Willard football easily cruises past Carl Junction with powerful offense in hefty home win

The Willard High School football team’s defense stepped up big against Carl Junction on Sept. 20 at Willard, picking the ball off five times, returning two for touchdowns, during Willard’s 48-6 victory.
After stalling out on their first drive, the Tigers defense tightened up, as Jed Branson picked off a pass and returned it 52 yards for the first score of the game.
“Our secondary did a really good job of recognizing the passes,” said head coach Brock Roweton. “We had two tipped balls, and that is something that we worked on. That is an effort deal. When the ball is thrown, people working toward the ball.”
The Tigers exploded in the second quarter for 34 points. With 11:54 to go in the quarter, Marshall Swadley ran it in from six yards out to give the Tigers
a 14-0 lead. Ninety seconds later, Reece Dawson hit Eli Aye for a 57-yard touchdown pass, to increase the Tigers lead to 21-0.
Austin Joplin picked off a Bulldog pass with 9:19 to go in the quarter and returned it 52 yards for another Tiger score, increasing the lead to 28-0. With 3:35 left in the quarter, Dawson took it in from one yard out, giving Willard a 35-0 lead. The Tigers scored their last points of the quarter, when Dawson hit Aye with a 66-yard touchdown pass, with 1:29 to go in the half, increasing the lead to 41-0.
Tyler Jane scored the final points for Willard, taking it in from 12 yards out, with 10:55 to go in the game, to increase the lead to 48-0.
Carl Junction finally broke through and scored on a 76-yard touchdown pass from Drew Patterson to Cole Stewart with 7:44 to go in the game.
This was first time that
Willard has beaten Carl Junction, since the Bulldogs joined the Central Ozark Conference.
Dawson led the Tigers in passing, going 8-8 for 191 yards and two touchdowns. Swadley led the Tigers in rushing, gaining 101 yards on 14 carries with a touch- down and Garrett Rice added another 53 yards on eight carries.
Aye had 117 yards on two catches with two touch- downs while Maurice Grayer ended the game with 43 yards on three catches.
With the win, Willard
goes to 2-2 on the year and will travel to Republic this Friday. Willard maintained their fourth place spot in the Class 4, District 6 standings with 43.33 points. West Point took over the top spot in the standings with 48.58 points; Webb City fell to second place with 48 points’ Bolivar is third with 44.67 points, Willard is fourth, Neosho is fifth with 27.83 points, Carl Junction is in sixth place with 24.5 points, Hillcrest is in seventh place with 17.42 points and Mc- Donald County is in eighth place with 16 points.