East Buchanan survives scare from Lathrop to remain unbeaten
Sep. 11—GOWER, Mo. — With the opposition knocking on the door and inching toward tying the game in the fourth, Cru Conaway made his mark on Friday's game between Lathrop and East Buchanan.
With Lathrop converting on a fourth-and-1, the East Buchanan defensive back put a hit on the receiver. At the time, he didn't realize he forced a fumble inside the 10-yard line.
When he looked up, his teammates had recovered the game in the endzone, preserving the one-score lead and fueling East Buchanan's 35-14 win in Gower, Missouri.
"I just tried to hit him as hard as I could. That's what I did, and I guess good things happen," Conaway said. "I had no idea, but I looked up and guess we got the ball.
"It changed the momentum. We came down, the offense went to work, and the rest is history."
Conaway would haul in a short touchdown pass on the ensuing drive to extend the lead to 28-14. With a run play drawn up, Conaway signaled to quarterback Conner Musser for an audible and hauled in a leaping catch in the end zone.
"Cru's an alphamale," East Buchanan head coach Dan Ritter said. "He comes out and hits people, then he transitions to offense and makes plays. He may not have the stats Trevor Klein does, but he's equally important."
And Klein left just as much of an imprint on the game with a kickoff return for a score and the go-ahead rushing touchdown late in the third.
"We showed we could battle back. We thought it was gonna be a little easier," Klein said. "Being 14-14, we just had to focus up at halftime, talk it through in the locker room and just come out here and compete."
The Mules (0-3) started hot and scored just one minute into the game on a 60-yard touchdown pass from Mason Adwell to Dylan Scanlan.
The ensuing kickoff saw the Mules kick the ball out of bounds. With consultation from assistant coach Kyle Knox, Ritter opted for the Mules to rekick the ball from 10 yards back instead of taking the ball at the 35-yard line. Trevor Klein made the decision worth it with an 80-yard kickoff return for a score.
"It's so fun being back there behind our blockers," Klein said. "They do a great job of opening space and a hole, you could drive about two trucks through there. It was wide open, and I just did what I could."
Lathrop regained the lead in the final minute of the first quarter on a touchdown pass to Matt Miller from 28 yards out.
Klein burned the Mules again on a long kickoff return into Lathrop territory, though Gunner Goad would intercept Conner Musser to thwart the attack.
A Lathrop fumble late allowed Lathrop to tie the game on a Musser touchdown pass, sending the teams to the locker room tied at 14.
"They came out and were clicking on all cylinders," Ritter said. "We weren't doing anything wrong, we just missed some tackles and they started scoring on us. They're probably the best 0-3 team I've seen."
After a number of stalled drives, Klein broke the tie late in the third on a rushing touchdown to his left that saw him juke nearly half the Lathrop defense on his way in for a Bulldog touchdown.
Conaway would follow suit before Rylee Parker's late score.
The win improves East Buchanan to 3-0 ahead of a top-10 meeting with Hamilton, which comes in with a similar record and high-powered attack. With homecoming set for next week and a chance at a statement win, the Bulldogs are thankful for Friday night's adversity ahead of the biggest game of the early year.
"It's gotta help. We all know Hamilton's the team to beat this year," Ritter said, "but they better have their eye on the Bulldogs come next Friday night."
Brandon Zenner can be reached at brandon.zenner@newspressnow.com. Follow him on Twitter: @NPNowZenner.
