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Trailing 21-0 just 8 minutes into a football game instantly makes a come back attempt all the more difficult.
And when you toss in weather conditions unleashed by Mother Nature such as temperatures dipping to the upper 30s with strong wind gusts and a heavy downpour of rain - it makes that quest even more improbable.
That’s was the unfortunate story for the Moberly Spartans on Wednesday.
No. 5 state-ranked Harrrisonville took advantage of having the wind at its back in the first half of play, capitalized on three poor Moberly punts that quickly turned into points and would finish off the Spartans winning 43-0 in Class 4 regional playoff game making Moberly’s 3-hour road trip back home more uncomfortable.
It was the second straight year the Wildcats (10-1) shutdown Moberly in regionals, and the loss ended the 2011 football season for the Spartans (5-6).
Meanwhile Harrisonville (10-1) moves on and will make about a four and one-half hour trip east come Monday to battle hannibal (8-3) in sectionals.
“By far I am not taking anything away from Harrisonville. They are a proven football team that knows how to win a lot of games and play deep into the post-season the past 10 to 11 years. The weather conditions were very terrible, and that is saying it nicely and both teams had to deal with it,” said Moberly football coach Jason Ambroson. “But us making the long bus ride to play in a game like this and then having to play into the wind in the first half under such extreme conditions where you can’t punt the football forward or throw a pass for any kind of yardage, and when you’re offense is at its best operating in a shotgun position and having players go into motion but can’t because of the field conditions ... well that clearly went against us.”
“Harrisonville knew about that and capitalized. They put 8 guys in the box knowing that we had to run the football and running to the outside was not going to work as well as what we would have liked. They got off the snap quickly and dropped us at the line of scrimmage and for losses so I give them a lot of credit.”
Moberly often was pinned deep into its own territory and would give the Wildcats short field position.
Moberly’s first punt went just 22 yards and it was returned for a touchdown.
The second boot went fewer yards allowing Harrisonville to get position at around the Moberly 30, and the Wildcats would score on their second snap.
Moberly third possession also resulted in a punt, however, this time the kick was blocked and a Harrisonville player scooped up the football and ran it past the goal line untouched from short distance to deliver the Wildcats a 21-0 lead with plenty of game left to play.
In addition, on Moberly’s only decent drive of the night a 27-yard field goal attempt was blocked in the second quarter. The football was picked up and returned for an 80-yard touchdown en route to a 36-0 halftime score, and force a running clock to be used in the second half of play.
Moberly’s offense was held to less than 20 total yards for the entire game. Running back Dimija Smith had the only positive yards output gaining about 26 yards on 30 carries, with other Spartans recording lost yardage.
To read the rest of the story pick up a copy of the Nov. 4 newspaper.
Trailing 21-0 just 8 minutes into a football game instantly makes a come back attempt all the more difficult.
And when you toss in weather conditions unleashed by Mother Nature such as temperatures dipping to the upper 30s with strong wind gusts and a heavy downpour of rain - it makes that quest even more improbable.
That’s was the unfortunate story for the Moberly Spartans on Wednesday.
No. 5 state-ranked Harrrisonville took advantage of having the wind at its back in the first half of play, capitalized on three poor Moberly punts that quickly turned into points and would finish off the Spartans winning 43-0 in Class 4 regional playoff game making Moberly’s 3-hour road trip back home more uncomfortable.
It was the second straight year the Wildcats (10-1) shutdown Moberly in regionals, and the loss ended the 2011 football season for the Spartans (5-6).
Meanwhile Harrisonville (10-1) moves on and will make about a four and one-half hour trip east come Monday to battle hannibal (8-3) in sectionals.
“By far I am not taking anything away from Harrisonville. They are a proven football team that knows how to win a lot of games and play deep into the post-season the past 10 to 11 years. The weather conditions were very terrible, and that is saying it nicely and both teams had to deal with it,” said Moberly football coach Jason Ambroson. “But us making the long bus ride to play in a game like this and then having to play into the wind in the first half under such extreme conditions where you can’t punt the football forward or throw a pass for any kind of yardage, and when you’re offense is at its best operating in a shotgun position and having players go into motion but can’t because of the field conditions ... well that clearly went against us.”
“Harrisonville knew about that and capitalized. They put 8 guys in the box knowing that we had to run the football and running to the outside was not going to work as well as what we would have liked. They got off the snap quickly and dropped us at the line of scrimmage and for losses so I give them a lot of credit.”
Moberly often was pinned deep into its own territory and would give the Wildcats short field position.
Moberly’s first punt went just 22 yards and it was returned for a touchdown.
The second boot went fewer yards allowing Harrisonville to get position at around the Moberly 30, and the Wildcats would score on their second snap.
Moberly third possession also resulted in a punt, however, this time the kick was blocked and a Harrisonville player scooped up the football and ran it past the goal line untouched from short distance to deliver the Wildcats a 21-0 lead with plenty of game left to play.
In addition, on Moberly’s only decent drive of the night a 27-yard field goal attempt was blocked in the second quarter. The football was picked up and returned for an 80-yard touchdown en route to a 36-0 halftime score, and force a running clock to be used in the second half of play.
Moberly’s offense was held to less than 20 total yards for the entire game. Running back Dimija Smith had the only positive yards output gaining about 26 yards on 30 carries, with other Spartans recording lost yardage.
To read the rest of the story pick up a copy of the Nov. 4 newspaper.
