Turnovers prove costly as Cardinals fall to top-ranked Eagles in Class 2 state semifinals

SHELBINA, Mo. — The South Shelby football team’s toughest opponent during Saturday’s Class 2 state semifinal was not the sub-freezing temperatures. Nor was not the coating of snow that covered the turf at Charles Rash Memorial Field.

In Cardinals coach Adam Gunterman’s evaluation, it was not even their opponent Fair Grove, the No. 1-ranked team in the state.

It was themselves.

“We couldn’t get out of our own way,” Gunterman said.

The Cardinals turned the ball over five times on offense, muffed a kickoff and could not climb out of an early hole as the Eagles advanced to the Class 2 state championship game with a 55-21 victory.

Gunterman did not see the weather or any external factors as culprits for the Cardinals’ turnover struggles.

“I don’t think the conditions had a whole lot to do with it. It just wasn’t our day when it came to holding onto the football,” Gunterman said. “We haven’t turned the ball over like that all year. The thing was it wasn’t on hard hits. That was tough.”

The ball-handling bugaboos began on the second play of the game on a botched handoff between Cardinals quarterback Chase Moellering and running back Preston Elsen. Even though Elsen fell on the ball, it was a sign of things to come for the Cardinals.

On South Shelby’s next possession, Eagles defensive lineman Steven Lederich sacked Moellering, and the ball squirted free. Linebacker Gavin Thomason scooped up the football and galloped to the end zone to give the Eagles a 6-0 lead with 7:27 left in the first quarter.

Another fumble on the Cardinals’ next play from scrimmage gave the Eagles first and goal from the 7-yard line. They cashed in two plays later when Kellen Lair ran in a 2-yard touchdown, and the two-point conversion extended the lead to 14-0 in the blink of an eye.

The Cardinals righted the ship with touchdowns on their next two drives — a 2-yard run by Pryce Eagan with 3:21 left in the first quarter and a 16-yard pass from Moellering to Owen Stueve on a fourth down with 8:16 left in the second quarter — but the Eagles scored on both of their possessions following those Cardinals scores.

Bryden Baxter turned a screen pass into an 87-yard touchdown to push the Eagles’ lead to 21 with 3:37 left in the first half.

On the ensuing kickoff, South Shelby’s Peyton Hetheriton bobbled a squib kick by Gavin Brock, and Fair Grove’s Carson Trussell fell on the ball at the South Shelby 28-yard line. That drive ended with a Draden Black interception, but Moellering threw his second pick two plays later, giving the ball back to the Eagles with 1:58 left. On the first play of that possession, Lair took a handoff and outran the Cardinals defense to give his team a 42-14 halftime lead with a 74-yard touchdown, his third touchdown carry of the opening half.

“Kellen is a special athlete,” Eagles quarterback Spensar Seiger said. “Handing the ball off to him — I’ve said it before — you know it’s going to be a touchdown like two out of every three times.”

The Cardinals’ final score came on a 17-yard touchdown run by senior running back Gabe Bowen with 11:51 left in the fourth quarter.

“That was super cool,” Gunterman said. “I told the guys, ‘We’re going to get Gabe one here. We’re going to keep giving it to him until he gets in.’ I was really glad he was able to get one at the end.”

Seiger, who completed 6 of 11 passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score, quite enjoyed playing in the snow and likened it to playing a video game.

“I told my coach, ‘It feels like I’m playing Madden right now,’” Seiger said. “I play in the snow sometimes on Madden, and this is legit what it feels like.”

Gunterman said the Cardinals were ready for a snowball fight, but the chips just did not fall in their favor.

“Our kids were really excited about the snow,” Gunterman said. “I don’t know if the snow affected a whole lot to be honest. The fumbles were things like just dropping a snap or an exchange. It wasn’t punched out or anything like that. Sometimes the ball just doesn’t bounce your way, and that was today for us.”

The Eagles (14-0) secured a trip to their first state title game in program history. They will take on nine-time and reigning state champions Lamar, which defeated Bowling Green 27-26 in the other semifinal.

“We’re going up against a program that’s been there a lot,” Fair Grove coach Bill Voorhis said of Lamar, which will make its 12th state championship game appearance since 2011. “It won’t be new to them. Their eyes won’t be too big.”

Voorhis said the Eagles’ No. 1 ranking, which they first achieved in Week Four, is a nice feather in their cap, but they have not knocked Lamar from the pinnacle just yet.

“In Week Four when the rankings came out and we were ranked No. 1, I told our kids and community, it’s nice and something to talk about, but the reality is that Lamar is the best team in Class 2 until someone beats them, and that’s still the case,” Voorhis said.

That championship tilt will kickoff at 3 p.m. on Dec. 6 at the University of Missouri’s Faurot Field.

“I don’t even have words to describe it really,” Seiger said. “It’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of and everything this whole community has ever dreamed of. Fair Grove has never gone this far in football. It’s just a blessing.”