No. 7 T-Birds, defense destroy Wildcats

KINGDOM CITY, Mo. - North Callaway's defense just kept tormenting and taking.

The state-ranked Thunderbirds constantly pestered Montgomery County in Friday night's Class 2, District 5 first-round matchup, forcing 10 turnovers as top-seeded North Callaway thrashed the No. 8 Wildcats 60-7.

The Thunderbirds (9-1) - ranked seventh in Class 2 - converted four of those miscues into points and provided a defensive touchdown in preying on the Wildcats (4-6). North Callaway ended the regular season last week with a 55-21 Eastern Missouri Conference title-clinching romp at home over Montgomery County, but allowed 329 yards of total offense to the Wildcats.

"Coach (defensive coordinator Ross) Rosenbaum has done a great job with the guys on that side of the ball," Thunderbirds head coach Kevin O'Neal said. "They tend to respond to him in a very positive way.

"We didn't play real well last week, we had some things that we had to clean up. We challenged those guys all week and they came out and performed."

North Callaway badgered Montgomery County senior quarterback Aubrey Nelson a week after he threw two touchdown passes and ran for a score. The Thunderbirds sacked Nelson twice Friday night and intercepted him six times, including two apiece by junior cornerbacks Dawson Wright and Chet Cunningham.

North Callaway also recovered four fumbles by the Wildcats. Freshman backup cornerback Cody Cash gathered up a Nelson fumble and darted 48 yards for a touchdown with 9 minutes, 49 seconds left in the third quarter.

The Thunderbirds limited Montgomery County to a mostly harmless 212 yards of total offense, including a scant 45 yards rushing. The Wildcats' only score came on a Nelson 11-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Tim Hall midway through the second quarter.

"Creating turnovers and just playing fast, and rallying to the football - everything that we preach all the time, they came out and executed," O'Neal said of the superb defensive showing. " All 11 (players) did their job on almost every play."

Set up nicely by the defense, the Thunderbirds' offense came through on its side of the partnership. North Callaway - which logged 359 yards of total offense - scored on each of its first three possessions and seven of its nine first-half series.

The Thunderbirds' running game also profited from the return of senior running back Adam Reno, who missed last week's game after suffering a mild concussion in practice. Reno resumed where he left off after an exceptional month-long stretch, rushing for a game-high 133 yards and four touchdowns.

Reno did all of his work in the first half with North Callaway in control, carrying the ball 11 times and scoring on runs of 8, 2, 73 and 4 yards. He now has a remarkable 1,561 yards and 23 touchdowns on the season.

"Adam did a great job, he was ready to go tonight, he was pretty fired up - he was upset he missed last week," O'Neal said. "He really wanted to come out and perform in this game and I thought he did a good job.

"We limited him a little bit as we went through, but when he had his touches, he's a pretty special running back."

Sophomore quarterback Tully Thomsen was also back in the lineup after sitting out the second half last week as a precautionary measure when a lower back injury flared up. Thomsen - who was sacked three times Friday night - finished 5-of-10 for 135 yards and two touchdowns, all in the first half.

Thomsen hit junior running back Jordan Delashmutt with a pass out in the flat that turned into a 65-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown with 5:32 to play in the first quarter. Thomsen then connected with senior wide receiver Austin Edwards for an 11-yard score on fourth down with 4:38 left in the first half.

"Tully's good he had no pain tonight at all, so he's good to go," O'Neal said. "We tried to get the passing game in a little bit tonight because we needed to work on it - I wasn't real pleased with some of the things we did there.

"It's good to have it on film and that's something that we're going to work on and continue to improve on that aspect."

The Thunderbirds - possessing a nine-game winning streak - can now turn their attention to a District 5 semifinal clash at home this week with No. 5 seed Hallsville. The Indians (6-4) advanced with a 35-21 first-round victory at No. 4 seed Hermann on Friday night.

"Hallsville is a good football team," O'Neal said. "They're very good on the defensive side of the ball, so we're going to have our work cut out for us offensively.

"They've got some playmakers on their offensive side, so we're just going to have to continue to improve and do what we do."

No. 2 seed South Callaway - ranked 10th in Class 2 - will host No. 6 seed Father Tolton in the other District 5 semifinal this week. The Bulldogs (9-1) pounded No. 7 seed Principia 62-14 on Friday night, while Tolton (5-5) went on the road and bumped off No. 3 seed Brentwood 34-7.