Week 8 - WC at Carthage

This was the one we'd all been waiting on. For most of season the talk had been that Carthage would hammer WC - that their offense was just too good. Early results and comparative scores lent credence to that perspective as Carthage put up huge numbers against their COC opponents.

Then there was Branson. The Pirates did to Carthage what no one else had - they hit them in the mouth (to use football terminology). Branson got physical with Carthage, put pressure on Trey Derryberry and shut the Tigers down. Ask my wife, I had been saying all along (and for 3 seasons now) that if you can hit Derryberry he'll quit or at least get flustered and stop playing very well. And we did see him simply lay down a couple of times Friday night to avoid getting hit.

So finally after too much talk, twice as many fans as Baker Stadium was designed for piled in for the showdown. The first 4 minutes predicted a shootout of legendary proportions. WC easily drove the ball into the end zone only to have Carthage go 80 yards on their first play from scrimmage. With 8:15 remaining in the first we'd learned 2 things: 1. Carthage couldn't handle WC up front and 2. WC is still susceptible to the pass.

From there we saw what we've come to expect from the Cards when it comes time to play Carthage - deliveries under pressure. WC had to punt on their next possession, but after a fortunate bounce off the shoulder pads of a Tiger led to an interception, WC began putting up points on long drives, killing the clock, and keeping the Tiger offense...(I'd say off the field, but this is high school so the same guys all play defense too)...busy defending a running attack they wanted none of.

Late in the first half, Mack Kyle (WC QB) took it 56 yards to the house - leaving Carthage about 90 seconds to try to cut into the 28-7 lead. The run was reminiscent of his much longer run late in WC's playoff loss at Carthage last year - that happened with a little too much time left on the clock. The run itself was impressive as Kyle stiff-armed one defender, outran a couple of others before cutting back to get into the end zone. This time, WC held and Carthage did not score to close out the half. This was definitely a different night.

After the longest halftime I can remember play resumed and WC continued its assault on the clock, scoring once and continuing to shut Carthage down. In the fourth quarter, what looked to be a 6th scoring drive was stopped by an interception when Kyle tried to dump a short pass over the Tigers defensive line and one of them managed to jump up and grab the floating pass. Both offenses continued to move the ball, but could not capitalize. WC seemed content - as they usually are - to let Carthage move the ball down to about the WC 20 and then use the sidelines and end zone as extra defenders (limiting play calling options) before shutting the Tigers down. The game ended at about the WC 15 with Carthage on the march, but unable to put it in the end zone. Final score 35-7 (with the 7 coming on Carthage's first play from scrimmage).

Some observations and commentary:

- Having watched several WC v. Carthage games now - and most of them at least billed to be huge games (only a few have lived up to that) - I've come to a conclusion. There is something about the Carthage defense that leads to WC QBs running wild. Carthage match ups either just bring out the best ground game WC QBs have to offer or it's a match up issue - I'm not sure which. Kyle ran for over 100 yards last night and 3 TDs - most of the year he's been content to hand it off to Braxton Baker and Seth Helton (Baker did have over 200 yards rushing and 2 TDs, but Helton only racked up 50 or so yards). Last year in the playoffs Kyle had a big game running the ball. Go back to Collin Howard, he racked up the rushing yards against Carthage. And before him? Brayden Drake (this is Patrick Drake's brother and also my brother-in-law) had big rushing games against the Tigers back in his day as well. I'm all for the QB leading the charge. If I were guessing I think what it amounts to is how Carthage tries to defend the veer-option attack - accounting for the running backs first, leaving the QB to carry it. If WC QBs weren't such capable ball carriers that might be a good approach, but it doesn't seem to work when the guy under center knows how to run.

- I want to be less than tacky here, but Carthage really needs to sink some money into their stadium if they want to continue to host big games. The visitor's seating is about 1/4 the size that is needed and apparently the home side is too small as well - their fans sit all over the place. The stadium only has one small set of bathrooms - no where near what is needed for a crowd like last night. I've never seen a men's room line that long or slow. I realize Carthage probably doesn't have the fund availability that other schools may and I don't want to be a jerk, it's just hard to go into a stadium like that when you see what other schools are providing for their visitors.

- Last night marked the opening of Missouri Football District play - so everything counts now. As WC was taking down Carthage, Nevada was busy upsetting Carl Junction in the other Class 4-12 matchup. Add to that Neosho taking down Branson in Class 4-11 action. Neither of these was really expected - by me or others I've talked to - and the Branson upset has a big impact on the playoff picture.

- Speaking of, here's the deal. For the first time 2 teams from each district will go to the playoffs - Carthage has to be really happy about that after all those years of being 9-1 and shutout of the playoffs by WC. This adds a round to the playoffs - which is why the season started a week earlier this year - and means that teams now have some control over where they play their first round playoff game. According to the MSHSAA website the district champions will host the second place team from the adjacent district in the first round of the playoffs on November 5th.

If things shake out as I expect them to that would have Branson making a second trip to WC in just 5 weeks (due to their loss to Neosho). Now that certainly could change if Neosho were to lose to someone else in that district, but I don't see that happening (a WC loss to Carl or Nevada would shake that up as well). It also means that Carthage (likely #2 in 4-12 would travel to Neosho in round one). The winner of those 2 games would meet in round two - so that's where the potential for a WC v. Carthage rematch comes in (November 10th, yes, I'm out of town).

The location of that second round game is unclear. I don't know if the host would be the higher seed (if it's a 1 v. 2) or if we go back to the old rules where the district numbers and years come into play - then again, if both teams are from the same district it either has to go to the higher seed or to the team that didn't host in round 1 (which would be a bad choice, particularly if you're talking about a team that beat the other for the right to be the district champion having to travel to that team in the playoffs, but honestly I've never thought the Missouri playoff site selection system made any sense anyway). All that to say this, Cardinal fans, if things shake out the way I see it, we're going to get Carthage again and I'm not sure whether they are coming to us or we're packing into their place again.

The challenge going forward for WC is not to look past Nevada or Carl and avoid an upset. WC now controls their destiny, but it's on them not to have a let-down.