A night of offense turned on a defensive play as the Cardinals escaped Bob Anderson stadium with a 46-43 win.
Trailing the entire game, the Cardinals took their first lead at 39-35 as the fourth quarter got underway. Five plays later, Barek Hoffman recovered a Wildcat fumble. Webb City then went on an eight play drive capped by a Mason Williams seven yard touchdown to put the Cardinals up by two scores with less than three minutes to play.
Both teams traded scores throughout the first half. Neosho stopped the Cardinals on fourth down on each of their first two drives. After Webb City stopped Neosho on their first drive, the Wildcats went to the air on the second possession and found the endzone on a 26 yard scoring strike. The PAT was good.
The Cardinals answered in only one play. Braden Strickland streaked 60 yards for the score. However, the Cardinals missed the kick. Neosho still led 7-6.
Neosho went on a thirteen play drive that stretched into the second quarter to move out to a 14-6 advantage. Webb City swung right back with an eight play drive finished with a twenty two yard run from Mason Williams. Chasing the missed the extra point, the Cardinals came up short and now trailed 14-12.
Two plays later the Wildcats extended the lead to two scores when their running back scooted 72 yards to make the score 21-12.
The Cardinals went to the air on their next drive with the big play a 41 yard pass from Strickland to Grayson Gannaway that took the ball down to the Neosho five. Three plays later, they hooked up again, this time a three yard scoring strike. The point after from Diego Aldrete pulled the Cardinals closer at 21-19.
Scoring just before half have the Wildcats a 28-19 halftime lead and they would receive the second half kickoff.
The defense made a stand to open the second half, forcing the Wildcats to punt, and keeping the deficit at only nine points.
Then the numbers on the scoreboard started spinning again. Webb City scored on an eight play drive, Neosho answered back in only four plays. Webb City then needed only four plays for Abel Getz to power into the endzone from 30 yards out. The Wildcats stumbled and had to punt and the third quarter came to a close at 35-33 with the Cardinals holding the football.
Two minutes into the fourth, Drake Claborn scored from 11 yards out. The attempt at the two point conversion failed and Webb City had their first lead at 39-35.
After the Neosho fumble and Williams touchdown put the Cardinals up 46-35, Barek Hoffman got his second turnover of the night, this time an interception that ended the Wildcat drive with 2:24 left on the clock.
Even though the Cardinals were forced to punt the ball back to the Wildcats, they took precious time off the clock and made Neosho burn all three of their timeouts.
Neosho's offense scored quickly to pull it back to a three point game at 46-43, but the Cardinals Mason Williams recovered the onside kick and sealed the win.
Almost 950 yards of total offense, the Cardinals topped the 500 yard mark. Mason Williams (172) and Braden Strickland (114) each topped the century mark. Strickland was also 3-4 of passing for 63 yards.
The Cardinals are back at home next Friday for homecoming.