Nevada Tigers drop Homecoming game, 42-7

Homecoming is a night many high school students look forward to every year for a number of reasons. Parades and pep rallies are among the festivities that students get to enjoy throughout the week, but what many look forward to most of all is a night at the football field to cap off the week's events.

Of the entire student body, none look forward to just such a night more than football players. Such was the case for the Nevada Tigers football team, as well as head coach Jay Fleeman and his staff as the Tigers found themselves in a very unexpected matchup, playing against the William Chrisman Bears, of Independence, Mo. -- a Class 5 school.

Chrisman took advantage of the size and speed edge it brought to the table in the contest and ultimately came out of Logan Field with a 42-7 victory. "Not the result we wanted, but definitely some things to build on. ... It doesn't matter who we play, we always want to move forward," Fleeman said.

Prior to the kickoff, Nevada High School senior Katlyn Short was crowned the 2010 Homecoming Queen and two other Nevada High School athletic teams were honored for their strong performances throughout the season.

The Bears came into the contest fresh off of their third victory in five games this season over the Pirates of Belton High School. Just like the Tigers, head coach John Crutcher's Bears entered the night in unfamiliar territory as they have become accustomed to playing much larger schools than Nevada and the Tigers have spent the season playing nearly all season playing schools of comparable size to them and even smaller.

The Bears have utilized a fairly balanced offense throughout their first five games, but didn't show that early as running back Scotty Cates was responsible for all 80 yards of Chrisman's first drive on three carries. Cates capped off the drive with a 34-yard touchdown run that gave the Bears a 7-0 lead with 10:23 to go in the first quarter.

Crutcher's squad has been plagued by penalties all season long, which has been a major focal point in practices this week following their victory over Belton. Those efforts to cut down on the penalties didn't seem to work early in the contest as the Bears committed three penalties on Nevada's first drive -- two of which resulted in third-down conversions.

Thanks to one of the mental mistakes that Fleeman has been working to eliminate, the Tigers were unable to take advantage of those gift plays as quarterback Jonathan Klingaman had a snap sail over his head from the Chrisman 24, that the Bears were able to eventually recover at their own 42.

Cates took the offense on his shoulders once again, helping the Bears to mount another quick drive. Quarterback Dylan Cole capped off the drive with a 1-yard touchdown pass to Nick Richardson to give the Bears a 14-point lead with 2:58 to go in the first quarter to put the exclamation point on a four-play, 58-yard drive.

Cates added to his already staggering totals on the Bears' third drive of the day with a 56-yard touchdown run on the second play of the drive -- his second touchdown of the night -- to give Chrisman a 21-0 lead with 46 seconds remaining in the opening period.

The Tigers were able to move the ball up and down the field almost at will throughout the first half, but were simply unable to convert that ball movement into points on several occasions. Whether as a result of mental mistakes by the Tigers, or simply the Bears making a defensive stand when they needed it, the Tigers were unable to find the scoreboard in the opening quarter and for most of the first half.

"Offensively, we can still get better," Fleeman said. "But I thought we did sustain drives a lot better, convert a lot more first downs than what we've been."

The Bears, however, had no trouble converting their ball movement into points, but weren't done just yet. With 5:48 to go in the second quarter, Cates took the handoff from Cole eight yards for his third touchdown of the night. A blown play that turned into a successful two-point conversion gave the Bears a 29-0 lead.

With just under a minute and a half remaining in the second quarter, the Tigers were finally able to find the scoreboard for the first time in the game on a short run by Trevor Hunholz. Jake Brasfield's extra point with 1:21 to go in the half made it 29-7 Chrisman.

Cates wasted little time answering as he scored his fourth touchdown of the night in a slightly different way. He took the ensuing kickoff back 98 yards to put the Bear's lead back up to 29 points at 36-7 with 1:08 to go in the half.

That was where the offense ended and the Bears took a 29-point advantage to the locker room at the break. The Tigers finished the half with decent numbers offensively, finishing the first 24 minutes with 59 yards passing and and were led by Klingaman's 40 yards rushing on 12 carries, while the Bears put up 56 yards passing and were led by Cates' 182 yards on seven carries.

"He's a great player, probably the best player we've seen all year. Obviously, they're going to succeed or they're going to fail with or without him," Fleeman said of the 5-foot-8-inch senior Cates. "So, I mean, great player, good speed, it's just, you know, gotta take the right angle, break down and make tackles."

Cates wasted little time adding to his totals as the second half began as he took a 40-yard carry into the end zone for his fifth touchdown of the day. The first missed extra point of the night gave the Bears a 42-7 lead with 10:28 to go in the third, enacting the running clock.

Thanks to the running clock, that was where the offense ended and Chrisman took the victory by a final score of 42-7.

That was a team tonight that had more team speed than any team we've seen all season long. I thought our team tonight, though, definitely did some things that were big improvements.

With the loss, the Tigers fell to 0-6 on the year and will now get set to head back out on the road next Friday night to take on their long-time rivals, the McDonald County Mustangs, in Anderson, Mo.

"We've got to get after the Mustangs and keep going, building into districts," Fleeman said.