining in the game. Sophomore running back Kaden Helsel accounted for South Callaway's final score and his second touchdown of the game on a 13-yard run with 7:37 left.
Helsel - who also had a 14-yard touchdown run in the first quarter - gained a game-high 104 yards on 14 carries as the Bulldogs broke out for 406 yards on the ground. Barnard, also scoring on a 2-yard run in the first quarter, supplied 98 yards in 16 attempts.
Sophomore quarterback Landon Horstman picked up 98 yards on only seven carries and raced 45 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter. Richardson finished with 42 yards in nine attempts.
South Callaway's offensive line was also bolstered by the return of senior center Johnny Wyman, who missed seven games after breaking a bone in his lower leg in the season opener at Putnam County.
"Bowling Green showed us a lot of different (defensive) fronts on every series," Hess said. "Our offensive line did a great job in communicating that and getting their blocking assignments.
"We did a nice job of controlling the ball and finishing drives. Cameron and Kaden had great games and Pat ran the ball really well."
The Bulldogs' defense - after surrendering 16 points in the second quarter - tightened up and locked down Bowling Green the rest of the way as the Bobcats ended up with 232 net yards, but only 75 rushing. Kaeden Jenkins - Bowling Green's skilled senior running back - gained 81 yards on 21 carries and had a 4-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
Bobcats senior quarterback Jacob Feldmann completed 12-of-26 passes for 157 yards, one touchdown and an interception. Feldmann found senior wide receiver Kaleb Worley for a 10-yard score in the second quarter.
"It was a challenge against Bowling Green because they gave us so many different formations, but we did a nice job of recognizing them and then getting into the right (defensive) fronts and swarming to the ball.
"We did a better job (in the second half) of defending the pass and keeping the quarterback in the pocket. We didn't allow the tight ends to get off the line and get free releases. We rallied to the ball whenever they caught it and didn't give up a lot of yards after the catch."
South Callaway secured the third seed in Class 2, District 7 with 40.44 points and will be at home for first-round play against No. 6 seed Cole Camp (6-3) next Friday night. The Bluebirds lost at Lincoln 32-6 on Friday night.
"We need to have a good week of practice and then we'll go out and play a football game," Hess said. "There is a sense of urgency and don't get me wrong about the idea of one-and-done, but if you think about it too much it will hurt you more than it will help."