Spoofhound defense shines as Maryville football shuts out Cameron

CAMERON, Mo. — Maryville football’s defense prevailed as the Spoofhounds shut out Cameron 49-0 to earn their second Midland Empire Conference win.

The Dragons started out hot, as they intercepted a pass from junior quarterback Derek Quinlin, but just 37 seconds later the ’Hounds forced and recovered a fumble.

Coach Matt Webb said that the offensive scout team deserves a lot of credit for being able to run the flex bone well to help prepare Maryville’s defense for Cameron.

“I think we executed really good, there’s a lot of times I thought our horizontal leverage was really good from our defensive backs,” Webb said. “They didn’t let the ball outside, and our cornerback players were really good, and our outside linebackers were sitting and being disciplined, and that all starts with the defensive line taking care of what they wanted to do.”

Maryville wasted no time capitalizing on the turnover, as senior fullback Cooper Loe took it into the end zone from a yard out with 6:21 left in the first quarter.

Just 11 seconds later, the Spoofhound defense forced the third fumble by Cameron’s offense and the second fumble recovery for Maryville.

Senior lineman Kort Watkins says the defense came out and executed the game plan every play which helped the defense perform so well.

“We all bounced back from last week, and we went over some things we needed to change and do,” Watkins said. “We came out and executed, we’re just taking it one week at a time, you know. Go 1-0 each week.”

Thanks to a short field, Maryville scored in just five seconds, courtesy of a touchdown pass from Quinlin to senior running back Caden Stoecklein, which brought the score to 14-0.

The third takeaway in just four minutes for the Spoofhounds came from junior lineman Wesley Snead.

“All that was going through my mind was the ball in the air and I had to catch that ball,” Snead said. “I was kind of freaking out because I thought I was going to go down to the ground and then went up in the air. I get under the ball and then I feel all these guys around me, so I was expecting to get hit, but I didn’t get hit until Boston Hagaman tackled me.”

“Feels great,” Watkins said about getting pressure on the quarterback. “I mean, I was a little upset when I turned around and saw Wesley catch it. I won’t lie. But, I mean, to go to another big boy feels great.”

After that, it was all Spoofhounds as Stoecklein ran into the end zone for a touchdown with 3:57 left in the first quarter. Quinlin added on with another rushing touchdown roughly a minute later to make it a 28-0 lead for Maryville

In the waning moments of the first half, Quinlin completed a pass to Loe, who then broke three tackles to set up the Spoofhounds with a first-and-goal from the two-yard line.

“Now pretty often when we’re at the 30-yard line, I know I’m not going to make it there, someone’s going to catch up with me,” Loe said. “I saw three guys and kind of cut it back and then Drew (Burns) was there., I was able to make it past one of them, and then Drew took out two of them. I looked back and someone was closing in fast and I said, ‘Oh, this isn’t going to go well.’”

With 6:24 left in the first half, Quinlin scampered into the endzone for his third total touchdown of the day. That was the last score of the half as the Spoofhounds went into the locker room with a 35-0 lead.

The Dragons tried to catch the ’Hounds off guard with an onside kick to start the second half, but Maryville recovered it. Shortly after, Quinlin found junior wide receiver Delton Davis in the end zone for another Spoofhound touchdown to increase their lead to 42-0.

Maryville ultimately scored its final touchdown with 7:38 left in the game to go up 49-0 — a score that remained for the rest of the contest.

With 5:40 left in the game, the Dragons went on one last drive to erase the big doughnut on the scoreboard, but Maryville was determined to keep the shutout alive.

Cameron managed to get the ball down to the two-yard line, but after two holding penalties backed itself up and completed the shutout for the first time this season.

Due to the defensive performance, Webb said everybody gets a reward the following week.

“Shutouts are hard to get, you know,” Webb said. “Zeros on the scoreboards are hard to get no matter what level of football you play at, so, you know, the reward for getting a shutout is everybody gets doughnuts next time we have a team meeting.”