STRATTANVILLE — Before the season began, Moniteau football coach Steve Wilson said he wanted his team to be in the upper echelon of the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference.

On Friday night, the Warriors took a major step in that direction by shutting down Clarion-Limestone 42-6 in the conference opener for both teams.

Moniteau's defense held C-L to 198 yards of total offense and caused six turnovers.

"We pride ourselves on defense," said Wilson. "We like to fly to the football and we like to hit."

Moniteau opened the second quarter by driving to the C-L 5-yard line, but it turned the ball over on downs when Josh Loos's fourth-and-1 pass bounced off the fingertips of Adam Pry.

The Warriors got a reprieve three plays later when Lions quarterback Dan Miller fumbled at the C-L 10-yard line.

Moniteau capitalized three plays later when Adam Cousins crashed into the end zone from four yards away.

Moniteau's next score came with 1:35 left in the first half when Loos ran a quarterback keeper around left end for a 19-yard touchdown.

Loos, the 6-foot-3 junior, ran for 78 yards on eight carries.

With two seconds left until halftime, Cousins made a 27-yard field goal to make the score 16-0.

Cousins set up the field goal attempt by intercepting a Dan Miller pass and returning it to the C-L 10-yard line with seven seconds left on the clock.

Cousins opened the second half by returning the kickoff 95 yards for the score.

"Adam's a gamer," said Wilson. "He wants to play, he wants the ball and he can hurt you from anywhere he is on the field."

Cousins had 45 yards on 10 carries and was responsible for 24 of the Warriors' 42 points.

C-L was able to put points on the board with 6:50 left in the game when Jace Rhoads raced through the middle of the Moniteau defense for a 65-yard scoring jaunt.

C-L had an opportunity to open the scoring late in the first quarter when Harry Cooper caught an apparent 65-yard scoring strike from Miller.

However, the play was wiped out by an illegal formation penalty.

"We got flat-out lucky that touchdown play got called back," Wilson said. "That could have changed the whole tempo of the game.".

Moniteau linebacker Justin Sanderson was the star on the defensive side of the ball by making three sacks and forcing two fumbles.

"All week long (Sanderson) has been playing on our scout team defense, and we can't handle his quickness," said Wilson.

"C-L came to play," said Wilson. "I know they had some guys banged up, but the guys they had played."

"We got a lot of young kids in there and we got a lot of injuries," said C-L coach Todd Smith. "We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores out there and we had 12 kids not dress."