Marmaton Valley lost their second game of the season with a 74-26 loss against the St. Paul Indians on Friday night. They fall to 5-2 overall and 2-1 in district play as the Indians became league champions.
The game was initially competitive in the first half, but the Indians pulled away from the Wildcats with 46 unanswered points.
“I know this one is going to sting,” head coach Gavin Cole said. “This was one that our team really wanted.”
Marmaton Valley began the game with an opening 55-yard touchdown pass to Brock Hall from Justice Pugh. A flurry of big plays continued throughout the night, where St. Paul scored on a 61-yard touchdown pass by Braven Born to Caleb Pecca. The Wildcats stayed tough and scored on a 45-yard fumble return for a touchdown where Pugh pounced on an option pitch that became a live ball.
Things looked good after the Wildcats were up 20-8 after a third touchdown, but the Indians came back immediately on a kickoff return touchdown by Adam Albertini. Trevor Wilson regained the lead for the Wildcats with a 58-yard touchdown run, but that was the final scoring play for Marmaton Valley.
Pugh threw an interception after the Indians scored on a 32-yard touchdown pass to Pecca. St. Paul scored two more touchdowns before halftime, including a 38-yard touchdown pass to Pecca with nine seconds remaining.
Frustration on the kickoff resulted in one player being ejected from each team. Freshman Williams Lowder blocked a player and kept going after the whistle, drawing a confrontation with Joseph Hess of St. Paul. With a brief exchange of words and contact, the referees disqualified both of them.
“It’s something we talk about all the time,” Cole said about the ejection. “It’s being able to keep your head in situations where maybe you could lose it and you need to be in control of your emotions. Whether Hess punched him or not, his conduct on that play was wrong. He’s a freshman, so we’ll use it as a learning experience not just for him, but for the team. There’s a reason I preach this all the time, making sure plays like this don’t happen.”
Albertini scored on the kickoff to begin the second half and the Indians continued their dominance. Marmaton Valley was in the red zone twice during the third quarter, but a fumble and a pick-six resulted in two turnovers and no points.
Koby Spielbusch caught a 27-yard touchdown reception to put it out of reach. The game ended for good with a 60-yard touchdown pass to Keaton Kennedy with 1:08 left in the third quarter, drawing a mercy rule.
“Like the Greenfield game, we got off to a darn good start as we were right there in the game, but did some things that really hurt us,” Cole said. “We gave up a lot of long passes. Something that’s been a strength of ours this year is our pass defense. We struggled covering the deep routes. If you’re not fundamental and you don’t do your job against this team, it shows.”
The Wildcats had some early defensive stops with turnovers on downs but the speed of St. Paul would eventually slip past the MVHS defense. Of the 14 touchdowns scored by both teams combined, nine of them were plays of 40 yards or more.
Cole believes the team will have no trouble despite the loss. He feels they have things that can be fixed.
“I don’t think we’re a team that lacks confidence,” Cole said. “We’re a confident team coming into every game and we understand that every week gives you a different set of challenges. We can look at ourselves in our two losses saying ‘here’s what we did that hurt us’. At least we have that where it’s not just the other team having better athletes. We gotta clean up our turnovers and stop giving up those long pass plays.”
Marmaton Valley will be hosting West Elk next week for the final scheduled home game of the season.
