The Mountain Grove Panthers football team knew they would have to play a mostly error free football game if they were going to knock off rival Ava on the road last Friday without the services of offensive threat Hollen Glenn in the lineup.
Unfortunately, the offense had four turnovers, which overshadowed an outstanding defensive effort in the second half in a 14-0 loss to the Bears. The Panthers’ defense held Ava to just 33 total yards in the final two quarters.
Early in the contest, the Panthers’ defense was strong on Ava’s first drive. Hunter Means had a tackle for a loss of two yards and Jase Dowden added a tackle for an eight yard loss leading to an Ava punt.
Mountain Grove’s offense then put together a nice drive that started on their own 32.
They marched the ball to Ava’s 33 before a costly personal foul pushed them back to midfield, leading to a punt.
Though Ava started their next drive on their own 4, they marched 96 yards on 10 plays. They had a big 38-yard passing play followed two plays later by a 33-yard touchdown run. A two-point conversion put the Bears up 8-0.
Three plays later, Mountain Grove quarterback Tyson Elliott, who took some hits in the game, had a pass intercepted.
On the next play, Ava scored on a 57-yard touchdown run. Their two-point conversion attempt failed, keeping the score at 14-0.
A highlight in the first half came on the Panthers next drive as punter Brendan Rogers booted a 51 yard kick.
Former Ava player Kaden Bruce picked up a big six yard sack on Ava’s next offensive play.
Just before the half, the Panthers had a big 12-yard passing play from Elliott to Dowden, but the Panthers couldn’t do any damage as they trailed 14-0 entering the locker room.
In the first half, Ava won the yardage battle 164-56.
Mountain Grove’s offense received the help of two pass interference penalties on Ava on their first drive of the second half to get the ball to midfield. They marched to the 27 before Elliott was sacked for a 13-yard loss.
They turned the ball over on downs, but the defense forced another Bears punt six plays later.
Elliott completed a pass to Rogers two plays later, but Rogers fumbled the ball away.
Jaxon Holman then had a sack to force the Bears to have a three-and-out.
Elliott went back to Rogers and had a 19-yard connection. The Panthers moved the ball to Ava’s 36 before a fumble ended the drive.
Bruce picked off an Ava pass three plays later to give the Panthers the ball on the Bears’ six. A costly false start penalty and a six-yard loss on a sack was too much to overcome as the Panthers turned the ball over on downs inside the 10.
Elliott connected with Rogers for a 30-yard play late in the fourth quarter, but fumbled the ball away two plays later to seal the win for Ava.
Elliott did come out of the game at one point with an apparent injury. Alex Casas led the offense for four plays.
In the loss, Elliott completed 9-of-19 passes for 90 yards and one interception.
Rogers had seven catches for 70 yards and eight carries for 12 yards.
Trenton Bevan led the Panthers on the ground with 12 carries for 37 yards.
The Panthers will host their Homecoming game this week against Willow Springs at 7 p.m. The Bears are 1-2, falling last week to Cabool, 19-14. They lost a week earlier in overtime to Marionville, 29-21. Their lone victory was a 42-0 clubbing of Clever.
