By Matt Newbery
sports@joplinglobe.com
LAMAR, Mo. — The Lamar Tigers controlled El Dorado Springs on both sides of the ball as they picked up their fourth consecutive victory and advanced in the Missouri Class 2 playoffs with a 28-0 blanking of the Bulldogs on Wednesday night at Thomas M. O’Sullivan Stadium.
The Tigers (5-6) have outscored their foes by a 157-8 margin during the winning streak and will play host to Pierce City in the sectional round. PCHS, which lost at Lamar 35-0 back on Oct. 23, handed fourth-ranked Warsaw a 14-12 setback to set up the rematch.
LHS rolled up 290 yards on the ground and held the ball for more than 33 minutes, setting the pace with two long possessions to open the game. Sophomore running back Markell White finished with 130 rushing yards on 27 carries and two scores.
Meanwhile, the Tigers’ defense held the Bulldogs (6-5) to 149 yards during their limited time with the football. El Dorado Springs was forced out of its wishbone rushing attack after falling behind while getting only 16 rushing yards in the first half. The Bulldogs had just 40 ground yards on the night.
“We talked to our kids all week about having to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball,” Lamar head coach Scott Bailey said. “The games (El Dorado Springs) won, they controlled that (aspect).
“I was glad to see us on defense stop their running game and force them to throw.”
LHS forced three turnovers — two interceptions and a fumble — and did not allow the Bulldogs to convert on any of their four fourth-down attempts.
The Tigers’ offense chewed up 8:08 off the first-quarter clock by running 15 plays — 14 on the ground — to cover 70 yards. White’s eighth carry of the drive finished things off as he scored on a sweep from a yard out to make it 7-0 with 3:52 to go in the period.
Lamar converted four consecutive third-down situations en route to the opening score, with White catching the only pass attempt on the march from senior quarterback Trenton Doyle of 18 yards to get the Tigers’ first first down of the game.
“That first drive was huge,” Bailey said. “When our kids realize they can run the ball on somebody, they get a whole lot of confidence, and that spills over into everything they do.”
The Bulldogs’ best penetration into Lamar territory came on their first drive as they moved from their own 20 to the Tigers’ 19. Junior signal-caller Kanon Hoover was looking for senior wide receiver Cole Whitesell on an out route on fourth-and-3, but Whitesell didn’t make the cut and the pass sailed out of bounds.
El Dorado Springs managed to only get as deep as the Lamar 39 after that point. Hoover finished 8-of-26 passing for 109 yards and the two picks.
The Tigers came up empty on a drive of nearly seven minutes in the second quarter when consecutive fumbles by Doyle forced what would be an unsuccessful 33-yard field goal try by Chaz Blackwell. The Tigers’ pivot made up for the shortcoming on defense.
Playing in the secondary, Doyle sniffed out a third-and-10 pass by Hoover in the right flat, picking it off and taking off down the sideline for 35 yards and a touchdown at the 3:30 mark of the second stanza.
“I saw the quarterback roll out and the tight end was coming, so I just jumped in and the ball was right there,” Doyle said. “It felt good, but it would have been nice to get in on that second drive — one more touchdown wouldn’t have hurt.”
“You’re not going to rattle Trenton Doyle, he’s not that type of kid,” Bailey said. “If he makes a mistake on the field, he’ll tell you it’s his mistake, forgets about it and he goes on.”
White added his second touchdown on a 10-yard run with 5:04 left in the third period, two plays after Lamar’s Kyle Smith recovered a botched exchange between Hoover and junior running back Michael Boonyakiti at the Bulldogs’ 15.
“We just pounded it,” White said of the offense’s effort on the night. “We didn’t really break any long runs — just little 7-yard runs, 5-yard runs and such. We just pounded them.”
Junior fullback Colby Hall rounded out the scoring with a 1-yard run with 5:40 remaining in the game.
