KINGDOM CITY, Mo. - The North Callaway Thunderbirds defense was a menace, and that meant misery for Wright City senior quarterback Sean McDonald.
North Callaway sacked McDonald six times and limited Wright City to a sparse 25 yards of total offense as the state-ranked Thunderbirds punished the Wildcats in a 43-7 Eastern Missouri Conference homecoming rout Friday night.
The victory was the fifth in a row for North Callaway, ranked ninth in Class 2. The Thunderbirds are now 5-1 on the season and remained unbeaten in the EMO at 4-0.
"We challenged our defense all week - we knew that (Wright City) had some skill players offensively and we needed to make sure that we were assignment-sound," North Callaway head coach Kevin O'Neal said. "Hats off to all 11 of those guys."
McDonald came into Friday night completing 62 percent of his passes and averaging 279.2 yards per game, but North Callaway's defense made a mess of those numbers. Constantly under duress by the Thunderbirds' dogged pass rush, McDonald was a dreadful 5-of-19 for just 69 yards, a touchdown late in the game after the outcome had long been decided and an interception.
North Callaway tossed McDonald for losses totalling 54 yards, a prime factor in the Wildcats (3-3, 2-2) finishing in the red with minus-44 yards rushing as a team. The Thunderbirds' defense also accounted for a little scoring when junior lineman Mark Isgrig tackled Wright City freshman running back Branden Contreras in the end zone for a safety in the third quarter.
"We had good (pass) coverage, the D-line did a good job, our linebackers, getting pressure on him (McDonald), making him uncomfortable in the pocket," O'Neal said. "Defensively, they just shut down a very good offense.
"That's what we wanted to do - they were out of their comfort zone tonight because of the things we were doing defensively. I'm very proud of the guys on that side of the ball, they worked really hard this week in practice. Coach (Ronnie) Kimbley did a great job with the defensive backs, challenging those guys, and I thought they stepped up tonight."
North Callaway struck quickly on offense Friday night, scoring on two of its first three possessions. Junior running back Jordan Delashmutt hammered his way into the end zone from 1 yard out with 7 minutes, 20 seconds left in the first quarter to put the Thunderbirds on the scoreboard.
Senior running back Adam Reno then made it 14-0 on an 11-yard touchdown run with 9:55 to play in the second quarter. To the Wildcats' credit, some defensive fixes kept it at a two-score game going into halftime.
After a forceful talk from O'Neal and his coaching staff at the break, North Callaway proceeded to pull away in the second half. Following Isgrig's safety, senior wide receiver Austin Edwards took the ensuing free kick and raced 76 yards for a touchdown to put the Thunderbirds up 23-0 at the 7:32 mark of the third quarter.
Wright City went three-and-out on its next series and North Callaway answered again to extend its lead. On the third play of the Thunderbirds' possession, Edwards bolted 40 yards for a score on a trap play with 5:29 remaining in the quarter.
Sophomore quarterback Tully Thomsen gave the Thunderbirds a commanding 36-0 edge when he connected with junior wide receiver Dawson Wright on a 19-yard touchdown pass with 11:53 to go in the game. The Wildcats, though, avoided the shutout on McDonald's 19-yard scoring lob to senior wide receiver Devon Holmes on fourth down with 7:29 left.
North Callaway sophomore running back Bradley Berry capped off the scoring on a 3-yard touchdown run with 1:31 to play.
Reno rushed for a game-high 200 yards on 24 carries as the Thunderbirds amassed 387 yards of total offense. Reno was coming off a 225-yard, four-touchdown rampage in last week's 73-8 EMO blitz at Clopton/Elsberry.
Thomsen finished 5-of-6 passing Friday night for 91 yards and threw his first interception of the season.
"Offensively in that first half we didn't do a whole lot - we did some stuff early and then they kind of changed some things up and shut us down," O'Neal said. "They were slanting and pinching, and blitzing different guys, and it confused us a little bit on the offensive line.
"We went into halftime, talked sternly to those guys and got them straightened out, and we came out and did some things in the second half. We moved the ball well and got the running game established again."
North Callaway goes on the road this week for an EMO contest at Van-Far/Community R-6. The Indians (4-2, 2-2) stopped a two-game losing streak with a 30-6 EMO victory at home over Clopton/Elsberry on Friday night.
"This is another step to where we want to go," O'Neal said. "I think we're going in the right direction and I'm proud of these kids, coming and working hard every week."
Ryan Boland can be reached at (573) 826-2422, or on Twitter @FultonSunSports.