Mike Smith’s defense put together a masterful performance in the 17-year veteran’s final game as defensive coordinator for the Webb City Cardinals.
The Cardinals held Ladue Horton Watkins to 97 yards of offense and three total first downs in a 14-0 win the MSHSAA Class 4 State Football Championship. It is the Cardinals’ 14 title in program history and first since 2014.
“I don’t think I have ever cried so hard in my life. It was so emotional mainly because it was coach Smith’s last go and it was our last go. It meant a lot to us. It is special getting it for us, him and the town of Webb City,” Webb City senior Jordon Rogers said.
This game marked the end of Redemption Tour 2017 for the Cardinals coming off of an uncharacteristic four-loss season that ended in the state quarterfinals last year.
“I can’t say enough about our kids. They had a lot of adversity tonight especially on offense. Kids hung in there. There were times we probably didn’t believe in each other, but we sucked it up and got after it. It just shows the grit of this group of guys and their determination to be able to get to this point and try to win a state championship,” head coach John Roderique said.
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Webb City scored its first touchdown of the game on a 92-yard drive that would end with a five-yard touchdown run to make it 7-0.
That would be all the Webb City defense would need. Every time they were called upon, the Cardinals responded.
Twice in the second half the Webb City offense fumbled the ball away. Twice the defense locked down.
The first fumble gave Ladue the ball at the Webb City 40. Webb City’s defense responded by pushing the Rams back five yards over three plays and force a punt.
The second fumble came at the 1:40 mark of the third quarter and gave Ladue the ball at the Webb City 45. Alex Gaskill ended that threat with an acrobatic interception at the Webb City 10.
“There is a confidence and they feed off of that. I am over on the bench and I can hear our linemen yelling and screaming. I (say) guys, the defense is doing their job. We have to do ours,” Roderique said.
Webb City’s offense would do its job on the final drive of the game. The Cardinals would eat up six minutes of the fourth quarter on a 13-play, 65-yard drive that ended with a six-yard touchdown run by Durand Henderson to make it 14-0.
The key play of the drive was a fourth-and-two situation at the Ladue 15-yard line.
Make it and Webb City can salt the game away. Get stopped and the Rams take over with a chance to drive for a tie.
Roderique put the onus on his offensive linemen and running game to get the tough two yards.
“We used to have a lot of mining in and around Webb City. They cleaned it all out, but before they did we called ourselves the chat pile gutter rats,” Roderique said. “Our kids have really believed in that. We drive up here in yellow school buses. It is just a mentality that our kids have. Our coaches have and maybe our community has.”
Henderson picked up the two yards by the nose of the football to essentially ice the game. The star junior would finish with 201 yards on 38 carries. The 38 carries tied for fourth-most in MSHSAA Show-Me Bowl history.
The win gave this senior class the state title it chased for two years.
“It is something you dream of. Growing up we were at all the state games chanting those Webb City calls as they were winning state titles and now it was our turn. It just meant so much to have the community behind us,” Rogers said.
“It is a sigh of relief to be 15-0. We suffered a lot of losses last year and it is just great to avenge those losses and get to where we were supposed to be at,” senior Javis Berlin said.
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This senior class won’t go down as the most decorated or talented in Webb City football history, but they will be remembered for getting the Cardinal football program back on track.
“It is real simple. It is not some big formula. Last year in December I met with our seniors. We talked about a lot of things and I said this is how it is going to be. We had a great meeting,” Roderique said. “These guys said ‘coach, we want to do whatever we need to do. What do you think we need to do?’ We had guys coming in early in the morning. We had guys coming in for extra lifting. All the talk the whole time was about getting to this moment. (In the summer) we didn’t have one (senior) miss a day that was not for like a family vacation or a baseball game. We didn’t have anyone miss a day as far as our seniors go. Going through 15 weeks of practice I did not have one senior that missed a practice and that has probably never happened in the history that I have been head coach. This group is so much more about the type of kids you have and not the talent or necessarily the ability. These guys will admit that we have groups have more talent and ability than this group, but there is something inside their gut that made them get to this point.”
