By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
CARTHAGE, Mo. – The third time wasn’t the charm for the Carthage football team.
Playing in a semifinal game for the third time in four seasons – and looking for their first-ever state championship appearance – the Tigers came up short in a 36-21 loss to Vianney in the Class 5 playoffs Saturday afternoon at David Haffner Stadium.
Carthage coach Jon Guidie had a simple message for his team when it was over.
“I just wanted them to know that we still care about them, we still love them, we’re proud of them,” he said. “Those seniors set the bar very, very high. Been to the semifinals three out of the last four years, that group, which has never been done in our history. We want them to understand once the dust settles how much they mean to us and how great they did this year.”
Uncharacteristic turnovers and wasted possessions hampered the Tigers in the first half.
Carthage drove to the Vianney 35-yard line to open the game but turned it over on downs. The Tigers drove to the Vianney 26 on their next possession but fumbled. Their final four possessions of the half included two more turnovers and a punt.
Vianney, meanwhile, built a 15-0 lead behind big plays from Notre Dame commit Kyren Williams, a 5-foot-9, 191-pound athlete.
He scored on a 25-yard run at the 4:38 mark to make it 6-0 and later added an interception return for a touchdown. Vianney junior Andrew Copeland booted a 23-yard field goal late in the half.
Carthage finally mounted a scoring drive in the final minute of the half after taking over inside the 50 following a short punt. Sophomore quarterback Patrick Carlton connected with senior Jayden Morgan for a 20-yard touchdown with 24 seconds remaining and junior Marcus Huntley added the extra punt to make it a 15-7 game going into halftime.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
The momentum was short-lived.
Vianney opened the third quarter with a 13-play, 74-yard drive that included two conversions on third downs and another on a fourth down play in the redzone.
Williams, who holds offers from nearly 20 Division 1 schools, scored from the 4 and Vianney led 22-7 after the extra point.
“Obviously those (turnovers) were big and we weren’t very productive offensively in the first half,” Guidie said. “It was uncharacteristic for us to turn the ball over three times. I don’t think we’ve done that this season. Our kids responded and made a great play there to score and get some momentum going into halftime. The big killer was coming out, we usually have that ball coming out after half. We were on defense and they took it down for a long drive and scored. It was tough to recover from that.”
Things got worse for the Tigers, who were forced to punt three plays later.
With the ball at its own 32, Vianney quarterback Griffin John tossed the ball to Williams, who threw deep to a wide-open Fahreed Cheeks who raced into the end zone untouched to make it a 29-7 game.
Vianney coach Paul Day said the trick play was a rarity for the Griffins.
“To be honest, we had to open the playbook a heck of a lot more than we normally do,” he said. “They forced us to throw the ball there, especially at the beginning of the second half. We were able to hit a trick play, which we run about one trick play a decade, but they forced us to do that because they made things very difficult on us.”
Carthage’s offense showed life in the fourth quarter when Carlton connected with Morgan for a 61-yard touchdown. Morgan caught the ball near the visitor’s sideline and dragged a defender several yards before breaking free.
That made it a 29-14 game, but Carthage couldn’t recover the ensuing onside kick and the Griffins turned the short field into a 17-yard Percy Mitchell touchdown run at the 6:10 mark to lead 36-14.
The Tigers answered with an 80-yard scoring drive capped by another Carlton-to-Morgan touchdown, this time for 12 yards.
But the Tigers couldn’t recover the onside kick.
“They hit us on a big play there and kind of sealed the deal,” Guidie said. “Again our kids didn’t quit. They rallied around and stayed with it. If we recover an onside kick maybe things get a little more interesting. We got ourself in a hole and against a good football team like that – and they are good, very good – against a good football team like that it’s very hard to come out of that.”
Asked how Vianney’s athleticism compared to other teams on Carthage’s schedule, Guidie said there was no comparison.
“In terms of athleticism and even physicality,” he said. “Sometimes physicality is hard to judge on film. We knew they were athletic, we knew they could run, knew they were fast and big-time playmakers but those guys up front, I thought their offensive line did a really good job tonight.”
The matchup pitted a Carthage defense that had allowed barely 11 points per game in the playoffs against a Vianney offense averaging 60. The 36 points allowed was by far a season high for the Tigers, but Vianney’s Day still raved about the Carthage defense.
“At the end of the day I think we were able to run the football,” Day said. “They are a great defensive team and we’ve seen some really, really good teams defensively. They’re as good as what we’ve seen. Carthage has a great run defense. They have a great defense. They made it difficult on us but at the end of the day I think we got the runs when we needed to get them.”
Carthage finishes the year 11-2. Vianney, 10-3, will face Fort Osage in next weekend’s Class 5 championship.
