It was one too many mistakes for South Callaway.
The Bulldogs' season ended after a 22-19 loss Friday at Sweet Springs in the semifinals of the Class 1 District 5 Tournament. South Callaway's offense was locked in a back-and-forth battle with Sweet Springs' unit, but the Greyhound defense turned a potential Bulldog touchdown at the end of the first half into a 95-yard touchdown on an interception return by Cole Lovercamp.
The offenses momentarily wouldn't let the other team's runners budge, including South Callaway's workhorse senior running back Trace Helsel, but the Bulldogs found some space on the outside with senior Donnie Fortner.
Fortner's 39-yard run in the first quarter moved the ball from deep in South Callaway territory to Sweet Springs territory near midfield. A few plays later, he made several Greyhounds miss to convert another first down. From the 21-yard line, Helsel appeared to stuffed inside again but rammed through the defense to score a touchdown, giving the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead to cap their nine-play, 88-yard drive.
Head coach Zack Hess said he thought South Callaway dominated the first half, containing Greyhound runners like Lovercamp and Matt Eckhoff and stopping Sweet Springs in its tracks a couple times.
"I told them at halftime that we dominated the first half," Hess said. "We did everything we wanted to do. I know the score didn't reflect that, but Sweet Springs is a good team too."
South Callaway put up the barricade against a spinning Lovercamp to make him come up inches short of a first down on one drive and then junior Dalton Belcher recovered a fumble for the first takeaway of the game to stop Sweet Springs (8-3) short again.
The biggest takeaway of the game was just around the corner after the Bulldogs moved the ball down to the Greyhound 5-yard line with the opportunity to take a two-possession lead. Buckner's pass was tipped into the waiting hands and dangerous legs of Lovercamp as he spent the waning seconds of the half scoring on a 95-yard play, giving Sweet Springs the 8-7 lead heading into halftime.
Hess said there was much scoring in the second half, but the buzzer-beating pick-six loomed large for the rest of the game as the Greyhounds all of a sudden had much momentum.
"They just had a free defender that got his hands up and got a finger tip on the ball. It was the worst guy that could pick that ball off," Hess said. "He's so fast and did a great job of finishing that play off in the end zone. I think that was the difference in the game. It's hard to keep a good offense out of the end zone. We just had one too many mistakes.
Sweet Springs' defense has turned the tide of several games before this season against Russellville, Cuba and Fulton with pick-sixes as this one made it so the Bulldogs traded touchdowns with the Greyhounds instead of firmly controlling the game like in the first half, Hess said.
Regardless, Buckner and Helsel didn't quit as it each senior finished with more 100 yards rushing in their final games team-leading 131 on 12 carries for Buckner and 122 yards on 22 carries for Helsel. It appeared Helsel was going to push it through the defense late in the third quarter, but Buckner pulled away the handoff and then pulled away from the Sweet Springs defense for 49 yards down to the one-yard line. Buckner finished off the drive on the next play to make it 13-6 South Callaway.
Hess said Sweet Springs was keyed in on Helsel again and neglected to account for the legs of Buckner and others as the Bulldogs matched Sweet Springs score-for-score for most of the second half and finished with 327 yards on the ground.
"I think when they key on Trace a lot, that opens up some rushing lane for the quarterback," Hess said. "Sam did a great job with his reads, and he's quick enough to make some big plays with his legs. We needed him to do that because they were doing a good job of containing Trace those big plays from Sam on those option plays."
Lovercamp continued to hurt South Callaway with a big catch-and-run in the closing minutes of the third, which moved the ball into the red zone after a horse collar tackle penalty. Quarterback Zapher Lea made the throw and had two touchdown passes the first being a nine-yard pass to Blake Schroeder to make it 16-13 at the end of three the rest of the way.
Hess said the Bulldogs had a hard time defending him once he rolled out of the pocket and wasn't able to wrap him up a few times once they did make contact with him as Lea shrugged off a defender in the backfield before finding the score.
"He got outside the pocket," Hess said. "That's something, as a defense, we need to do a little bit better lock our coverage tighter on the back end. Give him credit as he kept those plays alive and was able to find the open guy."
Buckner and Helsel had an answer early in the fourth quarter as Buckner was able to weave through the Sweet Springs defense for a 36-yard run as Helsel refused to go down until a pack of Greyhounds was draped over him. For the second time in the game, and the final time of his career, Helsel barreled into the end zone to give South Callaway a 19-16 lead with almost 11 minutes left in the game.
But, as Hess said, it's hard to keep a good offense out of the zone as Lea extended Sweet Springs' drive with his legs a few times and found Noah Fogarty with his arm while rolling out to the left for a 16-yard touchdown and a 22-19 Greyhound lead with 7:27 left.
Holes in the Sweet Springs defense and the window to score again were closing as the Greyhounds recovered a fumble. The Bulldogs sank their teeth into Lea for an 11-yard sack by junior Caleb Pezold but weren't able to catch Lea afterward as he found first downs with his legs and had a couple game-clinching ones in the final minutes of the game.
The Greyhounds took some knees to end South Callaway's season at a 6-5 overall record and a 4-3 Eastern Missouri Conference record while they advance to the district championship game Nov. 12.
Hess said there are many great players he'll miss on the team for next year such as Buckner, Helsel, Fortner, Jasper Rees, Brendon Mealy and Chrisjen Davis but he'll also really miss the people that won't be suiting up in the Bulldog locker room anymore.
"The thing that I know for sure is I'm going to miss these guys the seniors especially — and getting to coach them," Hess said. "There are some great personalities and very likeable guys. We're going to miss them for sure, but at the same time, we're excited about the guys we're going to be bringing back."
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Sweet Springs tips scales, South Callaway season ends on 22-19 loss - Fulton Sun
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