Cougar running game leaves Tigers in the dust
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By Kent Coultas
Ryan Moore and Lathan Barnett combined for 315 rushing yards and five touchdowns as West Central beat Beardstown, 43-6, Sept. 3 at Winchester.
West Central (2-0) will play Calhoun (0-2) Friday at 7 p.m. It will be Homecoming for the Cougars. Calhoun lost at Mendon Unity, 32-6, last week.
Beardstown received the opening kick and turned the ball over downs at its own 42-yard line after four plays.
Moore had a seven-yard run, and Barnett a 10-yard run on West Central’s ensuing possession. Chance Little caught a 21-yard pass from Tyson Brown to move the ball to the 4-yard line. Barnett scored on a 1-yard run with 7:11 remaining in the first quarter. Landon Barnett caught a pass from Brown for the conversion.
The score stayed that way until early in the second quarter.
Beardstown reached the West Central 21-yard line before turning the ball over on downs.
Moore scored on a 68-yard run three plays later to give the Cougars a 14-0 lead. Parker Hoots caught a pass from Brown for the conversion.
Beardstown scored its only touchdown of game later in the quarter after recovering a fumble on a punt. Owen Quigley caught a 34-yard pass from Jacob Pate to cut the Cougars’ lead to 16-6 with 2:03 remaining in the first half.
West Central scored two touchdowns in the third quarter and allowed Beardstown to run just four plays.
The Cougars drove 70 yards in 12 plays. Moore capped the drive by scoring on a 16-yard run. Brown ran for the conversion to extend West Central’s lead to 24-6 with 6:23 remaining in the quarter.
Brown recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, and West Central had a first down at the Beardstown 38-yard line.
Lathan Barnett capped off the drive by scoring on a 20-yard run with 3:18 remaining in the third quarter, and West Central led 30-6.
Beardstown finally gained possession after the kickoff but turned the ball over after four plays. Landon Barnett had a quarterback on fourth down to give West Central possession.
Lathan Barnett ran three times for 16 yards during the ensuing drive. Moore ran twice for 29 yards and scored on a 20 yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Landon Barnett scored on a 4-yard run with 3:22 remaining in the game and kicked the conversion for the final points of the game.
Beardstown had just 58 yards of total offense and three first downs in the game. Tigers finished with a negative 5 yards rushing on 20 attempts and completed seven of 19 passes for 63 yards. Beardstown had six fumbles in the game and lost two of those.
The Cougars gained 428 yards of offense and had 23 first downs. They rushed for 356 yards on 60 attempts.
Moore rushed for 170 yards on 16 attempts, and Lathan Barnett rushed for 145 yards on 29 attempts. Little rushed for 33 yards on nine attempts. Landon Barnett rushed for five yards on two attempts.
Brown completed five of 14 attempts for 72 yards. Landon Barnett caught two passes for 15 yards. Moore caught one pass for 33 yards, and Little caught one pass for 21 yards. Hoots caught one pass for three yqards.
Lathan Barnett had nine tackles and recovered a fumble for West Central’s defense. Landon Barnett and Eli Brown each had six tackles, including two for losses. Moore had five tackles, including one for a loss.
