BY JASON PEAKE
Eli Goddard looked nothing like a backup on Friday night.
A 6-foot, 185 pound junior quarterback who made the start in place of the injured Kade Hicks, Goddard effectively directed Webb City to a 34-0 victory over Nixa in the regular-season finale at Eagle Stadium.
"That was fun," said Goddard, who completed 8-of-12 passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns, all in the first half. "I knew all week I'd be starting and I was prepared. We have a lot of good athletes, and in the first half we did what we wanted.
We're hoping Kade can get healthy as soon as possible. We don't want him to miss out much longer."
With a seventh straight win, Webb City improved to 8-1 and locked up the top seed for the Class 4 District 6 tournament.
"That's always a good deal," Cardinals coach John Roderique said. "It's where you want to be every year. There's something nice about playing at home."
With the calm and collected Goddard leading the offense on the first four drives of the chilly evening, the Cardinals scored 27 unanswered points in a one-sided first half.
"Eli did a great job," Roderique said. "He does great job of throwing the football. He threw it well tonight. He's gotten a lot of playing time this season and he's gotten better every week. And we know he'll continue to grow. He definitely played well when the bullets were flying with the first group."
It was Webb City's fourth shutout of the season.
"Our defense played really well again," Roderique said. "I'm really proud of our kids and our coaches. Our kids played extremely well, and that's what you have to have at this time of year if you want to continue to play."
Webb City compiled 350 yards of offense, with 212 rushing and 138 passing.
Four players hauled in passes from Goddard — Mekhi Garrard (59 yards), Colton McKee (27 yards), Cale McCallister (23 yards) and Terrell Kabala (18 yards). Devrin Weathers led Webb City's ground attack with 84 yards and one touchdown, while Dillon Harlen added 50 yards and Kabala had 46 yards and two scores.
Nixa (4-5) finished with 172 yards, with 137 passing and 35 rushing. Reid Potts completed 14-of-26 passes, with Riley Childs making five catches for 65 yards.
The Cardinals rolled in the opening half as Webb City's defense limited Nixa to just 87 yards.
Finishing an eight-play, 40-yard drive, the Cardinals took an early lead on Kabala's four-yard touchdown run at the 6:42 mark of the first period. After Nixa turned it over on downs, the visitors needed only one play to extend their lead as Goddard completed a nifty 59-yard touchdown pass to Garrard.
In the second quarter, Weathers charged up the middle for a 13-yard score before Kabala hauled in an 18-yard touchdown pass from Goddard, giving the Cardinals a comfortable halftime advantage. The final score of the half was set up when Goddard scrambled and completed a 27-yard pass into the wind to McKee.
"On those passes, the receivers did a great job of getting open," Goddard said. "They made it easy for me."
Kabala was nearly untouched on a 25-yard touchdown run up the middle on the first series of the second half, and his third score of the night made it 34-0 with 10:10 remaining in the third quarter.
However, that was Webb City's lone score of the second half.
"I think we could have done a lot of things better, especially in the second half," Goddard said. "We had some mental mistakes. We'll get those things corrected in practice this week."
A third-quarter possession ended with an interception as a Cohl Vaden pass was picked off by Nixa's Kolyn Eli. Webb City's first drive of the fourth quarter ended when Goddard was hit from behind, resulting in a fumble. Another series in the final frame concluded with a turnover on downs after a costly penalty.
"In the second half, we didn't do enough of what we did in the first half," Roderique said. "I would have liked to see more from our offense. We had some mistakes in the second half."
Nixa threatened to get on the board in the final minute against Webb City's reserves, but the Eagles fumbled in the end zone, with the Cardinals recovering to preserve the shutout.
Ranked second in Class 4 by the Missouri Media, Webb City will host Mc-Donald County (2-7) in the district opener next Friday at Cardinal Stadium. Webb City finished with 52.44 points in the district standings, and West Plains (8-1) was second with 51.
Joplin Globe 10/26/2019 (Used by permission)