CARTHAGE, Mo. — It is only fitting that a matchup between a pair of rival one-loss powerhouse football teams comes down to the final play of the game, and that was the exact scenario when Class 6 fifth-ranked Joplin traveled to David Haffner Stadium to take on Class 5 top-ranked Carthage on Friday night.
With the game tied at 28-28 and 2.5 seconds to go in regulation, Joplin’s 42-yard field-goal attempt was blocked by senior Hudson Moore. Even more poetically, the loose ball was picked up by fellow Carhage senior Mason Frisinger, who carried the ball behind a wall of blockers 83 yards for a block-off touchdown to send the Tigers to a 34-28 win on Senior Night.
“I have been wanting to get the ball all year and that was my opportunity,” Frisinger said. “I saw the ball and no one was around. I grabbed it, looked up and all I saw was the end zone. I took the chance and we came out with the dub.
“This was probably the toughest game we’ve played this year against some of the best competition we’ve seen so far. We came up short against Nixa earlier this year and we weren’t going to let it happen again. I am glad I could do this in our last home game with my boys and pull out the dub.”
With the win, Carthage improves to 7-1 on the season. With Nixa’s overtime loss to Republic on Friday, the Tigers now have a chance to clinch a share of the Central Ozark Conference title with a win over Willard next week in the regular season finale.
“It’s hard to put into words just how proud I am of them and of the game itself,” Carthage coach Jon Guidie said after the win. “It was just back and forth between two heavyweights. It didn’t seem like either team could stop each other in the second half. To be able to stay in the fight all the way through with a heads up play by Mason Frisinger and the convoy he had leading him down there, which is not something you practice every day—I am very happy for Mason and the rest of the seniors on Senior Night. What a way to go out. These guys will remember this for the rest of their lives.”
With the loss, Joplin falls to 6-2 on the year and wraps the regular season hosting Neosho on Senior Night.
“What a great high school football game,” Joplin coach Curtis Jasper said. “Obviously, someone had to lose, but I really didn’t think it was going to be us. It was, so we will deal with that. But what a game and I am so proud of my kids for the way they fought, executed and repeatedly overcame adversity—some we created for ourselves. This is one we will definitely learn from.”
TEAM STATS
Carthage’s offense gained 392 yards on 59 plays, with most of the damage coming through the air. Senior QB Cooper Jadwin completed 13-of-17 passes for 228 yards and a touchdown, adding 12 carries for 39 yards and a fumble. Moore also caught six passes for 131 yards and a touchdown. Senior WR Aiden Rogers carried the ball six times for 47 yards and a touchdown. Senior RB Luke Gall was held to a season-low 78 yards rushing but did have two touchdowns on 24 carries.
“It’s good moving forward,” Guidie said when asked about the offense’s ability to step up around Gall. “That is going to happen. When teams are loading the box and isolating on Luke, we have to be able to adjust and they did. … It goes to show that if Luke can’t do it, the rest of these guys can get it done against great competition.”
Joplin gained 383 yards of offense on 45 plays and was led by junior RB Quin Renfro, who picked up a game-high 214 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries. Junior QB Hobbs Gooch completed 11-of-16 passes for 94 yards and caught a 55-yard touchdown pass. Senior WR Terrance Gibson caught three passes for 24 yards and threw a 55-yard touchdown pass. Sophomore WR Davin Thomas had five receptions for 42 yards.
“I thought our defense played great and tackled well,” Jasper said. “We challenged them with that after they struggled with (Nixa RB) Ramone Greene a little bit. Hats off to Carthage for coming out on top, but I am really proud of my guys, especially on the defensive end.”
HOW THEY GOT THERE
The game started off with a pair of turnovers, the second of which turned into the first score of the game for Carthage. The Tigers turned it over on their first drive when Jadwin fumbled a carry on fourth-down and 3 to give Joplin the ball at its own 37-yard line.
On third down of the ensuing Joplin drive, Gooch was picked off by Carthage’s Davion King, who returned the ball down to the Eagles’ 27-yard line in the change of possession. Two plays later, Gall crossed the goal line for his first touchdown of the game, 30th of the season, and a 7-0 Carthage lead with 4:01 left in the first quarter.
Joplin drove deep into Carthage territory on its next drive before turning it over on downs at the Tigers’ 23-yard line. The Tigers took possession and used a 38-yard deep ball from Jadwin to Moore at the end of the first quarter to set up a 1-yard touchdown run from Gall early in the second period for a 14-0 lead.
The Eagles used some trickeration to get on the scoreboard their time with the ball when Thomas took the jet sweep before pitching to Gibson in the backfield, with Gibson launching a 55-yard pass down the sideline to a wide-open Gooch for a touchdown to trim the lead to 14-7 with 9:18 to play in the first half.
Carthage took advantage of two pass interference penalties on Joplin on the following possession to get deep inside Eagle territory. The Tigers were looking at a first down in goal-to-go situation from the 6-yard line before an illegal substitution penalty followed by a bad snap stalled the drive, resulting in a missed 25-yard field goal for an empty possession.
On the very next play, Renfro found a big hole and sprinted past everyone on the way to a game-tying 80-yard touchdown run with 2:36 left in the first half to make the score 14-14.
After Joplin punted from midfield on the first possession of the third quarter, Carthage took the ball and marched 82 yards on 14 plays with Aiden Rogers taking a reverse for an 11-yard touchdown to give Carthage a 21-14 lead with 2:35 left in the third quarter.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Joplin tied the game up on a 41-yard touchdown run from Renfro, who got loose on the sideline and sprinted past everyone on the way to the end zone to tie the game up at 21s.
“The offensive line led the way against a hard-nosed, physical ball club,” Jasper said of the Eagles’ rushing attack. “I thought we did a good job blocking and I thought Quin did a great job. He kept getting tackled hard, but got right back up and was ready for the next play. He did a fantastic job.”
Carthage answered back with its first big play of the game when Jadwin hooked up with Moore on a 56-yard touchdown pass to put the Tigers back on top 28-21 with 10:50 left in the game.
“We hit Hudson earlier on a similar pass but he didn’t score,” Guidie said. “Coach (Ricky) Nichols made a great call by dialing another (deep ball) up and got (Hudson) loose. The (Joplin defender) almost made a great play by picking it off, but he tipped it and Huddy is (6-foot-6) and can go up and get the football. That’s what he does.”
Joplin refused to go away, as Renfro found the end zone for a third time to cap a long drive for Eagles with a 2-yard touchdown to tie the game at 28-28 with 7:06 left in the game.
The Eagles picked a good time to force their first punt of the game, which was very short, on the ensuing Carthage possession to gain possession at midfield with 2:50 left in the game.
