Doug Buckmaster looked on the bright side after his Carl Junction Bulldogs suffered a 28-14 loss at Webb City on Friday night in Week 5 of the 2020 high school football season.
To Buckmaster, the Bulldogs can take away several positives from the setback.
“We’ve played so well on offense the last two weeks, we just need to start scoring points,” Buckmaster said. “I’m proud of the offense and our defense finally finished a freaking game in the third and fourth quarter. First game we’ve finished in about three freaking years.”
Offensively, the Bulldogs were able to move the ball effectively, racking up 327 yards on 65 plays, with 220 passing yards and 107 rushing. But Carl Junction wasn’t able to finish off a number of drives at crucial moments.
At the same time, Carl Junction’s defense limited Webb City to 28 points, the Cardinals’ lowest scoring output this season. The Bulldogs held Webb City to one score in the second half, giving themselves a chance in the fourth quarter against the Cardinals for the first time in several years.
Webb City won last year’s meeting 34-0 and the Cardinals triumphed in two meetings in 2018 by wide margins (42-9 and 54-7).
Regardless of Friday’s final outcome, Buckmaster and the Bulldogs are also feeling good about the possibility of peaking in time to make a postseason run.
Carl Junction will no longer have to deal with Webb City in the Class 4 playoffs. In fact, Webb City, Ladue, Platte County and Camdenton all moved from Class 4 to Class 5 this season. With that, Class 4 appears to be wide open this year.
Carl Junction is the lone Class 4 school competing in the always-strong Central Ozark Conference, which features state-ranked teams in both Class 6 and Class 5.
The Bulldogs will compete in Class 4’s District 5 with Hillcrest, Rogersville, Marshfield, McDonald County, Monett and West Plains.
Buckmaster noted his team will be battle-tested by the time the district tournament arrives.
“Everybody needs to understand that we will not play a Class 4 team the entire regular season,” Buckmaster said. “We’ll play our first Class 4 team in the district playoffs. I think the team that played out here tonight has a chance to make some noise.”
Carl Junction (1-4) travels to Neosho (0-5) in Week 6. Games with Republic (2-3), Nixa (5-0) and Ozark (4-1) conclude the regular season.
“In the next four weeks, we have a chance to make some noise,” Buckmaster said. “We’re gamers. We like to play the game. But playing hard only takes you so far. At some point, the fundamentals and being prepared with schemes makes the difference. We haven’t got to that point yet. We have to become a better practice team. Our goal is just to get better the rest of the year.”
