Tigers do their part, but Camdenton win keeps them out of playoffs

WAYNESVILLE— Despite the Waynesville Tigers football team’s 57-41 thrashing of the Lebanon Yellowjackets on Friday night at a windy Slaughter Field, the Tigers will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2006 thanks to none other than the Camdenton Lakers.

The Lakers beat previously undefeated Rolla in Camdenton 21-13 on Friday night, sending both the Lakers and the Bulldogs to the Class 5 playoffs and sending both the Tigers and Jackets home empty-handed. The Laker win also makes them Class 5 District 6 champions.

Neither Waynesville nor Lebanon would know the outcome of the Camdenton-Rolla game until their game was finished, so both teams battled early, knowing a win could send them to the playoffs.

Lebanon (5-5) scored the first touchdown of the game on the second play from scrimmage. Josh Mattes ran the ball 75 yards for the score to give the Jackets the lead in under a minute.

But the Tigers answered quickly. After a quick 65-yard drive, junior Josh Riley ran the ball in from 15 yards to tie the score at 7 with 10:01 to play in the eh quarter.

From there, it was back-and forth until the second half.

The Tigers went into the locker room with the lead after senior quarterback Kevin Vereen connected with junior wideout JC Wilson for a 55-yard touchdown pass with 28 seconds left. The Tigers went for two and were up 29-21.

Although Lebanon tied the game right after halftime with Mattes’ third touchdown of the evening, the Tigers pulled away.

Vereen scored twice more in the quarter— at 7:27 and 0:21— and threw a touchdown pass to Devon Foster in the fourth quarter.

Mattes scored two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter but by that time the Tigers had the game in hand.

Vereenfinishing with 316 total yards and five touchdowns (three rushing and two passing). He completed 16 of 20 passes for 201 yards.

His Lebanon counterpart Cole Matlock also had a great day through the air, completing 20 of 35 passes for 227 yards and a touchdown. He was, however, tackled six times for a loss of 33 yards.

Mattes ran for 211 yards and five of Lebanon’s six touchdowns.

Waynesville’s Riley carried the ball 21 times for 176 yards and three touchdowns.

Damien Brown Johanningmeier scored the final Tiger touchdown on a 35-yard run in the fourth quarter.

The Tigers and Yellowjackets combined for 903 yards of offense.

See the complete story in Saturday's Daily Guide print edition.