It all happened so fast that Ozark's offensive linemen could have easily not caught the number of the Nixa defensive end who sped by them seemingly in a blur when the teams met in a jamboree at Kickapoo last month.

If the linemen needed to be alerted of the No. 40 jersey number donned by DeSean Downs or a reminder of the manner in which he ran by them, they received it repeatedly this week leading up to the Backyard Brawl.

"The coaches told us all week, 'No. 40, No. 40, No. 40,'" Ozark offensive lineman Hunter Tennison said.

Tennison and his cohorts responded by falling a mere :28 short of 40 minutes of epic ball-hogging in the Tigers' 20-14 victory versus Nixa on Friday.

Ozark's offensive linemen were on the field for so long they lost their anonymity. They were able to do so by first addressing Downs and keeping him from being disruptive, as he was in their jamboree matchup. Downs still had two tackles for a loss this time around, but wasn't the constant presence in the Tigers' backfield he was a month ago.

"No. 40, I don't know what his name is, but he's good and he's huge," Ozark running back Tylr Bolin said. "Our line did a good job keeping him contained. We contained him where he wasn't making too many tackles like he was (in the jamboree)." 

It was a prime-time matchup worth zeroing in on whenever the 6-foot-5, 220-pound Tennison would go man-on-man against the 6-3, 200-pound Downs.

"He definitely challenged me. I had to fall back on technique. I couldn't overpower him," Tennison said. "I stuck with what our coaches told me to do. One thing I tried to make sure of when he came across me was that he wouldn't get past me."

"Hats off to that dude, he's a ball player and a tough challenge," Ozark lineman Logan Brewer said of Downs. "He gave us his best and we tried to do our best against him."

"(Downs) is a very good player," Ozark coach Chad Depee aded "He gave us fits. We hope that with whatever people are doing to us that we have an answer to it." 

Ozark (3-1) answered both of Nixa's touchdowns with scores of their own on their way to 341 yards rushing. Depee felt the Tigers had no bigger answer than their first scoring drive to end the first half in response to the Eagles gaining a 7-0 lead.

Four minutes into the second quarter, Nixa's Steven Ward blocked a 48-yard field-goal attempt by Thomas Rushing, held onto the ball and dashed downfield for a touchdown. At that juncture, the Eagles had held the ball for only 1:39, including :09 on Ward's touchdown, but led 7-0.

Ozark 20, Nixa 14

Nixa   0  7  0  7 - 14
Ozark 0  7  6  7 - 20

Scoring

N - Ward 52 return on block field goal (Anello kick)
O - Rushing 28 run (Rushing kick)
O - Bolin 7 run (kick blocked)
O - Brockman 29 pass from Strickler (Rushing kick)
N - Long 44 pass from Potts (Anello kick)

For the full game recap, click here.

For gallery photos, click here.

For O-Zone video and game highlights, click here.