NEOSHO, Mo. — The Branson Pirates simply had the juice on Friday night, defeating the Neosho Wildcats 49-15.
Branson (2-2) struck early, on an 83-yard pass from Tristan Pierce to Brady Blackwell on the second play of their second drive with 4:13 to go in the first quarter.
Neosho (0-4) answered back quickly with a 77-yard run by Talon Mitchell on the first play of their second drive, tying up the contest, 7-7.
With eight seconds left in the first quarter, Branson’s Cristian Berumen struck from 2 yards out, and after his own PAT kick, the Pirates led 14-7.
After a brief back and forth, Branson struck again with 4:32 to go in the first half on an Ethan Jones 8-yard run to make the score 21-7 going into the half.
The third quarter opened with a 29-yard touchdown pass from Pierce to Blackwell to extend the Branson lead to 28-7 with 10:40 to go in the period.
Only minutes later, Neosho fumbled — the first of four turnovers in the first six minutes of the half — and the Pirates recovered on their own 5-yard line. After back-to-back penalties pushing them back 15 yards, Branson struck again with Berumen punching it in from the 2-yard line on a second effort — his second TD of the game — with 6:40 to go in the period to make the score 35-7.
After another Wildcat fumble, just 13 seconds later, Pierce hit Blackwell again from 25 yards out for a score, bringing the advantage to 42-7.
As time expired in the third, Branson’s Colsen Conway ran in from the 6-yard line to make the score 49-7.
Neosho’s Noah Reed, with just 4:13 left in the game, put the Wildcats back on the board with an 8-yard run before scoring on the two-point conversion for the final margin of 49-15.
TALE OF THE TAPE
Branson had 52 plays for 473 yards of total offense. Pierce was 13-of-20 for 275 yards and three touchdowns. Blackwell had seven receptions for 205 yards and three touchdowns. Beruman had 12 carries for 61 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Neosho had a total of 48 plays for 180 yards, including 175 rushing yards.
UP NEXT
Neosho travels to undefeated Nixa.
Branson travels to Carthage.
