James goes hog wild

The Mid-Missouri Outlaws don’t need Darren McFadden and the Wild Hog formation — they’ve got Marcus James.

James did his best impression of the former Arkansas running back on Saturday, leading the Outlaws to a 51-12 win against the Springfield Lightning in a Central Plains Football League game at State Fair Community College.

James, who played football for Missouri from 2000-04, scored five touchdowns to pace the Outlaws (8-1). He caught two touchdown passes, returned a kickoff for a touchdown and ran in twice on direct snaps from a shotgun formation.

“I don’t even know the name of it, they say, ‘Marcus, you’re a quarterback,’ ” he said. “A little Wild Hog. That’s what we can call it, let’s call it Wild Hog.”

James, who has played two games with the Outlaws and said he’s still learning his teammates’ names, was faster than the Lightning on Saturday.

“I’ve been wanting to strap it on for a long time and this is what I love to do,” James said. “This is a great, great situation here in Sedalia.”

He gave the Outlaws an initial 6-0 lead when Kyle Middleton found him on a quick slant for a 4-yard touchdown on Mid-Missouri’s first possession.

Springfield (0-9) tied the game on its next possession when quarterback Ryan Reichow threw a 40-yard touchdown pass on fourth down, but James had an answer.

This time, James hauled in a wide receiver screen pass from Middleton and took it 9 yards for the touchdown. He made it 14-6 when he took a direct snap in the “Wild Outlaw” formation and rushed across the goal line for the 2-point conversion.

“That’s our version of a Darren McFadden back there,” said Travis Jobe, the Outlaws’ co-owner with Chad Jackson. “That guy doesn’t disappoint, I mean you’ve seen it. He’s unbelievable. We’re proud that we’re a good enough team to draw people like that.”

Middleton added a rushing touchdown and James took another direct snap for a 2-yard touchdown run to give the Outlaws a comfortable 26-6 halftime cushion.

The direct snap worked again in the third quarter when James went through the left side of the line for an 11-yard score and a 33-6 cushion.

He capped the scoring late in the fourth quarter with a 51-yard touchdown return where the only player to touch him was another Outlaw, who was caught off guard by James’ speed.

“We were joking and Travis Jobe, the owner, comes and he’s like, ‘We haven’t had a guy return one in three years since we had the team,’ ” James said. “I was like, ‘I’m your guy.’ I got some blocks and ran into my own guy before I finally found the end zone.”

The Outlaws got a pair of touchdowns from Tim Washington. The Smith-Cotton assistant football and head wrestling coach hauled in a leaping 20-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter and rushed one in from 9 yards out in the fourth quarter.

Mid-Missouri has a bye next week before wrapping up the regular season with a pivotal road game against Independence. The two teams will be playing for a first-round bye in the playoffs.