The Carthage Tigers have a few days to mend some bumps and bruises after sealing a first-round by with a 56-6 win over Ozark football Tigers on Friday.
The Tigers will play the winner of this week’s Republic-Branson game in the Class 5 District 6 semi-final game at David Haffner Stadium at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 2.
Carthage Head Coach Jon Guidie said having that week off can be good and it can be bad for a team on a roll. Carthage is 8-1 and on a four-game winning streak that includes wins over both Republic and Branson in the last month.
“Last year it was good to us, we needed it and we had some productive practices,” Guidie said. “It’s tough, you go into this because you don’t know who you’re going to play. One good thing about a bye week is alright, let’s go back and examine where we’re at and what things we need to improve on and really work on ourselves.”
Carthage took control early against Ozark, a team that Guidie said is the only one to beat Carthage at David Haffner Stadium since it opened in 2016 and the only team to beat Carthage at home since 2014.
Carthage forced Ozark to punt on its first possession, then march 75 yards down the field in five plays, capped by a 45-yard touchdown run by Senior Tucker Downing early in the first quarter.
After a second three-and-out series, Carthage got the ball back and scored on a four-play, 58-yard drive, capped by a six-yard touchdown run by Junior Tyler Mueller with 4:41 left in the first.
Carthage scored its third touchdown less than a minute later after Ozark fumbled on its own 35 yard line.
Sophomore Quarterback Patrick Carlton passed to senior Jayden Morgan for a 35-yard touchdown one play later to put Carthage up 21-0.
Carthage went up 28-0 in the first minute of the second quarter after an eight-play, 54-yard drive, capped by a Carlton four-yard rushing touchdown.
Ozark got its first first down of the game on its next drive, but then gave the ball back to Carthage on an interception by Carthage’s Mason Bryant on the Ozark 41-yard line.
Carlton holed up with Morgan again one play later on a 41-yard strike to put Carthage up 35-0 with 10 minutes left in the first half.
Carthage made its first mistake of the game at the 6:45 mark of the second quarter when Carlton fumbled the ball on a 14-yard run.
Ozark couldn’t capitalize and the Carthage defense scored its second touchdown of the night on a Jayden Morgan interception and 22-yard return to give Carthage a 42-0 lead.
Carthage’s second team took over in the second half and gave up the only Ozark score of the night on an 11-yard run by Adam Hofer to make it 42-6 at the 5:50 mark in the third quarter.
Carthage then scored with 36.7 seconds left in the third quarter. Sophomore Quarterback Stephen Kurz ran the ball for a five-yard score to make the score 49-6 Carthage.
Kurz would score again with 6:41 left in the game on a 25-yard run to make it 56-6 Carthage.
Guidie said it was good to see the second team get in the game and have some success on Friday night.
“Those guys, they play hard all week long,” Guidie said. “They were Ozark all week and really gave our varsity a good look. Week in and week out, those guys really do a good job and to see them be able to come out and be able to play and hold their own, put a nice drive together, it was really pleasing.”
