By: Jason Peake
As the longest tenured head football coach in the Central Ozark Conference, Carthage's Jon Guidie has recorded many memorable victories over the years.
But Guidie's latest coaching win is likely to rank high on his list of significant regular season triumphs.
Led by a strong rushing attack and a solid defensive effort, Carthage knocked off Class 5 No. 2 Webb City 20-13 on a chilly Friday night at David Haffner Stadium.
It's safe to say the Tigers entered the matchup as the clear underdog.
"Obviously, this is a huge win over a very good football team," Guidie said. "It's a big rivalry. Webb City was red hot coming in. And any time you can beat Webb City, it's big. I'm just really proud of these kids and the fight they showed tonight. This is a quality win, so we're just really happy for the kids."
The Cardinals and Tigers both entered the Week 7 rivalry matchup with plenty of momentum.
Webb City had won five straight games, while Carthage was riding a three-game winning streak. With that, something had to give. In the end, it was the host Tigers who kept their streak alive.
Simply put, Carthage's offense was able to sustain drives and keep Webb City's high-powered offense off the field. In the most glaring statistic of the night, Carthage had more than 32 minutes of time of possession (32:13) to Webb City's 15:47.
"We took six minutes off the clock on one possession and five minutes off the clock with another drive," Guidie noted. "You have to do that against a team that has an explosive offense. You have to control the ball and control the clock and our kids were able to do that tonight. We converted some third downs and key fourth downs. Those were big."
Carthage ran 60 offensive plays to Webb City's 37. The hosts recorded 18 first downs to Webb City's nine.
"Offensively, it didn't feel like we had very many snaps," Webb City coach Ryan McFarland said. "It was hard to get a feel for what they were trying to do defensively because we didn't get to run a lot of plays. We were slow to make some adjustments because of the limited snaps we had."
The Cardinals entered the night averaging 43 points per game during their winning streak, but the Tigers limited the visitors to two scores, both in the first half.
"We gave up a big play early, and they have some good kids and some speed," Guidie said. "I thought our defense tightened up and we were able to get a turnover before the half. That was big. I thought the defense settled down and played really well."
Carthage improved to 4-3 with a fourth straight win.
"I'm very happy with this team," Guidie said. "They're getting better and gaining confidence and I still think we have a ways to go. It's very gratifying to coach this group in particular. We've got 11 new starters on defense…and we started five sophomores tonight. It's just very gratifying to see these guys have the success they've had."
Carthage held a 20-13 lead at halftime, and despite some promising opportunities, neither team scored after the break.
GAME RECAP
Webb City's first drive went 72 yards on seven plays and was capped by junior running back Andrew Elwell's 3-yard touchdown run at the 9:15 mark of the opening quarter.
Carthage responded on its first series, as senior Darrin Witt recorded a 32-yard touchdown run with 3:17 left in the first period, capping an 11-play, 74-yard drive.
Back in the lineup after missing time with an injury, Webb City sophomore QB/RB/WR Gabe Johnson made his presence known by sprinting past the CHS defense for a dazzling 67-yard score, giving the Cardinals a 13-7 advantage after the PAT kick failed.
"Our guys executed our game plan early in the game," McFarland said. "It was nice to have Gabe Johnson back because he's such a big playmaker."
The Tigers tied it up on junior running back Landyn Collins' 1-yard touchdown plunge at the 10:07 mark of the second quarter. Webb City's Brody Eggleston blocked the PAT kick to keep it 13-all.
The Tigers took the lead for good with 2:53 remaining in the first half by coming through in the clutch.
Facing fourth and 3, Carthage took a 20-13 lead when Collins hauled in a short pass from junior quarterback Brady Carlton and then broke several tackles on the way to a 42-yard touchdown.
The two teams traded turnovers late in the first half, and both squads turned the ball over on downs to start the second half.
The Tigers continued to eat up a lot of the clock with a time-consuming drive that concluded with another turnover on downs with nine minutes left in the game.
A couple of untimely penalties hurt Webb City's potential game-tying drive with just over six minutes to play.
Late in the game, the Cardinals recovered a CHS fumble with 1:12 remaining and with about 67 yards to go. A last-second Hail Mary was off the mark, and the Tigers celebrated a hard-fought victory.
"We turned the ball over twice in the second half, but we didn't let it beat us," Guidie said. "Maybe that's a sign of maturity or growing up."
NAMES & NUMBERS
The Tigers racked up 320 yards of offense, with 266 on the ground and 54 through the air.
"They're a very physical football team and they run hard," McFarland said of the Tigers. "It's hard to simulate that in practice. We haven't seen a team just line up and try to run over us the last few weeks. I think they caught us off guard. In the first half, their yards after contact was probably three or four yards per play. They were able to get first downs. I thought we made some adjustments defensively in the second half, and we were able to get some stops."
Collins ran 28 times for 107 yards and Carlton had 105 rushing yards on 20 carries. Both players showed the ability to pick up extra yardage after an initial hit on several gains.
"We talked at halftime about how hard Landyn and Brady were running," Guidie said. "It seemed like they had an extra gear tonight. Getting an extra yard or two was very important when you want to control the ball."
Trevor Meadows (six tackles) and Noah Norbury (five tackles) led the Carthage defense.
Webb City finished with 225 yards, 172 rushing and 53 passing.
Johnson ran 10 times for 104 yards to lead the Webb City offense. Senior quarterback Braden McKee completed 3 of 7 passes for 32 yards and Johnson went 3 of 4 for 21 passing yards.
Conner Gayman had 13 tackles for the Cardinals, while Tucker Liberatore had 10.
Webb City slipped to 5-2 on the season with the setback.
McFarland noted Carthage was the more physical team in the matchup, and added he hopes the loss will provide his squad with extra motivation going forward.
Friday's contest was the 115th meeting between the longtime rivals since 1920.
WILL THEY MEET AGAIN?
Of course, these two teams are not only conference rivals, but also district foes.
Both squads have been assigned to Class 5 District 7, so a postseason rematch is a possibility.