CARTHAGE, Mo. — If any rust was built up in the two weeks that a COVID-19-related quarantine limited the Carthage Tigers to a handful of practices, it was shaken off before their matchup with the Branson Pirates on Friday.
Carthage (4-0, 4-0 COC) rode workhorse performances from senior quarterback Patrick Carlton and sophomore running back Luke Gall to a 33-10 victory at David Haffner Stadium to remain undefeated.
Carthage was slated to face rival Webb City a week ago, but the game was canceled when multiple players were required to isolate to prevent potential spread of the novel coronavirus. The quarantine even bled into this week, coach Jon Guidie said, as the team had more than a dozen players whose first post-lockdown practice came on Thursday.
“It wasn’t always pretty at times, it got a little sloppy,” Guidie said of his team’s performance after a condensed week. “But I thought they did a really good job of handling themselves under the circumstances. Being a little shorthanded with their training and preparation, I thought they executed the game plan really well.”
Most of the first half was closely contested, but beginning in the final minutes of the second quarter, Carthage posted 20 unanswered points to set the final score.
Gall and Carlton led the Tigers’ offense, primarily on the ground, both posting more than 100 rushing yards. Carlton finished with 131 to Gall’s 137. Carlton, though, found the end zone three times, while Gall notched two touchdown runs.
“It seemed like we were rotating pretty well,” Guidie said. “When you have that two-headed monster back there, that’s tough on defenses sometimes.”
It wasn’t just the points the Carthage offense scored that snuffed out the Pirates’ chances of keeping up and staying in the game. The Tigers’ last drive of the third quarter spanned 13 plays, and their first of the final quarter took 14, both culminating in touchdowns. Those marathon drives ensured that not only did Branson’s deficit grow, but the remaining time on the clock was significantly depleted.
“That’s kind of what we do,” Guidie said. “If we get a lead and we get a chance to line up and run the football, our guys really take pride in that up front. And when you can do that and keep their offense over there on the sideline, run some time off the clock, good things happen.”
SCORING SUMMARY
CAR 6 13 14 0 — 33
BRAN 3 7 0 0 — 10
FIRST QUARTER
BRAN—Cristian Berumen 24-yard field goal
CAR—Luke Gall 1-yard run (Run failed)
SECOND QUARTER
CAR—Patrick Carlton 5-yard run (Caleb Calvin kick)
BRAN—Berumen 2-yard run (Berumen kick)
CAR—Gall 1-yard run (Kick failed)
THIRD QUARTER
CAR—Carlton 1-yard run (Calvin kick)
CAR—Carlton 8-yard run (Calvin kick)
