Leake gets first win as Mark Twain rolls past South Callaway

CENTER, Mo. – It was his first win as a varsity head coach and he did it at his alma mater, but Austin Leake just wanted to talk about his guys.

“All I did was stand on the sidelines and hold a piece of paper,” Leake said to his Mark Twain Tigers thrashed Eastern Missouri Conference rival South Callaway 34-12.

The Tigers pounded out more than 300 yards on the ground, led by Landon Moss who ran for 238 yards on 26 carries and had three touchdowns.

Mark Twain led 14-12 at the half and the first half ended on a down note as South Callaway quarterback Sam Buckner heaved a 14 yard pass fourth down pass to Brendon Mealy.

Leake said he saw a look in his players eyes that he didn’t want to see. But at halftime, the players responded to some adjustments and came out of the gate quickly.

Lakoda Preston broke loose on a 56-yard touchdown run on the fourth play of the second half and the two-point conversion put the Tigers up 20-12.

The Bulldogs struggled in the second half and the Mark Twain defense came up with several key stops to hold South Callaway scoreless for the remainder of the game.

Leake had coached at Bowling Green for six years, mostly as an assistant at the varsity level. He ran the Bobcat offense last year that averaged 37 points a game propelled them to their first EMO title in 11 years.

His goal is to repeat as the EMO champion, except this time he would be wearing Ralls County blue and white.