Ball bounces Raiders' way, defense comes up big

By DONN ADAMSON\Daily Journal Sports Editor

BONNE TERRE - A huge defensive stop at the goal line and a couple of times when the ball bounced in their favor helped give the North County Raiders a 19-7 win over the visiting West Plains Zizzers and also a ticket to the quarterfinal round of the state playoffs.

With the score 12-7 in North County's favor, West Plains had the ball with a third down on the one-yard line on the very first play of the fourth quarter. The Zizzers tried one up the gut of North County's line, but was stopped behind the line of scrimmage for a one yard loss. The Zizzers tried again, and again the Raiders defense came up with the stop, this time to capture the ball on downs.

Five plays later, after clearing some room from the goal line, quarterback A.J. Haase launched a long pass to receiver Lance Eftink down the right sideline. The defender on the play had position, but upon leaping to knock the pass away, the ball instead, popped up, and Eftink hauled the ball in as the defender went down. Eftink took the ball the rest of the way for a 76 yard touchdown.

It was the second time that Eftink had been the recipient of a pass that was popped up in the air. The first time came on a pass by West Plains that a North County defender and West Plains receiver, both going for the pass, knocked it up in the air. Eftink, playing behind the play as cornerback, hauled it in for the interception. Eftink had two interceptions in the second half of play.

The Raiders received the opening kick-off and marched the ball 67 yards on eight plays, highlighted by a 22 yard run by running back Nick Neeley and a 15 yard keeper by Haase on fourth down. Haase connected with Neeley on a short pass from 17 yards out, and the speedy junior ran the ball in for the touchdown.

The extra point was short, and so was the following kick-off by the Raiders. Catching the West Plains front line open in the middle on the return team, the Raiders made an onside kick and Nathan Coplin came up with the elusive ball to give it back to North County.

The Raiders marched again, but this time they were stopped by the Zizzer defense on a fourth-and-one at the four yard line. West Plains could not move the ball on offense for most of the first half, being stopped once on a sack by Phil Schunks that forced the Zizzers to punt, and also being intercepted by Brandon Vickery. The other stops were made by North County's defensive backfield which forced Matt Cromer, the West Plains quarterback, to go 0-7 in passing.

With 2:25 before half-time, the Raiders again hit paydirt. Haase hit receiver Dustin Hahn over the middle and Hahn scampered 53 yards to the 16 yard line of West Plains that set up the touchdown. One play later, Haase hit Kyle Lotz in the end zone with a pass which looked to be a touchdown to the cheering Raiders' fans but the referee called a trap, meaning the ball hit the ground first and the pass was ruled incomplete.

But three plays later, Haase found Lotz loose in the end zone again, and this time the senior receiver made good on the catch for the score. The two-point try failed, which left the score at 12-0. It would not last long.

West Plains went to the ground game, that is until after six plays, Cromer found his tight end Andrew Lindeman on a pass pattern that turned the North County defender around. Lindeman hauled in the pass and rumbled the rest of the way into the end zone on the 38-yard play with only 36.7 second on the clock before the half. The extra point was good to make the score 12-7 at the break.

The second half saw both teams put on a defensive battle. After Eftink's first interception, Mitchell Combs came up with one for West Plains of a Haase pass just two plays later.

Eftink's second interception came on West Plains' first possession North County's touchdown which took the wind out of the Zizzers' sails.

As time began to go against the Zizzers, they began to press for another score, but North County's defense kept Cromer scrambling and more than once the senior quarterback slipped trying to escape the rush. The results were five sacks by the Raiders on West Plains' last two possessions.

North County's defense would deny West Plains another score as they again turned the Zizzers back on a first-and-goal at the six that ended up being a loss on downs at the 22.

North County had 399 yards total offense to West Plains' 201. The Raiders had 187 yards rushing and 212 yards passing. West Plains had 99 yards rushing and 102 yards passing.

Haase was 8-16 in passing for North County. Neeley rushed 12 times for 77 yards and made three catches for 41 yards. Quevreaux carried the ball 14 times for 98 yards.

Danny Meyer was top runner for the Zizzers with 87 yards on 22 carries. Cromer was 8-24 in passing.

North County is now 11-0 on the season and will play at St. Clair 99-2) on Monday in the state quarterfinal game. West Plains ends its season at 6-5.