LATE STAND: Carl Junction ends regular season with close win over Ozark

The Carl Junction Bulldogs overcame the Ozark Tigers with a last second goal-line stop in a thrilling regular season finale that came down to the wire. With a 33-28 win, the Bulldogs had everyone on the edge of their seats as they wrapped up their season and head into the playoffs.
The night got started with a dominant performance by Carl Junction who forced an Ozark punt on the first drive of the night, which was punctuated by a tipped ball from sophomore Braxton Dodds. Dodds would go on to have an impressive night, especially on special teams, where he made several big tackles and the tipped punt.
Taking advantage of the short field, Carl Junction leaned on their strong run game to move the ball and scored on a 17-yard reception touchdown by senior Noah Southern. Southern would go on to have two touchdowns on the night. However, the Bulldogs started having kicking troubles early as they missed their first extra point of the night.
The Tigers responded with a strong drive of their own, continuously running the ball with senior quarterback Cannon Cox, and senior running back Tylr Bolin. Without throwing a single pass, the Tigers made it all the way to the Bulldogs’ 4-yard line. The Carl Junction defense held strong for their first goal-line stand of the night, forcing a turnover on downs. It would be a prelude of what was to come.
Despite getting the ball back and preventing a score, the Bulldogs were unable to capitalize on the next drive and had to punt it away.
As the second quarter began, Ozark also was unable to get a drive going and had to punt. The Bulldogs quickly moved down the field and scored on a 1-yard rushing touchdown from senior quarterback Alex Baker. This time CJ converted a successful try for two, bringing them to 14-0 midway through the second quarter.
“We put in a quarterback sneak this week, and I’ve been waiting for it all year, and we finally called it,” said Baker. “I was very excited.”
Despite an uncharacteristically slow start, Ozark rebounded with a very quick drive down the field and scored a touchdown of their own on a 64-yard catch and run from senior Ethan Pritchard. It would be his first of two long touchdowns on the game. However, the Tigers kicked the ball out of bounds on the following play, putting the ball at the 35-yard line for the Bulldogs with less than three minutes left in the half. Just a few plays later, Baker hit senior Cole Stewart for a 54-yard touchdown. It would be the highlight of the night for Stewart, who finished with over 120 receiving yards.
“Our offense did really well,” said Stewart. “I hope we can have another good week of practice and carry it into the playoffs.”
The Bulldogs once again missed their extra-point try, sending both teams into the half with a 20-7 Bulldog lead. The Bulldogs received the second half kick and once again got the best of Ozark by relying on their ground game to eventually get back on the board with a 1-yard touchdown catch from Southern, his second of the night.
On their first possession of the second half, the Tigers seemed revitalized and quickly scored on back to back drives, forcing a Bulldog punt in between. One score went to Ethan Pritchard, who got a big 36-yard TD, and the other was on a quarterback keeper by Cox. As the third quarter ended, the Tigers were suddenly threatening a comeback down just six points.
Neither team was able to get any traction at the beginning of the final frame, trading back-to-back fourth down stops. The Bulldogs once again turned to their run game to lead them to the end zone, and hit paydirt on a 37-yard end around for a touchdown by senior Brady Sims. Once again, however, the Bulldogs were unable to convert the two-point try.
“It was spur of the moment call, but Cole Stewart had a great block which let me go all the way,” Sims said. “What really made the difference this week was our O-line. They picked up a lot of blitzes, Alex Baker had time in the pocket, and we were able to make a lot of deep plays.”
Sims recorded over 85 rushing yards.
With the game looking seemingly out of reach, and the Bulldogs nursing a 12-point lead with less than six minutes to go, the Tigers were unwilling the give up and stormed down the field thanks to another long catch by Prichard and quickly scored on another quarterback keeper by Cox.
Only needing a couple first downs to put the game away with less than three minutes left, the Bulldogs took over but only managed to convert one first down, giving the ball back to Ozark on a long punt that started their final drive near their own end zone.
With less than two minutes, and with only one timeout, the Tigers made one final bid at a comeback, and nearly succeeded.
With the game on the line, the Tigers once again pulled off several big plays, and smartly used their timeouts and a few spikes to stop the clock. In less than 120 seconds Ozark found themselves inside the Bulldog 5-yard line with less than four seconds left.
A touchdown looked all but certain as the Tigers did a toss out to the right, and as the whole stadium held their breath, the Bulldogs made an open field tackle for their second goal-line stand of the game, preventing a Tiger comeback as the clock hit zero.
“We faced the ultimate adversity right there on the last play of the game, from inside the five. We got it done and made the play,” said Carl Junction coach Doug Buckmaster. “Earlier in the season, in some games we’ve had trouble overcoming adversity. We did a tremendous job in the first half, and managed to get a couple scores in the second half to help us win it, too. I’m really proud of our kids for hanging in there and overcoming that adversity. It was a big win for us. Ozark is a good football team.”