By Craig Hull

sports@joplinglobe.com

FAIR GROVE, Mo. — It wasn’t a scheme, Thad Lundine insisted.

Linebacker Colby Hall and defensive end Nick Gariss testified on behalf of their defensive coordinator, there was no change in scheme Saturday afternoon for the Lamar Tigers defense.

Sparked by a defense that limited Fair Grove to six first downs – only one in the second half – and 30 total offensive snaps, Lamar earned a trip to the Missouri Class 2 state quarterfinals for the first time in the history of the program.

Lamar beat the Eagles 42-14 in the Class 2 quarterfinal. Lamar, 7-6 with its sixth straight victory, will play a semifinal game Saturday against Maryville at Thomas M. O’Sullivan Stadium in Lamar. The Spoofhounds, state runnerup last season, defeated Kansas City Hogan Prep 35-32.

Fair Grove, which finished 12-1, was paced by tailback Caleb Schaffitzel, a 6-foot, 205 pound senior who owns the Missouri prep record for career touchdowns and had eclipsed 2,600 yards rushing this season.

Schaffitzel got his yards, 113 of them on 12 carries, and added two more touchdowns carries to finish the season with 50 and his career with 142. But the Eagles managed just 34 more yards on top of Schaffitzel’s total.

“We played our base defense, a 3-3,” said Hall, a 5-foot-7, 200-pound junior inside linebacker who was part of front six that keyed the Tigers’ defense.

“We didn’t bring any extra pressure, we didn’t stunt or blitz more or bring pressure of the ends, it was more about shedding their blockers and keep their lead blockers from getting to the next level and our ends (Nick) Gariss and (Austin) Lawrence did a good job of shedding their blocks and our guys in the middle (Chaz) Blackwell and (Zach) Yokley forced them to go outside and we stretched them out.”

Gariss, a 6-1 215 junior strong side end who had a batted pass at the line of scrimmage and a tackle for loss in the game, said working through and fighting off the blocks made the difference.

“In order to contain their run, we had to get off their blocks, make (Schaffitzel) run side to side and once you get to him, you have to hit him low and take his legs out,” Gariss said. “I thought (Zach) Yokley did a real good job at nose (tackle) getting up the field and keeping them from running up the middle. Once we shed the lead blocks and stretched the play out, it allowed the ends to contain and let the linebackers come up and make plays.”

Of Schaffitzel’s 113 yards, 55 came on the second play of the contest when he lined up in the slot of a five-wide spread set and on the snap, ran a bubble route underneath the receivers to the left of the formation. Quarterback Alec Hackett swung a lateral out to Schaffitzel in the left flat where he had receivers in front of him to block.

He broke the play down the far sideline for a touchdown.

His second longest run was a 26-yard isolation play in the fourth quarter to start the Eagles’ final scoring drive, which he capped with a 10-yard touchdown run on a toss sweep right.

“We’re a 3-3 defense and the only time we changed is when they went spread and we switched to a 3-2 cover 2,” Lundine said. “We felt like we could exploit their interior line and we did switch some things up in terms of putting our normal nose tackle, Austin Lawrence, at middle linebacker moving Yokley to nose where he could run around and create some problems.”

The Lamar defense also had two takeaways in the game. Sophomore safety Brett Campbell intercepted Schaffitzel’s halfback pass attempt in the first quarter to setup the Tigers’ third touchdown drive and senior defensive tackle Andrew Shackelford reeled in a one-handed pick of a Hackett screen pass in the fourth quarter that led to Lamar’s final touchdown drive.

Fair Grove’s offense took five first-quarter snaps, 17 in the second quarter, three in the third and five in the fourth quarter.

“It’s the formula for winning in the playoffs ... run the ball and stop the run,” said Lamar head coach Scott Bailey. “It doesn’t matter if you are Webb City, Cassville, anybody, if you can do those two things, you will win in the playoffs and we’re getting better at doing both.”

The Tigers wing-T offense racked up 376 yards rushing on 62 carries, paced by senior quarterback Trenton Doyle who had 141 yards on 18 carries with a touchdown. He completed 4 of 6 passes for another 84 yards and two touchdown passes to Andrew Fowler.

Sophomore wingback Markell White had 115 yards on 19 carries with two touchdowns and Cory Lear, another sophomore at the opposite wingback, had 85 yards on 15 carries. Hall, at fullback, added another 27 yards on five carries with a touchdown.

White scored both of his touchdowns in the first quarter on runs of 12 and 26 yards for 14-6 lead.

Doyle’s keeper on the first play of the second quarter was the result of Campbell’s interception and opened a 21-6 advantage.

The Tigers used a 13-play, 85-yard drive in the second quarter, taking 5:37 off the clock, to build a 28-6 halftime lead. Facing fourth-and-22 at the Fair Grove 24, Doyle connected with Fowler on a quick slant, who slipped a tackle for his first touchdown catch.

On the first play of the forth quarter, Lamar faced a second-and-25 at the Fair Grove 31. Play action allowed Fowler to slip behind the defense for his second touchdown catch. He finished with three receptions for 71 yards.

The Tigers’ final touchdown came on second-and-four at the 20 with the Eagles bringing a blitz. Hall took a direct snap at fullback, slipped through the defensive rush and broke a 20-yard touchdown.