By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Webb City football coach Ryan McFarland said he told his players all week that the team that kept fighting through adversity would have a chance to win.
The Cardinals apparently listened.
Webb City broke a tie game in the third quarter with two straight scores and went on to knock off visiting Grain Valley 49-35 on Friday night in a Class 5 quarterfinal at Cardinal Stadium.
“We talked all week, this was a game where there would be a lot of adversity, a lot of swings,” McFarland said. “We knew offensively they were going to have some big plays. We kept telling them all week that the team that keeps fighting and keeps fighting through the adversity and doesn’t give up will have a chance to win.”
The Cardinals, 10-2, will face the winner of Saturday’s matchup between Republic and Helias Catholic in next week’s semifinal round.
Webb City, which showcased its big play potential again on Friday, scored its first touchdown before recording a first down and finished the night with 459 rushing yards on just 46 carries. Quarterback Gabe Johnson had another stellar performance, opening the scoring with an 81-yard touchdown run untouched, and finished the game with 288 yards and two scores.
But Grain Valley (10-2) didn’t go down easy. The Eagles led 14-7 late in the first quarter before Webb City’s Omari Jackson broke free for a 40-yard score to tie it up.
It was a 14-14 game late in the second quarter when Grain Valley, after notching four first downs, had the ball at the Webb City 28. Tight end Eli Monrian hauled in a pass, broke some tackles and was headed for the end zone before fumbling the ball in a collision at the goal line that resulted in a touchback.
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The Cardinals took advantage – they mounted an 80-yard scoring drive and led 21-14 following an impressive catch in the end zone by Joseph DeGraffenreid on a fourth-and-19 play from the 23.
Webb City almost added to it just before the half, and got as far as the Grain Valley 29 before a pair of delay-of-game penalties and two incompletions ended the threat.
Webb City seized the momentum in the third quarter, after Grain Valley marched 69 yards to tie the game at 21. The Cardinals answered with a 63-yard drive that featured a fourth-and-1 conversion and made it 28-21 following an 8-yard run by Slade Hurd.
Then the Cardinals forced a three-and-out, and Johnson got loose for a 78-yard touchdown on the very next play to make it 35-21.
From then on out, Webb City always had an answer.
“At halftime we talked to them about sustaining drives,” McFarland said. “In the first half we got beat up up front and their D line we were having trouble blocking them. They were more aggressive than we probably thought they were. But at halftime we talked about here’s some things we feel really good about so we put those together on that drive and the long run by Gabe was just a play we’ve kind of been setting up all night, a quarterback misdirection play. We were waiting for them to over pursue, we thought that was a good time to call it and it worked out for us.”
The Eagles scored as time expired in the third quarter to get back to within seven and went for a surprise onside kick they nearly recovered. Instead, Webb City got the ball at the 50 and Jackson scored from the goal line to make it 42-28 with 10 minutes remaining.
Again Grain Valley scored, this time on a gutsy 24-yard pass on fourth-and-1. Again, Webb City answered. Hurd’s 1-yard touchdown with 57 seconds left in the game capped a 13-play drive that featured another fourth down conversion.
Grain Valley coach David Allie said the difference in the game was mistakes.
“They didn’t make any mistakes as far as turnovers and those are huge,” he said. “That one time we got nearly in the end zone and could have had a touchdown and ended up turning the ball over. Tried to catch them on the onside and they end up scoring on that so that was a mistake by our group. They’re obviously a well coached team and do a great job. We just made more mistakes tonight, couldn’t get past that.”
Webb City totaled 579 yards of offense and Grain Valley had 473. In addition to Johnson’s 288 yards on 17 carries, Jackson rushed 12 times for 100 yards and two scores and Hurd had 11 rushes for 53 and two touchdowns. Johnson completed 5 of 8 passes for 85 yards and a score and Jackson Lucas completed 3 of 4 for 35. DeGraffenreid had four catches for 50 yards.
