SPORTS October 24, 2012 | The Marshfield Mail | 3B ROG: ‘We’re coming off two wins’ Continued from Page 2B Smith added, “They’ll line up in double-tight sometimes, and if they see they can just get up and smash you in the mouth, they’ll do that.” Rogersville and Salem have faced two common opponents this season in Ava and Mountain Grove. The Wildcats lost both of those matchups in back- to-back weeks to open the 2012 season. With a defense that featured 11 new starters, the Wildcats gave up 39 points in the season-opening loss to Mountain Grove (39-21), while a failed two-point conversion at the end of a loss to Ava (14-12) gave the Wildcats a two-game losing streak to begin the season. Salem, on the other hand, beat the Bears 23-20 Sept. 21. But the Tigers were thrashed by Mountain Grove — a title favorite in Class 2 — 48-7 Oct. 5. Defensively, Smith said he expects the Tigers to bring a lot of pressure against his offense. “They’re a 3-4 defense that just blitzes and plays man,” he said. “It’s feast or famine with that type of defense. It’s not ‘bend but don’t break.’ When you run that defense, you’re either wreaking havoc, or giving up big plays.” Smith is hoping the latter scenario plays out for his offense. The key to that, he said, is running quick plays to keep the pressure off balance. “We’ve got to be able to run kick-out running plays,” he said. “Anytime they’re adding extra guys (in the box), you’ve got to get movement and hit the seams. Half the stuff we throw, we’ll have to throw quick, just for pro- tection purposes.” A lot will depend upon the health of senior quar- terback Evan Gruener, who was carted off the field during last week’s win over Buffalo. Smith said his senior gunsling- er is day-to-day, and will likely take things lightly in practice this week. Regardless of per- sonnel, there shouldn’t be any surprises for the Wildcats’ offense this week, Smith said. “By this time of year, we’ve faced every type of defense there is,” he said. “It just comes down to executing. We can’t give them short fields, can’t turn it over, can’t have five-yard punts and mis- takes like that. We can’t do anything that lets them have short fields.” Despite the Wildcats’ losing record (4-5), Smith is hoping his team can build momentum off back-to-back wins to end the season, and carry that over into the playoffs. “We’re coming off two wins,” he said. “We know the opponents haven’t been the highest (quality) opponents, but winning just does a lot for you, no matter who you’re playing.” If the Wildcats can win on Thursday, it’ll set up a Halloween showdown with the winner of Osage and Versailles. The No. 2 seed Indians are the heavy favorite over a 2-7 Versailles squad, poten- tially setting up a clash of powerful offenses in the district semifinals. Osage lost in the Class 3 semifi- nals last season to John Burroughs — the team Rogersville eventually knocked off in the title game, 21-14. No matter the oppo- nent, the Wildcats know they’ll likely be on the road for all of the post- season. But that may not be such a bad thing, Smith said. “About four years ago, we became something of road warriors,” Smith said. “We even had ‘Road Warriors’ T-Shirts made up just because we had to play on the road a bunch. I don’t have a problem with that, because you get (the team) on the bus and get them focused. They get away from a lot of distractions.” A pair of wins would likely set up a rematch with No. 1 seed Spring- field Catholic to decide the district crown. It’d be a welcomed rematch, Smith said, considering his squad lost 14-10 Sept. 7, playing half the game without Gruener. But for now, Smith said, the Wildcats are concerned with Salem. However, Class 3, District 3 could be up for grabs, he said. “I think (Salem) will be our toughest matchup,” Smith said. “But of the top six teams in this dis- trict, anybody can win it. It’s just going to come down to who’s locked in and who executes.” The Wildcats and the Tigers kick off at 7 p.m. Thursday in Salem. You can follow all the action live by visiting our Wild- cat Blog at www.south- countymail.com/sports, then check back after the game for a complete sto- ry and photo gallery. Plenty of medals for Jays, Wildcats at COC swim meet Marshfield and Lo- gan-Rogersville took home a pile of medals after the Central Ozark Conference swim meet in Springfield last week. Despite stiff com- petition from bigger schools Webb City, Car- thage, Ozark and Nixa, the Jays and Wildcats scored a bevy of top-10 finishes. Rogersville’s Na- than Roy and Ethan Evans highlighted the bunch, taking home first place in the 50- yard freestyle and 100- yard backstroke events, respectively. Evans’s time of 58.34 was good enough to qualify him for the state swim meet, which will be held Nov. 9-10 in St. Peters. Eli Simmon finished ninth in the 50-yard freestyle, followed by Blake Foreman in 12th, and Scott Townlian in 19th. Simmon also finished fourth in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:08.13, followed by Chayne