Denzel Dowdy’s four rushing touchdowns helped Wright City remain undefeated in Eastern Missouri Conference games. 

Wright City (4-1, 3-0 EMO) earned a 40-20 road win over Van-Far Friday night. 

After falling behind 8-0 in the opening quarter, Wright City scored four touchdowns in the second quarter to take a 26-14 lead into halftime. Dowdy opened the scoring for Wright City with a 1-yard touchdown run. He also scored later in the quarter on a 4-yard touchdown run to give Wright City their first lead at 20-14. Wright City also scored touchdowns in the second quarter on Duan McRoberts’ 34-yard touchdown pass to Kayden Allison. McRoberts scored on a 46-yard touchdown run to give Wright City a 26-14 lead heading into halftime. 

“We were able to get some scores and after their second touchdown, we scored and then we got a turnover… That’s what changed the momentum,” Wright City football coach Tyler Rickard said. “You know, we were kind of going back and forth with them. But once we got that turnover on a fumble, we were able to score, get up a touchdown and we’re able to get another score and get out there before halftime.”

Dowdy scored on a pair of 3-yard touchdown runs in the second half to give Wright City a 40-14 lead before Van-Far scored one touchdown later in the fourth quarter. 

Dowdy led Wright City on the ground with 109 yards rushing on 15 carries. McRoberts also broke 100 yards on the ground. He finished the game with 104 yards rushing on 10 carries. He also went 6-11 for 110 yards with a touchdown pass through the air. Allison hauled in three catches for 80 yards and a touchdown. 

Rickard credited the Wright City offensive line for doing a great job of creating rushing lanes for the Wright City running backs. 

“Denzel and Duan obviously had the big yardage,” Rickard said. “They both ran really hard, made great plays. But then we also had Carle’on (Jones) stepped in, got some carries and was able to get some yards too. The rush attack was exactly what we needed. We also threw the ball pretty well and that was good to kind of keep them off balance a little bit.”

Gavin McCord and Draiden Edwards led Wright City with four solo tackles. Quinn Schnarre had 10 tackle assists. Dowdy, Carle’on Jones and Devin Myers each recorded a tackle for loss. Dowdy and Mason Wendt each recovered a fumble. 

“While we did still have some lapses, I was pleased with our defense for the most part on Friday,” Rickard said. “We started a little slow but once we got rolling, we were on it. And so, defense played really well and I thought they did a good job.”

Wright City will look to maintain their perfect conference record when they host Montgomery County (3-2, 2-1 EMO) this Friday. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. 

“It’s a big game for us obviously,” Rickard said. “Homecoming, but more importantly, it’s the next game, right? And it’s a conference game. It’s a team that we struggled to beat in the past. And so, you know, there’s a lot of things going into this game that, you know, we want to come out strong and have a good showing.”