If one asks Google "what it means to be dominant", the word is deemed as an adjective with a description of "ruling, governing, or controlling; having or exerting authority or influence".
The Wildcats were just that at Versailles on Friday night, with the defense holding the Tigers to a mere 10 total yards of offense while accumulating 391 yards themselves in a 42-0 rout, spoiling the host team's Homecoming.
The Wildcats scored first on a 19-yard TD run by Jayce Depriest at 8:14 in the opening period and Logan Gemes point-after-try quickly made it 7-0.
At the 11:10 mark in the second quarter, the Wildcats scored again, this time on a 5-yard run by Garrett Ferguson and another Gemes PAT made it 14-0.
Another run by Depriest with 4:09 left in the half, this time from 3 yards out and another successful PAT by Gemes made it 21-0.
The final score of the half came with under a minute to go when Shane Poyser got behind the defense of Versailles and Ferguson laid a perfect ball into the outstretched arms of Poyser for a 56-yard touchdown. Gemes' fourth PAT of the night made it 28-0 at halftime.
"It was nice to be able to stretch the field a little more this week by airing it out," Warsaw head coach Ryan Boyer said. "Shane works hard for us every week and it was great to see him hit paydirt."
Ferguson scored his second touchdown of the night on a 21-yard run with 8:32 in the third quarter and Gemes split the uprights for the fifth time to get the clock running with a 35-0 Wildcat lead.
Warsaw's final tally of the night came early in the fourth, at 11:20, when Ferguson performed the "hat trick" with his third touchdown run of the night, this time from 15 yards out. Gemes' sixth PAT was good for the Wildcats' 42-0 final.
"Our team did a great job coming out ready to play. Offensively, we were able to get into a rhythm early and stay in it," Boyer commented.
Ferguson finished with 95 yards rushing on 15 attempts with 3 TD's while also completing 5 of 7 passes for 122 yards and 1 more touchdown.
Poyser was on the receiving end of 4 of Ferguson's passes for 91 yards and 1 TD while Depriest had the other reception for 31 yards.
Josh Harvath racked up 52 yards on 10 carries, Ryan Fajen picked up 40 yards on just 2 carries and Depriest added 38 yards on the ground on 5 attempts.
After going 7 for 7 on his PAT's just a week ago, Gemes followed up that performance with 6 converted PAT's in as many tries against the Tigers.
Defensively, the Wildcats "dominant" performance was led by Drake Murrell and Kendall Bagley who both recorded 3 tackles. Bagley also had a 0.5 sack with the other 0.5 going to Dakota Todd.
Harvath tallied 2 tackles with 1 sack of the Tigers' quarterback and Depriest and Sean Reinertsen also had 2 tackles apiece.
"Defensively, we did a great job of adjusting to a little different look than we expected, but did a great job executing the game plan," said Boyer.
Gemes also aided the defense for the Wildcats by recording 4 touchbacks on 6 kickoffs.
"Logan's leg not only helps us put points on the board, but it also creates some favorable field advantage for our defense," Boyer stated.
Warsaw will put their undefeated 5-0 overall record, unblemished conference record and new number 4 state ranking on the line this week when they host Eldorado Springs for another Ozark Highlands Conference matchup with big implications in this season's standings.
Eldorado Springs (3-2, 1-1) began their season with a win over Cabool (34-0), lost to Ash Grove (6-14), beat Pleasant Hope (52-6), won over Versailles (49-8) and then lost to Sarcoxie last week (35-50).
That week 6 game is slated for a 7:00 PM kickoff at Randy Morrow Field on the campus of WHS.
The game can also be viewed live with Matt Dove and Drew Burdick on "Warsaw BCE TV" via www.citylinktv.com.
