MOKANE - This certainly brightened the South Callaway Bulldogs' disposition.
South Callaway stabilized its running game by gaining 284 yards and the Bulldogs' defense forced five turnovers, returning one for a score, in a 53-8 rampage over Clopton/Elsberry in Friday night's Eastern Missouri Conference opener.
Playing its first home game of the season, South Callaway (2-1) bounced back in fine fashion after last week's stunning 48-0 loss at Southern Boone.
"It was a fun night - it was good to be back in front of our home crowd," Bulldogs head coach Zack Hess said. "It was a sigh of relief to get that one out of the way. We're back on track, hopefully.
"Everybody was in a better mood; we needed this one."
South Callaway flourished with its running attack after being limited to 106 yards on the ground last week. Six different players ran for touchdowns Friday night, with senior running back Cameron Richardson leading the way with a pair of scores.
Richardson got the Bulldogs started on a 9-yard touchdown run with 6 minutes, 12 seconds to go in the first quarter, then added a 1-yard score at the 7:45 mark of the second quarter.
Senior running back Patrick Barnard - making his first appearance of the season in returning from a knee injury - followed with another 1-yard touchdown run for South Callaway with 1:15 remaining in the first half. The Bulldogs carried a 26-8 lead into halftime after Clopton/Elsberry (1-2) tallied its lone score on junior quarterback Stephen Talbert's 33-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Kevin Hammett with :39 left.
South Callaway then padded its lead in the third quarter on a 1-yard scoring run by senior quarterback Ethan Livengood at the 10:12 mark and junior running back Harley Kight's 26-yard touchdown burst just :37 later.
Sophomore running back Austin Meyer and freshman running back Peyton Leeper closed out the Bulldogs' scoring with a pair of 3-yard touchdown runs in the fourth quarter.
Kight paced South Callaway with a game-high 70 yards on just seven carries and Barnard added 69 yards in 13 attempts. Richardson also had 48 yards on only seven carries.
"Our offensive line did a nice job of opening holes and sustaining blocks," Hess said. "It was nice having Patrick Barnard back to play the "B' back position, which allowed us to use some other players at "A' back.
"That helped our running game and was important tonight."
Livengood completed 7-of-9 passes for 101 yards with an interception. His brother, sophomore wide receiver Jarrett Livengood, had two catches for a team-high 60 yards.
"The timing with our running game helped open up our passing game, and we were able to run some play-action," Hess said. "The receivers did a good job of catching the ball, looking it in and then getting upfield."
The Bulldogs's defense provided its score Friday night when senior linebacker Levi Mealy returned an interception 45 yards for a touchdown with 2:45 left in the first quarter. South Callaway - which picked off Talbert four times and also recovered a fumble - gave up 205 total yards.
"We got some good pressure on (Talbert) and did a better job of containing him," Hess said. "We swarmed to the ball better and we tackled better. We were more physical and played with more energy."
The Bulldogs return to the road for the third time this season when they travel to EMO foe Van-Far this week. The Indians (2-1) started conference play with a 41-0 loss at Mark Twain on Friday night.