I-44 rival Rolla had had trouble winning, but not scoring coming in to Friday night's Ozark Conference game at Tiger Stadium.  The 1-3 Bulldogs had averaged 42 points a game before stubbing their toe against WHS Defensive Coordinator Karl Wilking's boys in the 23-15 Tiger win.  Waynesville forced four Rolla punts, stopped a fourth down attempt at the Tiger 16-yard line, and killed two fourth quarter drives with an interception and fumble recovery.  That was seven Rolla possessions that ended going nowhere because of the Tiger defense. 

Rolla moved the ball well early in the game.  An opening drive resulted in a missed field goal, but after recovering a Waynesville fumble, the Bulldogs went 62 yards and scored early in the second quarter for a 7-0 lead.  Their next possession resulted in the fourth down failure at the WHS 16.  Quarterback Varon Martinez then engineered a four-first down, 84 yard drive that ended when Willie Parker went in from five yards out.  Martinez himself  made a scrambling 26 yard run at midfield to keep the drive going and a Sam Thompson kick tied the score.  Thompson came up big later when he nailed a 39 yard field goal attempt with four seconds left in the half. 

The Tigers' second half opening drive would put the winning points on the scoreboard.  The 68-yard, four-first down series ended when Marshay Smith went in from four yards out.  The kick was blocked, but the Tigers led 16-7.

One of the keys to stopping Rolla was controlling tailback Andy Satulla ,who had entered the game with over 900 yards rushing in four games.  He broke loose midway in the second quarter and rolled 76 yards to pay dirt, and he then converted the two point conversion, but that was all he could muster.  For the game, he finished with 16 carries for 147 yards, but the Tigers allowed him only 71 on his other 15 attempts.  That was less than half his per-carry average entering the game. 

Waynesville added icing to the cake with 2:24 left in the third quarter when Martinez hooked up with Jacob Saylor for a 57 yard touchdown pass.  Rolla's last two drives ended with an interception by Raishon Picket and a fumble recovery by Sam Roberts.  Up next is Joplin this Friday at home.  Joplin and Waynesville are two of four teams tied for third place in the O.C.