BY JASON PEAKE
After four weeks of the prep football season, the Webb City Cardinals and Carthage Tigers both have unblemished records.
For one team, that's about to change.
In a showdown between state-ranked rivals, Webb City hosts Carthage at 7 tonight at Cardinal Stadium.
In addition to bragging rights, first place in the Central Ozark Conference standings will be on the line in a highly anticipated Week 5 clash.
"It will come down to who's going to make positive plays and who makes mistakes," Webb City coach John Roderique said.
Both teams are off to stellar starts, as both the Cardinals and Tigers are on top of their respective district standings.
No. 1 in Class 4 by the Missouri Media, Webb City has outscored its opponents 15256. Ranked fourth in Class 5, Carthage has outscored its foes 164-46.
Roderique said Carthage doesn't appear to have many weaknesses weaknesses.
"They're a very impressive team," Roderique said. "They're well-coached and they look like a well-rounded team."
Jon Guidie's Tigers own wins over Nixa (38-7), Carl Junction (42-18), Joplin (3514) and Neosho (49-7). Carthage's run-heavy offense is averaging 41 points per game.
"They do a great job of controlling the football," Roderique said. "They're good up front and they have a lot of different weapons that they utilize. It's hard to slow them down."
Carthage's defense is allowing just 11.5 points per game.
"They're extremely fast and physical on defense," Roderique said. "They seem like they're always in good position. Their speed takes away a lot of things and they tackle well."
The Cardinals are averaging 309 rushing yards and 74 passing yards per game. Sophomore Devrin Weathers leads the Cardinals with 457 rushing yards, while senior Durand Henderson has 410 yards.
Junior Kade Hicks has completed seven passes for 201 yards since taking over the starting quarterback position in place of the injured Cade Beason. Senior Alex Gaskill (139 yards) and junior Terrell Kabala (51 yards) are
the team's top receivers.
Junior linebacker Ruben Lenker leads the Webb City defense with 43 tackles, while Gaskill has 27 tackles.
Webb City is coming off a 22-20 win at Branson.
"It was a good learning experience for us," Roderique said. "There were a lot of things we didn't do well. We have to understand that we have to do the little things well or you can't have as much success. That's probably what we learned more than anything. You have to be fundamentally sound, you have to play smart and you have to play with great effort."
After last Friday's win, Roderique stressed to his squad they would need to put together a better performance in Week 5. Roderique noted his team has responded well in practice ahead of what will be a third highly-anticipated rivalry game of the season.
"We've had some really good days of practice and I think our guys will be ready to play on Friday," Roderique said.
Joplin Globe 9/21/2018 (Used by permission)