LAMAR, Mo. — A hyped rivalry game featuring a pair of state-ranked teams did not live up to top billing, as the Lamar Tigers flattened the Nevada Tigers 47-26 on Friday night.
“It’s always satisfying to get a rivalry week victory,” said Lamar coach Jared Beshore.
Nevada has not defeated Lamar since 2004, but entered the “Silver Tiger” game with a 5-1 record and fresh off a 62-7 thrashing of Cassville.
A Nevada team that had eclipsed 60 points three times this season did not resemble its usual self, generating a paltry 27 yards of offense in the first half. Lamar, meanwhile, scored early and often, receiving first quarter rushing touchdowns from tailback Austin Wilkerson and quarterback Alex Wilkerson.
Filling in for injured signal-caller Joel Beshore, Alex Wilkerson capped off a methodical scoring drive with his second rushing touchdown of the contest. The 8-yard scamper, followed by Jose Juarez’s extra point, handed Lamar a commanding 21-0 advantage with 10:08 remaining in the half.
Nevada broke through late in the half via Ken Johnson’s pick six. A 235-pound defensive lineman, Johnson corralled a batted-ball and rumbled 60 yards to paydirt. With the 2-point conversion tacked on, Nevada trailed 21-8.
Lamar (6-1) quickly marched downfield on the ensuing possession, highlighted by Ty Willhite’s catch-and-run to the Nevada 1-yard line. Austin Wilkerson barreled in from a yard out on first down, and Lamar led 27-8 at the half.
Nevada struck first in the second half. On third and long, quarterback Cade Beshore connected with running back Avious Steadman for a 68-yard touchdown strike. The 2-point attempt was snuffed out, and Nevada trailed 27-14.
Lamar responded with consecutive scoring drives. The first came on a 1-yard Austin Wilkerson rush. The second was more dramatic, as Willhite hauled in a pass on 4th and 15 and bolted down the left sideline for the 26-yard touchdown — staking Lamar to a 39-14 advantage en route to convincing victory.
After absorbing its first defeat of the season in Week 4 against Seneca, Coach Beshore said he’s pleased with the way his squad has bounced back from the upset defeat.
Coach Beshore specifically referenced last week’s 40-point thumping of McDonald County, as well as the Silver Tiger triumph.
“For the second week in a row our kids put out effort that impressed me,” Beshore said. “The message after Seneca was ‘Where can we get better at?’ We took a hard look in the mirror at ourself after that game and really challenged our kids on the things they were struggling with, and they accepted the challenge.”
The display of force was so resounding that even Beshore was surprised.
“I didn’t know they had this in them until last week when I saw that effort against Mac County,” he said. “So we challenged our kids this week to duplicate that and even one-up that effort we put out last week — and our kids accepted the challenge and stepped up. I’m very proud of how hard they played. They deserved this win.”
Beshore said he treated Nevada as a formidable foe.
“Here’s the thing about Nevada — they do what they do, and they do it really well,” he said, referring to Nevada’s run-heavy offense led by Steadman. “What you see is what you get — but they do it extremely well. Our kids had to step up and win the physicality battle.”
With Joel Beshore sustaining a knee injury in last week’s dismantling of McDonald County, Jared Beshore said Alex Wilkerson filled in admirably.
“We always knew he was capable and he got to showcase that tonight,” he said, adding that Joel Beshore is only expected to miss one or two weeks of action. Coach Beshore added that having a backup quarterback of Alex Wilkerson’s caliber allows him to sleep easier.
“We’ve always had the mantra here at Lamar that ‘We don’t reload, we rebuild,’” Beshore said. “So when a guy goes down it doesn’t matter who they are on the team — we have kids that are willing to step up and take on those roles. Alex did an outstanding job tonight of running the football, throwing the football, and commanding our offense. He’s also playing defense too.”
Nevada coach Wes Beachler was downtrodden when discussing his team’s flat offensive performance.
“We didn’t get our feet under us on offense,” he said. “We had some busted assignments early and weren’t able to generate any yardage to get first downs and move the ball.”
Beachler said an inability to move the ball was too much to overcome.
“That’s the whole key to playing with Lamar. You have to be able to move the ball, keep their offense off the field and get points on the board,” he said. “You can’t spot them 21.”
Beachler said he had no regrets regarding his decision to punt the ball on multiple fourth and shorts while working with good field position in the first half.
“We were trying to play field position in a game like this, and trying not to give them a short field,” he said. “We didn’t cover punts very well so we didn’t flip the field entirely — but that was the thought at the time.”
Beachler said he anticipated a better showing from his squad.
“After having very few busts on offense or defense last week, and being very assignment and technique-sound, tonight we weren’t very sound on fundamentals — or on our assignments on both sides of the ball. So that was kind of a shock to me.”
Up Next
Ranked fourth in Class 2, Lamar hits the road for a Big 8 West clash with Cassville, while Class 4 No. 8 Nevada returns home to host Monett.
