Mountain Grove Panthers crush Ava in home opener

It had been since just after the Covid pandemic that the Mountain Grove Panthers’ football team defeated rival Ava.
Entering their home opener with the Bears last Friday night, a close match-up was expected by many fans as Ava was coming off just an 11-point loss to Logan-Rogersville. They defeated Buffalo in week one, 45-34.
Fortunately, Mountain Grove’s players entered the game hungry to give former Ava coach Dan Swofford a big victory against his former program. They did just that as the Panthers took a 42-0 lead into halftime and cruised to a 48-7 victory.
Mountain Grove opened the scoring early in the first quarter as Braydon Curtiss scored on a 22-yard touchdown run. Dameon Martin’s extra-point kick made the score 7-0. About a minute later, Jacob Crosco broke up an Ava pitch attempt and took the ball to the around the Bears’ 25.
Quarterback Aden Estep later scored from three yards out to push the lead to 14-0 after the extra-point kick.
Just before the end of the first quarter, Estep broke open the game with a 70-yard touchdown run, where he was nearly untouched. The failed extra-point kick kept the score at 20-0.
Defensive linemen Slade Rodgers picked up a big sack for a five-yard loss then followed it one play later with another sack for a four-yard loss.
Ava would end up needing to punt and it nearly was blocked and went out of bounds at their own 40.
Eli Golden scored soon on a 39-yard touchdown run and went untouched. Estep then pitched it to Golden for a two-point conversion to push the lead to 28-0 with 10:05 still remaining in the first half.
On their next drive, Estep connected with Brett Gardner for a 33-yard touchdown pass. Martin’s extra-point kick pushed the lead to 35-0.
With under a minute remaining in the half, Golden scored on a 12-yard touchdown run, and with Martin’s extra-point kick, the Panthers were up 42-0.
Mountain Grove’s JV took over the game for most of the second half.
Ava did score on a late 16-yard touchdown pass, closing the gap to 42-7.
The Panthers would answer as Damien LaFranchise ran over an Ava defender on his way to a 60-yard touchdown run.
Martin’s extra-point made the final score, 48-7.
Up next for the Panthers is a match-up with undefeated Willow Springs on the road Friday, Sep. 19. The Bears defeated Mountain View, Ark., 36-21, before shutting out Pleasant Hope with Halfway and Marion C. Early, 40-0, and Cabool, 35-0. (No team statistics were available for the game.)