O'HARA LOSES SEMIFINAL FOOTBALL GAME 23-7

For the first time in fourteen games, the O'Hara Celtic football team failed to score 20 points and at least three touchdowns as they lost 23-7 to the Cassville Wildcats on Saturday, November 21st. _____ Ending their season 12-2, the Celtics had outlasted 28 of the 32 teams that made postseason play in qualifying for the State's final four. _____ Entering the fourth quarter, O'Hara was down by only three points at 10-7, but Joseph Gouvion and Trevor Tanner scored on touchdown runs of 33 yards and 9 yards in the final quarter to seal the win. _____ At the start of the game the Wildcats scored first on a 21 yard run by Joseph Gouvion and Matt Angel kicked the extra point. _____ The Celtics came back with a breakaway run by Raphael Spencer for 31 yards and Julian Gidley kicked the extra point that tied up the game. _____ The score could have remained tied for half time, but an ill-advised O'Hara pass interception on a fourth down play gave the Celtics the ball on their own 8 yard line instead of the original line of scrimmage on the 27 yard line. ______ The Wildcats eventually profited from this gift because with just three seconds left to the half, they were close enough for Matt Angel to nail a field goal. _____ Neither team showed much spark in the third quarter as the game stayed close. _____ After the game was out of reach in the fourth quarter, the Celtics came alive starting from their own 24 yard line and got as close as the 11 yard line. _____ In this display of offensive comeback, T. J. White completed a 20 yard pass to Joe Melchior, ran for a 24 yard gain and a first down, and passed to Aaron Stubblefield for 15 yards. _____ _____ _____ ONE WEEK LATER CASSVILLE DEFEATED THE PREVIOUSLY UNBEATEN BOWLING GREEN 24-7 WHICH LEAVES NO MISSOURI 3-A TEAM UNDEFEATED. O'HARA LOST BY A SLIGHTLY CLOSER SCORE TO CASSVILLE THAN BOWLING GREEN. PRIORY, THE FOURTH TEAM IN THE FINAL FOUR, LOST TO BOWLING GREEN. THUS O'HARA COULD BE CONSIDERED THIRD BEST IN THE STATE. . .