BY TJ BRICE
In this era of pass-happy, spread offenses, Friday night was a little bit of a throwback at Tiger Stadium in Ozark.
A pair of run heavy teams squared off, with the Webb City Cardinals (7-1) showing why they are still the gold standard with a 48-13 victory over the Ozark Tigers (5-3). Both teams run variations of the veer option offense, and both had success
as they combined for 626 rushing yards — Webb City 341, Ozark 284.
"You know that (Ozark) is going to get some yards, but you have to do a better job than we did tonight," Cardinals coach John Roderique said. "We gave up too many yards on first down, too many eight- to 12-yard runs. When they get rolling, it's really tough to defend."
Roderique's defense did give up chunks of yards, but it was able to make big plays when it needed to in forcing four Ozark turnovers.
"There is one stat that is the big determining factor between winning and losing and that's turnovers," Roderique said. "That was huge. When your offense is scoring and you are getting some short fields from those turnovers, that's a bonus."
The Cardinals' offense was scoring and scoring frequently. Webb City scored on all but two possessions on the night, although one of those was the final possession of the game when the Cardinals were just running out the clock.
After the defense stopped Ozark on a fourth down near midfield on the game's first possession, Webb City made short work of the short field. A 32-yard completion from Cole Gayman to Gary Clinton set up the Cardinals inside the 10yard line. Two plays later Devrin Weathers scored from seven yards out.
Another long Gayman-to-Clinton pass (38 yards) set up Webb City's second score,a Gayman eight-yard scramble.
Clinton, the 6-foot-4 tight end, caught four passes for 120 yards.
Ozark finally got on the board just before half on a Tylr Bolin touchdown. The Ozark senior had a game-high 146 rushing yards, all on plays between the tackles.
Holding a 21-7 lead at half, Webb City wasted no time taking a stranglehold of the game in the second half. A 52-yard run by Jackson got the ball inside the 10, and he scored two plays later.
Weathers, who has averaged 146 yards per game, had his lowest yardage total on the season with 87 yards on 10 carries and two touchdowns.
Although Weathers didn't have his usual eye-popping numbers, his backfieldmates Gayman and Dupree Jackson created a three pronged attack that ripped off yards in chunks. Jackson led the Cardinals with 131 yards on 14 carries and two touchdowns, and Gayman did damage with both his arm and legs. The senior had 215 total yards (128 passing, 87 rushing) and two rushing touchdowns.
"Devrin Weathers has been doing what he's doing for three years," Roderique said. "Dupree Jackson has stepped in in the absence of Cade Wilson, who got injured a few weeks ago. I couldn't be prouder of those guy and how they keep working and trying to get better."
Webb City wraps up the regular season next Friday with a home game against Willard. Ozark travels to Carl Junction.
Joplin Globe 10/17/2020 (Used by permission)