Standage in ninth place. Marshfield’s Wes Kl- eeman finished fifth in the 50 freestyle event with a time of 25.14, followed by Tristan Boles in 13th. The Blue Jays’ 200- yard medley relay squad, made up of Kl- eeman, Nick Carroll, Tyler Stepp and Dylan Whitlock took home third place in the event with a time of 1:59:94. Rogersville team of Ev- ans, Simon, Roy and Andrew Wilson finished just 0.77 seconds be- hind the Jays for fourth in event with a time of 2:00.71. Whitlock took home second place for the Jays in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:02.59, less than three seconds behind the leader. Kelby Lorenz also placed in the top 10 of the event, taking home ninth place with a time of 1:15.87. Stepp continued the Jays’ top-10 trend with a sixth-place finish in the 200-yard individu- al medley, clocking in with a time of 2:32.80. Brandon Mackey also recorded a top-10 finish, claiming 10th place in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 1:02.18, just ahead of teammate Carroll, who finished in1:03.59. Whitlock and Car- roll finished fifth and eighth, respectively, in the 100-yard back- stroke, with times of 1:09.74 and 1:15.13. Stepp rounded out the Jays’ top 10 finish- ers, claiming fourth in the 100-yard breast- stroke with a time of 1:10.81, just 0.19 be- hind third place. Blake Foreman fin- ished the 100 breast- stroke in 10th place for Rogersville, clocking in at 1:21.28. The Wildcats’ also got into the top 10 thanks to Wilson’s 6:11.51, sixth-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle, and Roy’s third-place finish in the 100 freestyle with a time of 52.63. Rogersville and Marshfield finished fifth and sixth, respec- tively, in the 200 free- style relay, rounding out both teams’ top 10 finishes. The Wildcats and Blue Jays finished in the same order in overall standings, as well, with Rogersville scoring 156 total points to Marsh- field’s 129. Contributed photo Above, Marshfield medal winners, from left, Tyler Stepp, Dylan Whitlock and Wes Klee- man, pose after taking home a bevy of top-10 finishes at the COC meet last week in Springfield. Neighbor News photo by Brett Christie Right, Rogersville’s Ethan Evans takes home first place in the 100-yard backstroke at the COC swim meet in Springfield last week. Evans’s time of 58.34 qualified him for the state meet to be held Nov. 9-10 in St. Peters. PRESENTS It's easy, fun, and free to play online. Go log-in right now to get started! 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SPORTS October 24, 2012 | The Marshfield Mail | 3B
ROG: ‘We’re coming off two wins’Continued from Page 2B
Smith added, “They’ll line up in double-tight sometimes, and if they see they can just get up and smash you in the mouth, they’ll do that.”
Rogersville and Salem have faced two common opponents this season in Ava and Mountain Grove. The Wildcats lost both of those matchups in back-to-back weeks to open the 2012 season. With a defense that featured 11 new starters, the Wildcats gave up 39 points in the season-opening loss to Mountain Grove (39-21), while a failed two-point conversion at the end of a loss to Ava (14-12) gave the Wildcats a two-game losing streak to begin the season.
Salem, on the other hand, beat the Bears 23-20 Sept. 21. But the Tigers were thrashed by Mountain Grove — a title favorite in Class 2 — 48-7 Oct. 5.
Defensively, Smith said he expects the Tigers to bring a lot of pressure against his offense.
“They’re a 3-4 defense that just blitzes and plays man,” he said. “It’s feast or famine with that type of defense. It’s not ‘bend but don’t break.’ When you run that defense, you’re either wreaking havoc, or giving up big plays.”
Smith is hoping the latter scenario plays out for his offense. The key to that, he said, is running quick plays to keep the pressure off balance.
“We’ve got to be able to run kick-out running plays,” he said. “Anytime they’re adding extra guys (in the box), you’ve got to get movement and hit the seams. Half the stuff we throw, we’ll have to throw quick, just for pro-tection purposes.”
A lot will depend upon the health of senior quar-terback Evan Gruener, who was carted off the field during last week’s win over Buffalo. Smith said his senior gunsling-er is day-to-day, and will likely take things lightly
in practice this week.Regardless of per-
sonnel, there shouldn’t be any surprises for the Wildcats’ offense this week, Smith said.
“By this time of year, we’ve faced every type of defense there is,” he said. “It just comes down to executing. We can’t give them short fields, can’t turn it over, can’t have five-yard punts and mis-takes like that. We can’t do anything that lets them have short fields.”
Despite the Wildcats’ losing record (4-5), Smith is hoping his team can build momentum off back-to-back wins to end the season, and carry that over into the playoffs.
“We’re coming off two wins,” he said. “We know the opponents haven’t been the highest (quality) opponents, but winning just does a lot for you, no matter who you’re playing.”
