By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Leading by one score heading into the fourth quarter, Carthage’s offense mounted a decisive 21-play drive to put the game away against Webb City on Friday night.
The Tigers (7-1) covered 73 yards while running an impressive 10-and-a-half minutes off the clock and sealed it with a 6-yard touchdown run by Landon West to earn a 28-14 win over the visiting Cardinals (5-3) in Central Ozarks Conference action.
Carthage head coach Jon Guidie heaped credit on his offensive line after the Tigers finished with a nearly 3-to-1 advantage in time of possession and amassed nearly 300 rushing yards.
“Our offensive line and tight ends I felt like did a great job up front,” Guidie said. “We needed to run the ball tonight I thought and those guys stepped up and did a fantastic job. West had 40 carries or something like that which is unbelievable but really the credit goes to that offensive line, our tight ends, our H-back. They really, really controlled the line of scrimmage.”
The Tigers set that tone from the start with an opening 14-play drive lasting more than 7 minutes that saw Carthage face only a pair of third down situations, and quarterback Zane Browning gave his team an early 7-0 lead with a 1-yard scoring run.
Webb City answered with a big play on its first possession––quarterback Braden Strickland passed to Trae Turner for a 55-yard catch and run touchdown to tie it.
Neither offense did much after that until Carthage jumped ahead 14-7 in the final minute of the half on a 4-yard run by West. The visitors tied it again, though, with another big play on their first drive of the 3rd quarter. A 60-yard run by Strickland set up first and goal, and then Mason Williams found the end zone on a 7-yard run.
The Cardinals didn’t score again after that; they punted after 6 plays on their next possession and then didn’t get the ball back again until it was 28-14 with less than 90 seconds remaining.
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“I thought we executed our first drive really well, got a couple first downs and threw a touchdown pass to Turner who’s a great weapon for us,” Webb City coach Ryan McFarland said. “We tried to get Gabe Johnson involved in that second drive and we fumbled the ball after two plays. Our defense gave us great field position there then we go 3-and-out on our other drive of the first half. I thought our offensive staff did a really good job in the third quarter coming out. Braden Strickland made a great run and I thought our coaching staff made some good adjustments, we just didn’t have the ball enough tonight to really get in a rhythm offensively and hats off to Carthage for winning the time of possession battle and keeping our offense off the field.”
Carthage took the lead for good on an 8-plus minute drive that featured a 4th-and-6 pass from Browning to Jack Carlton for 11 yards. Browning kept it for another 1-yard touchdown run to make it 21-14 with 2:31 left in the third.
After the Webb City punt, the Tigers got the ball at their own 23 with 2 seconds left in the quarter to start their 21-play drive. That possession also featured a 4th-down conversion, with Browning running for a 3-yard gain on 4th-and-2.
“Again, credit goes to those guys up front,” Guidie said. “All they wanted to do was run the football and they backed it up tonight.”
McFarland said Carthage’s success on the ground and ability to possess the ball was the difference.
“To open the game they go on a long drive and then that last drive there in the fourth quarter they take about the whole quarter before they score,” he said. “We’ve got to figure out ways to get our defense off the field and get stops. There weren’t a lot of possessions tonight. When you let them take 7 or 8 minutes off the clock it makes the game really short.”
The Class 5 third-ranked Tigers totaled 65 offensive plays to Webb City’s 31 and led 22-8 in first downs and 35:28-12:32 in time of possession.
West led Carthage with 215 yards and two scores on 38 carries. Browning scored twice in his 15 carries (44 yards) and added 31 yards passing on 4 of 5 attempts. Jett Dalton caught three of those for 20 yards. The Tigers totaled 318 yards.
For Class 5 No. 5 Webb City, Strickland rushed 5 times for 78 yards and Williams added 8 carries for 36 and a touchdown. Strickland completed 5 of 7 passes for 85 yards, with Turner catching 2 for 58 and a score. The Cardinals totaled 245 yards.
