HARTMAN -- The Mountainburg Dragons scored on all four of their first-half possessions and all four of their second-half drives in the season finale Thursday night.
Mountainburg quarterback Ryan Allen accounted for six of the eight touchdowns in guiding the Dragons to a 55-28 win over Johnson County Westside at Wayne Miller Field to wrap up the season for both teams.
"It was a good way to go out," Mountainburg Coach Zach Dean said. "We knew going in that our offense would be okay against them. Defensively, we were a little skeptical."
Hayden McGill put that to rest when he recovered a fumble for Mountainburg (4-6, 3-4 2A-1) on the fourth play of the game at the 26, and the Dragons scored five plays later for the shortest of their eight touchdown drives.
Allen capped the opening series with the first of his three first-half 5-yard touchdown runs with 6:19 left in the quarter.
Westside answered Mountainburg's initial score with a 13-play, 65-yard drive, converting two fourth downs including a 3-yard touchdown toss from Kyle Waln to Zane Smith with 10:14 left before halftime.
Allen added his second 5-yard touchdown run with 7:11 left in the second quarter for a 14-6 lead and hit McGill for a 51-yard touchdown pass with 4:32 left for a 21-6 cushion.
Trenton Jones dotted the Stack-I formation and went around the left side for a touchdown for Westside (1-8, 0-7) with 3:14 left in the half. Waln scrambled and hit Jones for the two-point conversion to draw the Rebels within, 21-14.
Allen, though, put Mountainburg in control with a 5-yard touchdown run with 14 seconds left in the half for a 27-14 lead. Allen then took the Dragons down the field on the opening possession of the second half with senior Bryce Beasley scoring from two yards out for a 34-14 lead.
"We got slapped around a little bit last week," Dean said. "After Friday last week, the heads were a little down. I was concerned about going into the offseason with that mentality, but having the win and the way the kids reacted afterwards it's a good sign for what's to come next year."
Westside answered again with Waln hitting Smith on a 25-yard touchdown pass. Caden Sinden and Sean Rizzo stopped the two-point run, and Allen added a 3-yard scoring run for a 41-20 lead.
Allen and senior JoAndy Granados added fourth-quarter touchdown runs for Mountainburg before Waln scored on the final play of the game on an 18-yard run for Westside.
Allen finished with 24 carries for 271 yards and five touchdowns, and 8-for-10 passing for 148 yards and a touchdown. Beasley and Granados capped their careers with the other two touchdowns.
Granados was injured last year and was limited.
"He had surgery into last year, and he didn't get to play as much as he wanted after missing out on last year and getting back into it," Dean said. "We wanted to get him and Bryce a touchdown if we could. They've been good players for our program and faithful. They didn't get a lot of touches."
The team and Mountainburg crowd celebrated the touchdown by Granados.
"He's a great kid and a great teammate," Dean said. "He didn't get to play as much as he wanted, but he never griped, never complained. Everybody loves him on our team and at school, too. He was our Homecoming King, and the same roar was there when he won that. He's a very likeable kid."
Allen also wound up the season with 182 rushing attempts for 1,650 yards and 22 touchdowns, and 54 of 95 passing for 527 yards and two scores.
Waln capped his career for Westside with 104 rushing yards on nine tries and threw two touchdowns.
"He's very athletic," Dean said. "He's the one that beat us last year. We weren't sure on defense how we were going to stop him, but we came out and played pretty well."
Smith finished with four catches for 78 yards and two scores, and also returned six kickoffs for 121 yards.
Mountainburg running back Bryce Beasley (No. 10) looks for running room against Johnson County Westside and lineman Levi Wright (No. 75) on Thursday night. (Special to River Valley Democrat-Gazette/Ron Green)
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