If the Wildcats can win on Thursday, it’ll set up a Halloween showdown with the winner of Osage and Versailles. The No. 2 seed Indians are the heavy favorite over a 2-7 Versailles squad, poten-tially setting up a clash of powerful offenses in the district semifinals. Osage lost in the Class 3 semifi-nals last season to John Burroughs — the team Rogersville eventually knocked off in the title game, 21-14.
No matter the oppo-nent, the Wildcats know they’ll likely be on the road for all of the post-season. But that may not be such a bad thing, Smith said.
“About four years ago, we became something of road warriors,” Smith said. “We even had ‘Road Warriors’ T-Shirts made up just because we had to play on the road a bunch. I don’t have a problem with that, because you get (the team) on the bus and get them focused. They get away from a lot of distractions.”
A pair of wins would likely set up a rematch with No. 1 seed Spring-
field Catholic to decide the district crown. It’d be a welcomed rematch, Smith said, considering his squad lost 14-10 Sept. 7, playing half the game without Gruener.
But for now, Smith said, the Wildcats are concerned with Salem. However, Class 3, District 3 could be up for grabs, he said.
“I think (Salem) will be our toughest matchup,” Smith said. “But of the top six teams in this dis-trict, anybody can win it. It’s just going to come down to who’s locked in and who executes.”
The Wildcats and the Tigers kick off at 7 p.m. Thursday in Salem. You can follow all the action live by visiting our Wild-cat Blog at www.south-countymail.com/sports, then check back after the game for a complete sto-ry and photo gallery.
Plenty of medals for Jays, Wildcats at COC swim meetMarshfield and Lo-
gan-Rogersville took home a pile of medals after the Central Ozark Conference swim meet in Springfield last week.
Despite stiff com-petition from bigger schools Webb City, Car-thage, Ozark and Nixa, the Jays and Wildcats scored a bevy of top-10 finishes.
Rogersville’s Na-than Roy and Ethan Evans highlighted the bunch, taking home first place in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke events, respectively.
Evans’s time of 58.34 was good enough to qualify him for the state swim meet, which will be held Nov. 9-10 in St. Peters.
Eli Simmon finished ninth in the 50-yard freestyle, followed by Blake Foreman in 12th, and Scott Townlian in 19th. Simmon also finished fourth in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:08.13, followed by Chayne Standage in ninth place.
Marshfield’s Wes Kl-eeman finished fifth in the 50 freestyle event with a time of 25.14, followed by Tristan Boles in 13th.
The Blue Jays’ 200-yard medley relay squad, made up of Kl-eeman, Nick Carroll, Tyler Stepp and Dylan Whitlock took home third place in the event with a time of 1:59:94. Rogersville team of Ev-ans, Simon, Roy and Andrew Wilson finished
just 0.77 seconds be-hind the Jays for fourth in event with a time of 2:00.71.
Whitlock took home second place for the Jays in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:02.59, less than three seconds behind the leader. Kelby Lorenz also placed in the top 10 of the event, taking home ninth place with a time of 1:15.87.
Stepp continued the Jays’ top-10 trend with a sixth-place finish in the 200-yard individu-al medley, clocking in with a time of 2:32.80.
Brandon Mackey also recorded a top-10
finish, claiming 10th place in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 1:02.18, just ahead of teammate Carroll, who finished in1:03.59.
Whitlock and Car-roll finished fifth and eighth, respectively, in the 100-yard back-stroke, with times of 1:09.74 and 1:15.13.
Stepp rounded out the Jays’ top 10 finish-ers, claiming fourth in the 100-yard breast-stroke with a time of 1:10.81, just 0.19 be-hind third place.
Blake Foreman fin-ished the 100 breast-stroke in 10th place for Rogersville, clocking in
at 1:21.28.The Wildcats’ also got
into the top 10 thanks to Wilson’s 6:11.51, sixth-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle, and Roy’s third-place finish in the 100 freestyle with a time of 52.63.
Rogersville and Marshfield finished fifth and sixth, respec-tively, in the 200 free-
style relay, rounding out both teams’ top 10 finishes.
The Wildcats and Blue Jays finished in the
same order in overall standings, as well, with Rogersville scoring 156 total points to Marsh-field’s 129.
Contributed photoAbove, Marshfield medal winners, from left, Tyler Stepp, Dylan Whitlock and Wes Klee-man, pose after taking home a bevy of top-10 finishes at the COC meet last week in Springfield.
Neighbor News photo by Brett ChristieRight, Rogersville’s Ethan Evans takes home first place in the 100-yard backstroke at the COC swim meet in Springfield last week. Evans’s time of 58.34 qualified him for the state meet to be held Nov. 9-10 in St. Peters.
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