Friday’s football game between Jasper County’s two largest schools was a hard-fought battle, but an interception by the Carthage High School Tigers’ Jaxon Goade ended the Joplin High School Eagles’ final drive, sealing Carthage’s 28-21 win.
Carthage moves to 5-1 on the season with the win, and Joplin falls to 2-4.
Carthage scored the winning touchdown on a 9-yard run by junior Landon West with 2:01 left in the fourth quarter.
The Eagles had moved the ball and scored twice in the second half, so two minutes seemed like enough time for a last-gasp drive.
“We made adjustments as the game went, and we figured out what we need to do to be successful and we were able to execute,” said Joplin head coach Curtis Jasper. “Unfortunately, they made a play defensively and made a big interception there as we were driving down on that last possession.”
“The interception was big,” Carthage head coach Jon Guidie said. “That was Jaxon Goade who came in for Brodie Jackson who was injured, and he was in the right place at the right time and made a huge pick.”
Carthage scored on the first possession of the game on a 10-play, 80-yard drive that took a little less than five minutes.
The two teams traded punts, and on Carthage’s third possession, it seemed as if the Tigers had scored on a 58-yard run by Brody Jackson — but the play was called back for holding.
Carthage recovered with a 50-yard pass from Tigers quarterback Zane Browning to receiver Jack Carlton.
One play later, the Tigers were at the Joplin 6-yard line but West fumbled on a tough run into traffic, giving Joplin the ball at the Eagles’ 11.
Joplin then drove 89 yards in 12 plays, including pass completions of 17, 17 and 16 yards by Rose, first to Layne Royle and the next two to Trenton McCadney.
Traevian McCadney ran five times for 30 yards including the final 4-yard touchdown on this drive.
The two teams went into the locker room at half time tied at 7 each.
Carthage’s defense forced Joplin to punt on its first possession and the Tigers Tate Nichols returned the ball from Carthage’s 49 to Joplin’s 3 to set up the quick touchdown and the 14-7 lead just three minutes into the third quarter.
Carthage and Joplin traded failed fourth-down attempts on the next two drives before Joplin took the ball on its own 28.
On the second play of the next drive, Joplin’s Rose threw to Trenton McCadney for what seemed like a decent gain. But when Carthage’s Nichols tried to bring him down, McCadney rolled over him without going to the ground. McCadney ended up running for a 65-yard gain to the Carthage 5-yard line.
The Tigers’ defense stiffened and held Joplin out of the end zone for three plays, but Traevian McCadney finished the drive with a 2-yard plunge into the end zone to tie the game at 14 at the end of the third quarter.
Carthage struck quickly in a three-play, 69-yard drive to start the fourth quarter. This drive was highlighted by a 34-yard pass from Browning to Nichols and a 28-yard touchdown run on the next play by West.
Joplin tied the game again at 21 on a five-play, 74-yard drive punctuated by a 50-yard pass from Rose to Trenton McCadney. The same two hooked up three plays later for the 18-yard touchdown pass.
Carthage then went on an 11-play, 73-yard drive that ate up more than six minutes of the fourth quarter and scored on West’s 9-yard run to take the 28-21 lead.
