Week 10: WC v. CJ

When I looked at the game-day weather forecast on Wednesday evening I quickly realized we would need 2 pieces of extra equipment as fans on Thursday night as WC closed their regular season at home against Carl: Helmets and Flippers. Why? Because the Weather Channel was calling for a lot of rain and storms including large hail.

The hail never materialized, but I did get to sit through one fairly intense cell under a tarp outside the gates on Thursday afternoon with just a few others brave (or crazy) enough to show up early on a nasty day. There were a couple of lightning strikes close enough to make you wonder whether sitting right next to a chain-link fence holding an umbrella was a great idea.

Most of the rain quit by the time the gates opened with only periodic showers thereafter. It took a major effort from several people to get the lake that had formed on the WC sideline moved before game time, but with that out of the way the weather had little impact on the game itself. The difference between playing in the mud down at Branson and just a wet field at home was striking.

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The game was never close. WC turned it over on it's first possession then proceeded to man-handle CJ posting 47 first half points. The starters were mostly done before halftime and only one touchdown was scored after the break.

Patrick Drake threw 4 touchdown passes in the first half and ran for another. It was a good Senior night for him.

CJ turned it over 7 times (4 picks in the first half, 3 fumbles in the second), you just can't do that and think you're not going to get destroyed when you're over-matched anyway.

The only thing that was surprising was the difficulty WC had blocking on PATs. I think they had 3 blocked. I don't know if there was an assignment issue or what. I suspect the Cards will have that fixed by the time they hit the field Wednesday night to open the playoffs.

Branson scored late to finish off Republic 25-20. That win will bring Branson to Cardinal Stadium on Wednesday evening creating a rematch of the mud-bowl game a few weeks ago. My take on it is that Branson is better than they showed the first time WC played them, but probably not a real threat to knock off the Cards at home. I honestly expect WC to come out pretty focused after 2 weeks of weak opponents in games that were snoozers.

If the Cards beat Branson they'll face the winner of Wednesday's Carthage - Neosho matchup. This game should be interesting as Carthage managed to knock off Neosho in Neosho earlier in the season and will have to do it again to get another shot at WC. If Carthage wins, they would visit Cardinal Stadium for the second time this season. If Neosho wins, Webb will travel to Neosho on Monday, November 9th.

It's playoff time and we're about to find out what this WC team is made of.