High School football week 2 - Cards v. Mounties

Joplin Globe Article

Let me lead with "I was wrong".

Six minutes into the Webb City v. Rogers, Arkansas football game last night I looked at my wife and said, "We're about to get blown out in our own stadium." Why would I say such a blasphemous thing? Because Rogers came out and had their way with WC for the first couple of possessions, combine that with poor execution early on by WC and it looked like the rout was on.

To say that WC showed character would be a colossal understatement. Down 14-0 in the middle of the first quarter the Cards settled down, mounted a long drive and put it in the end zone - giving everyone in the stadium a chance to breath.

There is a line in "Remember the Titans" (MD, they win the last game in the movie, but get beat the next week, so it's only sort of a happy ending, plus a guy ends up paralyzed, don't hate.) where the coach refers to his offensive philosophy saying "It's like Novocaine. Give it time, it always works." Last night felt like that. Webb just kept running the same types of plays they always run (and the ones that got stuffed on their first two possessions), but the longer they did it, the more effective they became.

Braxton Baker had another stellar performance. In the 5 years or so I've been watching WC football he might be the hardest runner I've seen - and that's saying a lot, because Webb is known for hard running backs. He's not a big kid, but gets a ton of yardage after contact and his second & third effort often makes the difference.

We saw Mack Kyle option for the first time this season...and it worked nicely. Seth Helton put it in the end zone 3 times on the night. Austin Lepper was all over the place on both sides of the ball. We even saw a brief appearance at quarterback by Patrick Drake who converted a critical 2-pointer by threading a pass to Austin Daniel, putting the Cards up by 3 late in the game.

Here's what we learned:

- This team is tough and they don't quit. I had wondered if they had that kind of character or not. Not because they'd shown a lack of it, just because you have to wait and see each year how a team will respond when they're down. Keep in mind they played from in front most of last week. Last night's game reminded me a little of a big win that WC had at Pittsburg in 2006. They had rolled through a few teams, looked okay, but it was that night when they were really challenged that they took on the attitude and determination that eventually led to a title. This team has a long way to go, but they grew up a lot last night against a tough team.

- Kevin Cott looked at me in the closing minutes (after the last WC score, but before they stopped Rogers to get the ball back and end it) and said, "They just always find a way to win don't they?" Well, when things are going right, yes. It's not always that easy and doesn't always happen, but one of the things I think separates the WC program overall (and this carries over into other sports as well) is that they expect to win, know how to win, and find ways to win when others might tighten up and blow it. I've seen WC teams beat themselves, but it's pretty rare. This team had to change the way they approach defense and play at a much higher level to slow the Mounties down long enough to beat them.

- This WC team responds to adversity very well. The officiating was bad in spots last night. There were some bad interference calls against WC that were poor as well as some holds and such that went uncalled when Rogers had the ball. But the Cards didn't let that shake them. They just came back and found a different way to get it done. Kudos.

As expected, Carthage smacked Nixa. The question is whether playing quality opponents early in the season will ultimately be more meaningful than big, impressive wins. At this point, I'm very okay with the Tigers getting the press and hype. They are very, very good and certainly have the ability to beat WC. What I can't figure out is who the Springfield Pigskin Preview folks think Carthage is going to lose 2 games to. Webb City is the only tough team on the their calendar, so even if the thought is that WC might beat Carthage, who would the other loss be to? We'll see what happens.

There were lots of pivotal plays last night, but one I can't end without pointing out was the tackle WC's kicker made on the Rogers returner after WC took the lead late in the 4th quarter. Webb had been kicking away from this guy all night - to the point that it was annoying to watch. The guy finally got a chance to return one at a critical moment and we learned why the Cards didn't want him loose with the ball as he quickly broke it and looked to be headed to the end zone when suddenly the WC kicker appeared in front of him. Now normally, you just want you kicker to either slow the guy down long enough for someone else to get to the ball carrier or at best, in a pinch make an ankle tackle. Not this guy. No, he ran right at the ball carrier - the one who had eluded the other 10 guys from WC - and attacked him. No ankle tackle, he squared up on him and slammed him to the ground. I think the returner from Rogers was probably shocked that the kicker would come right at him. This play kept Rogers from re-taking the lead late in the game and ultimately set up the defensive stop that secured the win for WC. Nice job.