Football: Mark Twain stuns Thunderbirds

KINGDOM CITY - This one was even more piercing for the North Callaway Thunderbirds.

North Callaway watched its chances for a second straight Eastern Missouri Conference title vanish and its district seed prospects take a hit in a devastating 24-22 conference loss to the Mark Twain Tigers on Friday night.

The Thunderbirds suffered their second loss in a row, dipping to 6-2 overall and 4-2 in the conference. The South Callaway Bulldogs (7-1, 6-0) wrapped up the EMO championship with a 41-21 victory at Wright City on Friday night.

Ahead of next Friday night's annual Callaway Cup showdown in Mokane, North Callaway was also forced to switch places with South Callaway in the Class 3, District 5 standings. The Bulldogs now possess the second seed with 44.38 points and the Thunderbirds dropped to the third seed with 41.2.

Mark Twain - which had lost five straight at one point - earned its second consecutive win, improving to 3-5 on the season and 2-4 in the EMO.

"Mark Twain did a lot better job of converting both offensively and defensively in key moments," North Callaway head coach Kevin O'Neal said. "We didn't, especially in the second half."

The Thunderbirds pulled within the final margin when junior quarterback Jadon Henry threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to sophomore running back Cody Cash with 7 minutes, 51 seconds left in the game. Henry then connected with senior wide receiver Dawson Wright for the two-point conversion to make it 24-22.

North Callaway had one last opportunity to make a desperate comeback, getting the ball at its own 30-yard line with 2:14 to play. The Thunderbirds picked up three first downs in moving to the Tigers' 17.

However, after three incompletions, Henry's fourth-down scramble was stopped just shy of a first down at the Mark Twain 7 with :37 remaining.

North Callaway got off to an encouraging start, taking an early lead on senior running back Dakota Brush's 70-yard touchdown run and two-point conversion with 6:31 to go in the first quarter. The Tigers closed within 8-6 on junior running back Avery Epperson's 1-yard touchdown run with :19 left.

Mark Twain then took the lead when junior running back Jace Barton scored on a 9-yard run at the 8:43 mark of the second quarter. Barton broke out for a game-high 195 yards rushing on 31 carries as the Tigers finished with 247 yards on the ground in 56 attempts.

The Thunderbirds went back in front at 14-12 on a 28-yard touchdown run from senior running back Jordan Delashmutt with 7:00 to play in the first half. North Callaway failed on the two-point conversion attempt.

Mark Twain regained the lead for good on a 32-yard touchdown run by junior running back Logan Perrigo with 5:19 remaining in the third quarter. Another 1-yard touchdown run from Epperson put the Tigers up 24-14 with 11:57 to go in the game.

Brush gained 122 yards on 12 carries as the Thunderbirds logged 220 yards rushing on 23 carries. Delashmutt followed with 77 yards in just eight attempts.

Henry completed 11-of-23 passes for 134 yards and was intercepted once. Wright had a team-high five catches for 42 yards and Cash tallied three receptions for 41 yards.

Ryan Boland can be reached at (573) 826-2422, or on Twitter @FultonSunSports.