Clark County swings momentum back in its favor, ends Palmyra’s season in district quarterfinals

PALMYRA, Mo. — Laden Simmons thought the Palmyra football team had snatched the game away from Clark County. The Indians snatched it right back and put the dagger in the Panthers’ season shortly thereafter to close out a 26-22 victory in Friday’s Class 2 District 7 quarterfinal.

Simmons’ second touchdown of the night tied the game at 12 with 50 seconds left in the third quarter. On third and goal from the 10-yard line, Panthers quarterback Rylan Compton handed the ball to Pierce White running left. White gave it to Simmons on the reverse, and Simmons did the rest, fighting through multiple defenders to reach the end zone and tie the game.

The Panthers installed that play earlier in the week while Simmons missed multiple practices with an illness, meaning Simmons had no live reps running it.

Still, he studied it enough to know what to do.

“I watched film, I remembered it, I ran it, and it happened to work,” Simmons said. “I kind of had to turn on the working gears to figure out what I was supposed to do, but I figured it out and got it in, and that’s all that matters.”

On the two-point conversion attempt, Rylan Compton plunged across the goal line on a quarterback sneak to give the Panthers a 14-12 lead.

“I thought we had it,” Simmons said. “I thought we were going to stay up at that point.”

That lead was short-lived. On the first play of the Indians’ ensuing drive, sophomore running back Corrick Hunziker burst through the line and outran the Panthers’ defense 52 yards to the end zone. Hunziker ran in the two-point conversion to put the Indians on top 20-14.

Mere moments later, it was deja vu all over again for Palmyra. Gavin O’Brien fumbled the ensuing kickoff, giving the Indians the ball at the Palmyra 40-yard line. The Indians ran the same play with the same result as Hunziker scored to give the Indians 14 points in 16 seconds and a 26-14 lead.

“That’s our play. It’s been our play,” Clark County coach Ethan Allen said. “We run it several different ways, but that one hit right twice.”

The Panthers answered back two minutes later when Compton connected with Wyatt Augsperg on a screen pass that Augsperg took 27 yards to the end zone. Compton again ran in the two-point conversion to cut the deficit to 26-22 with 9:58 left.

Palmyra stopped Clark County on fourth and 1 to get the ball back with 5:35 left but failed to convert on fourth and 2 at its own 48-yard line with 3:05 left.

Clark County netted 7 yards on its first three plays of its next drive, setting up yet another fourth down. With the Panthers out of timeouts and the Indians 3 yards from what would be a game-ending first down with two minutes left, Clark County lined up to go for it at the Palmyra 41-yard line, but a false start penalty moved them back 5 yards.

Allen never hesitated. He sent quarterback Chayce Webster back out onto the field, and Webster completed a pass to Kayne Nixon on a deep corner route for 24 yards and a first down to put the game on ice.

“I felt really confident in that play,” Allen said. “We’ve executed it really well in practice. Sometimes you have to put the ball in your guys’ hands and let them go win you the game, and that’s what happens.

“You can look like a hero or zero. Thankfully it paid off.”

Allen had ultimate confidence in his team to convert, but some reassurance from Indians defensive coordinator Brock Egley gave Allen all the confirmation he needed to keep the offense on the field.

“Coach Egley was like, ‘Let’s end it right now. Go get a first down,’” Allen said. “When he tells me that, I feel pretty good about it. He’s a great voice of reason, so I felt pretty confident when he was telling me to go for it.”

The third-seeded Panthers (3-7) bow out with their sixth straight loss after a 3-1 start.

“There is a lot to improve on in all areas, us as coaches, the players,” Panthers coach Dalton Hill said. “Everything can get better. We just have to get back to the drawing board and figure out day by day how we get better.”

Allen’s sixth-seeded Indians (3-7) will clash with No. 2 seed Monroe City on Nov. 8.

“It’s big-time for the season we’ve had,” Allen said of winning a road postseason game. “We felt like there were some other games that we should have won. You just continue to fight.”