Week 9: WC v. Nevada

Globe Article

Let's be honest, after last week's triumph over Carthage this week was bound to pale in comparison - even being senior night. But the Cards definitely didn't have a let down scoring 45 points in the first half and 59 total (easily their biggest outburst of the season). There wasn't much Nevada could do to slow the Cards (who started all their seniors and played many of the starters only sparingly) down along the way. We pretty much saw what we expected in this match up.

The best play of the night - which apparently both news stations missed, because they'd have been nuts not to include it in their highlights and neither did - happened in the first half when Braxton Baker fumbled after a short gain only to have Mack Kyle pick the ball up in stride and streak 30+ yards into the end zone. From the stands it looked like it would roll out of bounds when Kyle came out of nowhere after a Nevada player caused the ball to pop up just high enough for Kyle to scoop it up at full speed. You never want to see the fumble, but it was a great recovery and a heads up play by Kyle who was clearly down the field following the play even after he handed it off.

On the brother-in-law front, Patrick threw a touchdown pass and had a couple of other nice completions in the game. He didn't see as much play on defense as I had hoped - likely because of it being senior night (the other 2 corners are both seniors) and by the time the coaches pulled the seniors they went straight to the JV crew for mop-up duty. Hopefully we'll see Pat on D more Thursday night at Carl.

Carthage hammered CJ, so WC has now clinched the district and a home game (and a second if they win the first) regardless of the outcome against CJ (not that anyone is expecting CJ to pose a serious threat unless WC has a major letdown). Neosho took care of Republic, staying on pace to win 4A-11 and host Carthage in the first round - sending Branson back to WC for round 1.

On another front, a couple of college football comments:
- I don't care for Ohio State particularly and I have no beef with Joe Paterno, but I'm certainly hoping Ohio State takes care of this Penn State national title shot issue for me tonight. Seriously, no seriously they don't deserve it.
- I'm not holding my breath for my Pokes - mostly doing expectation management. If it gets too ugly you may find me out in my yard mowing before it's over. I hope it doesn't come to that.