Willard football falls to visiting state-ranked Carthage in battle of Tigers

The Willard High School football team hosted Class 5, fourth ranked Carthage on Friday, Oct. 11, but were unable to hold Carthage out of the end zone and saw themselves on the wrong end of a 35-14 score.
Carthage got the scoring started early, as Tiger quarterback Patrick Carlton, scored the first of his five touchdowns to put Carthage up 7-0 with 6:43 to go in the quarter. Carlton added his second touchdown, about 2:30 later, as he ran it in from three yards out, to increase their lead to 14-0.
A little over a minute later,
Carlton hit Marcus Huntley for a 40-yard touchdown pass, to put Carthage up 21-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Carlton was at it again in the second quarter, running it in from 16 yards out, to give the Tigers a 28-0 lead with 2:46 to go in the half.
Willard finally got on the board, as Reece Dawson hit Garrett Rice for a three-yard touchdown pass, with five seconds to go, to make the score 28-7 at the half.
After neither team scored in the third quarter, Willard struck first in the fourth quarter, when Marshall Swadley ran it in from six yards out, to cut the score
to 28-14 with 10:06 to go in the game.
Carlton added his fifth touchdown of the game with 2:21 to go, as he ran it in from five yards out, for the final score of the game, giving Carthage a 35-14 lead.
Dawson finished the game for Willard with 290 yards passing, with a touch- down and an interception and 34 yards rushing on seven carries. Swadley rushed for 49 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries in the game.
Noah Pfeifer led Willard with 103 yards on five catches; Eli Aye had 88 yards on five catches, Rice ended the game with 56 yards on five
catches and Swadley had 32 yards on two catches.
Willard is now 2-5 on the season and will head to Neosho on Friday, Oct. 18, for their final regular season road game.
Despite the loss, Willard still held onto fourth place in the Class 4, District 6 standings with 34.62 points. Webb City leads the district standings with 50.62 points; West Plains is second with 49.71, Bolivar is third with 47.76, Willard is fourth, Carl Junction is fifth with 32.62 points, Hillcrest is sixth with 27.88 points, Neosho is seventh with 25.86 points and McDonald County is eighth with 19.67 points.

Category:

Lawrence County Record

312 S. Hickory St.
Mt. Vernon, MO, 65712
www.lawrencecountyrecord.com

Facebook

Please Login for Premium Content