Webb City’s defense, including linebacker Christian Brock (34), were on the field a majority of the time Friday at Carthage.

Neosho will see how much Webb City learned from its loss to Carthage

Bob Foos

October 12, 2023

Andrew Elwell scores the Cardinals’ first touchdown.

We’re at the last home game of the regular season already, as the Cardinals entertain Neosho Friday – after first recognizing seniors and their parents.

The Webb City Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2023 will also be recognized before the 7 p.m. kickoff.

The Cardinals’ five-game winning streak came to an end at Carthage last week as the Tigers won 20-13.

Webb City scored on its first possession as Andrew Ellwell completed the 72-yard drive.

After Carthage tied it a 7-all, Gabe Johnson, on a quarterback keeper, broke loose for a 67-yard touchdown. The extra-point attempt failed.

Carthage took a 20-13 lead in the second quarter – and that was all of the scoring.

The Tigers had twice as many first downs as the Cardinals and possessed the ball twice as long.

Brayden Ackerman intercepts a Carthage pass on the 1-yard line.

Coach McFarland’s perspective

Carthage a learning experience

We are hoping the Carthage loss serves as a key learning experience for our team. Carthage played really well and we did not. We did some good things on both offense and defense – but definitely not enough to win the game.

Carthage did a great job of getting first downs and keeping our offense off the field. The game started in a scoring fest with us scoring on our first two possessions and Carthage scoring on their first three possessions. Those were all the points scored as the defense took over the remainder of the game.

Andrew Elwell and Gabe Johnson were able to play after missing previous games. Noah Duley and Bronson Collard were held out of the Carthage game with ankle injuries and hope to be back soon. Omari Jackson has been rehabbing his shoulder injury (from week 3) and hopes to be making his way back in the lineup soon.

The loss ended a five-game winning streak. Sometimes when things are going well you can lose focus on the attention to detail that helped you win those games. Hopefully, we will use this loss to refocus and get back to playing and practicing with a greater sense of urgency.

Neosho here Friday

The Neosho Wildcats are coming off their first win of the season. They have played well in many games but have just come up short in the win column.

They had an overtime loss to Branson to go along with close losses to Carthage and Carl Junction. They are a true spread offense and will throw the ball as much as needed to be successful. We will have to be able to be great in coverage and be able to make tackles in space.

Neosho quarterback Quenton Hughes has completed over 60% of his passes this season for almost 1,700 yards. He also surpassed 5,000 career passing yards earlier this year.

On defense, Neosho is very aggressive. Their defensive line does a good job of controlling the line of scrimmage, and their linebackers are physical tacklers.

I am hoping the loss to Carthage last week will help us get refocused on what it takes to win football games.

After this week we only have one more regular season game. We have to increase our sense of urgency because elimination games are just around the corner.

Quarterback Braden McKee on a long play in the first quarter.

Gabe Johnson runs 67 yards for a touchdown.

Stats by Tim Workman