MOKANE, Mo. - The state-ranked South Callaway Bulldogs would like to deal with a lot less drama and anxiety.
South Callaway - forced to scramble for a 25-17, double overtime win against Father Tolton in last week's season opener in Columbia - plays its home opener tonight against the Milan Wildcats. Kickoff is 7 p.m.
The Bulldogs, who moved up a spot to No. 7 in this week's Class 2 state media rankings, needed a spectacular special-teams play against Tolton just to get the game to overtime. Junior linebacker Bradyn Belcher energized South Callaway when he blocked a punt by the Trailblazers from their own end zone and junior nose tackle Dustin Loucks came down with the ball for a touchdown, tying the game at 19 with 59 seconds to play in the fourth quarter.
After Tolton blocked the Bulldogs' extra-point attempt to extend the game, senior running back Kaden Helsel delivered the game-winner for South Callaway on a 1-yard touchdown burst in the second overtime.
"We're happy we got the win - it wasn't the way that we drew it up," Bulldogs head coach Zack Hess said. "At the same time, we told the team they demonstrated the tenacity and the grit, and the mental toughness, to pull a win like that out.
"They didn't give up. That was the encouraging message that we tried to send."
Milan - making the long trek from the north-central part of the state - started its season last week with a 28-14 home loss to Mark Twain. The Wildcats were a dismal 1-9 last season under head coach John Dabney, including a 39-0 rampage by South Callaway in Milan.
Operating out of the wing-T on offense, Milan managed only 131 total yards - all rushing - in being blanked by the Bulldogs last year.
"Coach (John) Dabney does a great job of coaching fundamentals, so they're going to be very fundamentally sound," Hess said. "They're going to be very physical up front, they're going to be sound in their blocking schemes and they're going to get the ball to the different athletes that they have within that wing-T system.
"We just have to make sure that we're disciplined in our reads, disciplined in our assignments and we've got to match their physicality."
The Wildcats' offensive philosophy would seem to play to the strength of South Callaway's defensive unit, which allowed Tolton to rush for a sparse 39 yards on 30 carries last week. However, Trailblazers junior quarterback Robert Hunter - completing 21-of-39 passes - was able to pierce the Bulldogs' pass defense for 278 yards and three touchdowns.
"The message to the defensive players was, again, 'Inside run game, did a really nice job.' They gashed us maybe a couple of times," Hess said. "But our perimeter run defense and our pass defense, and I coach the linebackers, so with those guys we didn't do a very good job of getting our drops and helping out in underneath zone coverages.
" In the second half, it seemed like (Tolton) was finding those open windows and completing, and getting first downs, and hurting us through the air. That's something that we told our guys that we've got to clean up."
Meanwhile, South Callaway will seek a smoother effort on the offensive side after a ragged showing last week. The Bulldogs wasted plenty of scoring chances, turning the ball over on downs four times inside Tolton's 30-yard line and committing a pair of turnovers inside the Trailblazers' 10.
Helsel gained 65 yards on 15 carries and also scored on a 63-yard catch-and-run on an option pass from junior running back Peyton Leeper as South Callaway accumulated 293 yards of total offense. Senior quarterback Landon Horstman was only 6-of-22 passing for just 52 yards and was intercepted twice.
"It was the same thing as watching it live, I can tell you that coach (Tucker) Bartley (the Bulldogs' offensive coordinator) was not happy with the execution," Hess said. "You've got to give credit to Tolton - they did some things schematically that gave us problems, and we saw that on film.
"Hopefully we can correct some of those things, but then also just focus on us and try to keep getting better. It's a mixture of a lot of different things - it's the first game, a lot of jitters, a lot of new things going on. We have four new guys on our offensive line that we're trying to build that continuity there."
South Callaway will try to badger a Milan defense that allowed the Bulldogs to rush for 329 yards last year. Hess expects the Wildcats to work out of a three-man front, but will also shift to a 4-4 scheme at times.
Hess stressed the South Callaway offense will need to be more efficient in maximizing possessions tonight.
"We've got to value the ball - we always say, 'Protect the precious pill,'" Hess said. "We did not do a very good job of that the other night, so we want to execute better, we want to extend drives, but we want to finish drives.
"I think if we do those things, that's going to take pressure off of our defense, as well."
Related podcast:
South Callaway Bulldogs Football Podcast [Milan preview, Aug. 25, 2017]