Being new yet established might seem like concepts at odds with each other, but the West Plains Wolves and Jeff Lofton were perfectly at home with both themes Thursday night at Happy State Bank Stadium.
In Lofton’s first home game as West Plains head coach, the Wolves showed how sticking with a recently established formula can work. Against an even newer program in Frenship Memorial, fourth-year West Plains showed how a young program does it, dominating in every phase of the game for a 48-14 victory, the first for Lofton as the program’s head coach.
The win came a week after West Plains (1-1) lost s frustrating season opener at Class 3A Division II defending state champion Wall 42-35. West Plains may well be work in progress, but progress looks like it’s being made, and it made Lofton a much happier man this week.
“It’s a lot better feeling than we had last week,” Lofton said. “Even though we played our tails off last week and made that a business trip. I saw a statistic that every time you travel over 200 miles, 95 percent of the time it’s not good in favor of the person traveling. I’m super proud of the boys and the staff.
“It’s not about me, but obviously you sleep better. I talked to the players last week about how the bumps and bruises hurt a lot more after a loss. After that win you’ll be bouncing around a little bit.”
It took awhile, though, for everybody just to get bouncing, as the teams had to wait 94 minutes longer than expected to take the field due to a lightning delay. The Wolves took a couple of possessions to get going but were hard to stop once they did in taking a 24-7 halftime lead.
Specifically, it was Slade Russell who proved hard to stop, as he led West Plains in both rushing and receiving in the first half in making some big plays, a theme for the Wolves offensively. Russell accounted for a whopping 251 yards of offense in the first half, more than twice as many as Memorial (0-2).
With 209 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries, and two catches for 81 yards and a score, Russell accounted for more than half of the West Plains offense, which racked up a nice and tidy 500 yards. As one of the team’s few experienced skill players on that side of the ball, the senior figured to carry a heavy load this season.
“I’m always ready,” said Russell, who’s run for over 200 yards in each of his first two games this season. “I don’t feel like I have to get myself ready. I want the ball that much to do the things I can do. It’s really exciting just to get the opportunities that I have.”
As a key component of an offense which rolled up points and yards in each of the previous two seasons, which included a trip to the state semifinals two years ago, it makes perfect sense that Russell would be such a workhorse this season. The fact that Lofton was the team’s assistant head coach before taking over the top job in May had to cement that status.
“When you have a guy like Slade it’s hard not to find a way to get him the ball,” Lofton said. “Early on you find out with kids who are green what you’re going to be as a team. You kind of pair down what you’re good at and see this is a plus and this is a minus. I feel like giving our dude the rock whether we’re flaring him out our just giving the ball to him works, but it starts up front.”
The only misstep of the first half offensively for West Plains in the first half came at the end of the initial drive of the game. With the ball at the Memorial 5-yard line, quarterback Timber Russell, Slade’s younger brother, threw an interception to Jabari Hall in the end zone to kill the drive.
After that, though, the younger Russell and the rest of the Wolves made few mistakes offensively. They scored on each of their next three drives to take a 17-0 lead midway through the second quarter, as Slade Russell ended a drive with a 4-yard run and Paxton Chandler ended another with a 2-yard scoring run, set up by Russell’s 39-yard run.
Memorial put together an impressive drive late in the second quarter aided by a West Plains penalty and a break on a forced fumble. Junah Roberts scored on a 1-yard run with 58 seconds left in the half to cut it to 17-7.
It appeared as if the Panthers would take some momentum into the locker room, but it lasted all of 13 seconds. On the first play after the ensuing kickoff, Timber Russell hit Slade Hooker in the flat, and Slade got a block, found a crease and ran up the sideline all the way to a 75-yard touchdown to make it 24-7 before halftime.
That pretty much summed up the first half for the Wolves.
“As soon as (offensive coordinator Jeff) Lyles called that play I said we’re going to the crib right here,” Russell said. “We run that play all the time and put the work in to be successful. They put me out in the empty a lot so catching ball is nothing new to me.”
That score began a run of 31 unanswered points by the Wolves as the Panthers weren’t really in the game after that.
Slade Russell wasn’t only West Plains back to find the end zone multiple times. Chandler got the bulk of the carries in the second half and ran for 94 yards and two touchdowns on only eight carries.
Defensively, West Plains was just as solid, giving up only 245 yards. Sophomore defensive back Kline Hooker made a big home debut for the Wolves with some big plays in the third quarter, making two interceptions and recording a tackle for a loss.
For Memorial, this was the second straight game against a young program which is quickly becoming established. The Panthers opened the season with their first ever varsity game last week with a 49-14 loss against third-year program Lubbock-Cooper Liberty.
“I think we’ve played two really good football teams who are going to go real deep in the playoffs,” Memorial coach Jason Richards said. “We’ve got to take care of some things because we’re getting beat by things we’re doing. The only way to get this experience is to play. I think we’ve got to trust our coaches and do what we’re coached to do.”
Photo gallery by Carter Pirtle:
