Heading into this week’s Class 5 District 6 championship game, the Carthage football team is in familiar territory.
The Tigers have won four-straight district titles and have advanced to the semifinals twice in the last three years.
The same cannot be said of their opponent.
Top-seeded Carthage will host second-seeded Parkview at 7 p.m. Friday at David Haffner Stadium as the Vikings look for their first district championship in over 20 years.
In fact, at 6-4, Parkview is in the midst of its first winning season since 2014. The Vikings were just 1-9 a year ago. Last week’s 42-41 overtime win against Nixa in the district semifinals not only sealed a winning season for the Vikings, it was the first time this year they had won consecutive games after alternating wins and losses since week one.
Parkview beat Central by 36, then lost at Camdenton by 38. It beat Kickapoo by 37, then lost at Rolla by 12. After winning by a point at Glendale, the Vikings lost by 35 at West Plains. They followed that up with a four-touchdown win at Hillcrest, and then scored 50 against Lebanon and still lost – allowing 70 points in the process.
Parkview beat Waynesville 56-16 two weeks ago before escaping 42-41 against Nixa last week when it stuffed the Eagles on a two-point conversion in overtime.
“It seems like they win one week and lose the next, then win the next,” Carthage head coach Jon Guidie said. “It’s probably in large part to playing some pretty decent teams scattered throughout their schedule with Camdenton (10-1), Rolla (7-4), West Plains (11-0) and Lebanon (8-2). They’ve played some pretty good football teams over there.”
The Vikings offense has scored at least 50 points in four games this year, and averages 39 points per game. Guidie said they’re “very athletic” with some big-time playmakers. Parkview features senior running back Blake Delacruz, who broke the school record for career rushing yards in early October. He’s now got 4,847 yards and 48 touchdowns in his career. This season he’s averaging 8.4 yards per carry and has racked up 1,850 yards and 24 scores. He rushed for over 2,000 yards last year.
“He’s really, really good for them,” Guidie said. “They’ve got a couple 6-5, 300-pound kids on their offensive line and you put all that together and that offense is averaging 39 points per game. They’ve been very productive on the offensive end.”
“You’ve got to try to contain Delacruz,” he said. “He’s going to get the bulk of the carries. We need to make sure he doesn’t have a huge game. He’s going to get his yards, he’s a really good player. We need to limit his big plays and try to keep him contained.”
The Vikings have needed almost every single one of those 39 points per game, however, with a defense that allows 35. Guidie said their defense is active with a lot of stunts and blitzes. They’re athletic on the back end.
Last week
Carthage’s defense throttled Republic while the offense maintained a balanced attack that scored touchdowns on all four first half possessions, leading to a 49-10 Carthage victory at David Haffner Stadium on Nov. 2.
Carthage Junior Running Back Tyler Mueller led the rushing attack with 128 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries, while Sophomore Quarterback Patrick Carlton rushed for 110 and two touchdowns.
Carlton also completed seven of his 11 pass attempts for 220 yards and three touchdowns.
Senior Wideout Jayden Morgan caught two of those touchdown passes while Senior Running Back Colton Winder caught the other one.
Guidie said his team planned to run the ball hard in this game, and the success on the ground opened up the play-action passing game when the team needed it.
Carthage notes
Senior quarterback Zeke Sappington, who broke his hand against Neosho in week four, returned to action in a limited capacity for the Tigers in last week’s district semifinal against Republic. He rushed twice for 14 yards.
“We got Zeke in for a possession there in the third quarter with our starters,” Guidie said. “I thought he did a really good job. He only had a few plays. I think he was pretty excited to get back in there and he had a couple good runs for us.”
Guidie said there will be opportunities to use both of the team’s quarterbacks going forward. He said Pat Carlton is doing a “tremendous” job. He’s thrown for 821 yards and 11 scores, and rushed for 1,176 and 20 scores while turning the ball over just four times.
“It seems like every night with him he’s going to be around 300 yards of offense and three or four touchdowns,” Guidie said. “That’s what it’s been for the last however many weeks. He’s just getting better and better every week.”
Guidie said having a healthy Tyler Mueller back in the backfield has been a big plus, as well.
“He had a nice game for us really the last two weeks, Ozark and Republic,” he said. “Ozark he just played a half but he had 80 yards and he was over 100 yards last week on limited carries. He had a nice game and adds a little dimension to our offense.”
Mueller has rushed 115 times for 717 yards and eight scores.
Looking ahead
The winner of this week’s game will take on the winner of District 5 in the quarterfinals. Lebanon (8-2) is the top seed and hosts second seed Willard, 4-6. That district has been nothing but blowouts. Glendale beat Springfield Central 64-0 in the first round. Lebanon beat Glendale 70-6 last week. Willard beat Waynesville 42-7.
Carthage beat Willard 50-24 on Oct. 5.
