NEOSHO, Mo. — It was all Carthage on Friday night at Bob Anderson Stadium as the visiting Tigers dominated the Neosho Wildcats 71-14.
The Wildcats (0-3) opened the game with a 65-yard return to the Carthage 30-yard line. Unfortunately for Neosho, that was one of very few highlights in the first half.
Carthage (3-0) stopped the Wildcats on four plays and took over on downs. The Tigers then orchestrated a seven play, 76- yard run heavy drive to take a quick 7-0 lead.
“The defense came out and bowed up,” said Tigers’ head coach Jon Guidie. “Offensively, we wanted to come out and execute.”
Carthage’s defense smothered the Wildcat offense on the second drive as well, forcing Neosho to go three and out. The Tigers scored the next play on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Caden Kabance to junior Aiden Rogers.
Carthage’s dominance continued with heavy pressure up front. Carthage forced Neosho to go three and out on the next three drives while the Tigers scored at will. Carthage scored on three more consecutive drives of 45, 45, and 87 yards. It took a combined total of 11 plays during those three drives to go up 36-0.
“That was big,” Guidie said of the defensive pressure. “Watching film, that quarterback (Neosho senior Evan Haskins) had a good game last week. We wanted to make sure we kept him in the pocket and pressured him.”
Junior Luke Gall continued to carry the Tiger offense, scoring on a 48-yard option around the right side to put Carthage up 43-0.
Neosho was able to put together some offense in the second quarter. The Wildcats put together a balanced 53-yard drive that was capped off with a touchdown run by Jared Siler.
Carthage quickly put a stop to allowing the Wildcats to build momentum. Gall, who seemed to score from everywhere on the field, dashed for a 69-yard touchdown run on the Tigers’ next play.
“He’s (Gall) pretty special,” Guidie said. “He’s one of the hardest working kids. He’s a joy to coach everyday and he deserves everything he gets.”
Carthage added another touchdown for good measure just before the end of the first half with a three yard touchdown run by junior running back Clay Kinder. Carthage led 57-7 at halftime.
Carthage came out and did exactly what Guidie wanted them to.
“We preached execution all week,” said Guidie. “All the way across the board from our tight ends to our h-back, they did a great job.”
The Tigers’ defense only allowed three first downs in the first half, overall, a dominating performance.
Both teams scored in the second half with the final tally favoring the Tigers 71-14.
Neosho looks to rebound next week with a trip to Branson while Carthage will host rival Webb City.
CARTHAGE 71, NEOSHO 14
Carthage 29 28 7 7 — 71
Neosho 0 7 0 7— 14
SCORING SUMMARY
CAR: Gall 6 run (Mejia kick)
CAR: Rockers 24 pass from Kabance (Williams pass from Kinder)
CAR: Gall 11 run (Mejia kick)
CAR: Kabance 45 run (Mejia kick)
CAR: Kabance 6 run (Mejia kick)
CAR: Gall 47 run (Mejia kick)
NEO: Siler 12 run (Pastor kick)
CAR: Gall 69 run (Mejia kick)
CAR: Kinder 3 run (Mejia kick)
CAR: Rose 14 run (Mejia kick)
CAR: Tate 31 run (Mejia kick)
NEO: Siler 23 run (Pastor kick)
