With the game hanging in the balance, West Plains turned to its MVP Slade Russell and the senior delivered.
Russell spearheaded a punishing clock-chewing march down the field in the final two and a half minutes that set-up a game-winning Gipson Gnagy 29-yard field goal in the closing seconds giving the Wolves an exhilarating 18-16 win against rival Canyon in a District 2-4A Division I showdown Friday night at Happy State Bank Stadium.
Canyon rallied to take a 16-15 lead on an Austin Turner 30-yard scamper in the late stages of the fourth quarter. The Wolves defense did step up stopping Eagles quarterback Brox Hacker on a two-point conversion attempt keeping it a one-point affair.
On the ensuing kickoff, West Plains took over at its own 24-yard line with 2:31 to play. In a somewhat hurry up mode, head coach Jeff Lofton and offensive coordinator Jeff Lyles completely bailed on airing it out and went right to their captain.
For nine straight plays over 63 yards, it was Russell off tackle left, off tackle right, and up the middle. Behind his offensive line Russell trucked the Wolves down to the Canyon 12-yard line with 19 ticks remaining. That gave Gnagy the chance and the sure-footed kicker didn’t hesitate knocking the field goal through the uprights to put West Plains up 18-16.
“I wanted the ball the entire time,” Russell said. “I told the team if you want the best opportunity to go down and score, just put the ball in my hands and I’ll make it happen.”
Russell was the engine all night for West Plains whether it was out of the backfield rushing for a team-high 217 yards on 34 carries or in space hauling in four catches for 86 yards with a score.
“You can count on Slade for about anything,” West Plains head coach Jeff Lofton said. “You can count on him for big plays and in clutch situations. Even when a team like Canyon knows he’s getting the ball you can count on him for four to five yards a play. Him being able to take care of the ball, then the offensive line just firing off the ball was huge. Slade’s the kind of guy that wants the ball and isn’t scared to carry it 40 times a game.”
The win keeps the “Boss Hogg” traveling trophy in the halls of West Plains for a fourth straight year. It’s West Plains (4-3 overall) fifth straight win over the Eagles (5-2, 1-1) and it runs the Wolves district win streak to 19 straight dating back to 2022. The victory also puts West Plains in first place of District 2-4A Division I at 2-0.
The first half saw both teams make their fair share of mistakes. West Plains quarterback Timber Russell got off to a sluggish start with back-to-back first quarter interceptions. Russell eventually settled in going a modest 9-of-14 for 191 yards and did find his big brother Slade for a 25-yard wheel route for the lone first quarter touchdown giving West Plains an 8-3 halftime lead.
For Canyon, head coach Matt Lovorn’s team drove the ball inside the Wolves’ 20-yard line on the separate occasions in the first half, but were only able to come away with three points.
“The first time we got down into the redzone we went for it on a fourth down and didn’t get it,” Lovorn said. “Then we made a field goal and missed a field goal trying to get points. Sometimes, that’s just football and those things happen. It’s part of the game.”
West Plains came out quick in the second half taking a 15-3 advantage early in the third quarter highlighted by a Paxton Chandler 13-yard touchdown. The Eagles refused to go away, answering the Wolves with a 64-yard drive with Turner punching in a 1-yard score that cut that deficit to 15-10.
From there, both defenses caused turnovers, penalties came into play and chaos started to ensue. However, in the end West Plains stood tall behind a gritty defense and the play of Russell.
“We struggled with penalties and we finally knew it was time to get down to business,” Lofton said. “When we make mistakes like penalties and turnovers it keeps teams in the game. But when you have two teams that know each other so well, it’s difficult. We overcame that and got down to business.”
Lovorn echoed Lofton’s comments
“Hats off to West Plains,” Lovorn said. “They have a really good football team and they are extremely well coached. I thought we played really hard. We fought back in fourth but they had a great final drive to win it.
West Plains and Canyon each finished with 436 yards on the night.
The Chandler brothers were big defensively for West Plains. Bentley had 16 total tackles from the secondary, seven of those solo with two of those for a loss. His brother Paxton not only ran for that third quarter touchdown but also finished with 12 tackles.
Canyon’s Austin Turner ran for a game-high 218 yards on 24 attempts with a pair of touchdowns with Hacker adding 139 yards on the ground. Defensively, Asher Cunningham totaled 16 tackles with an interception.
Photo gallery by Roy Wheeler:
