Carthage dominates early

September 20, 2008 02:23 am

— From staff reports
sports@joplinglobe.com
WILLARD, Mo. — Carthage, behind Devron Moore’s three first half touchdowns, built a solid lead at intermission and held on to whip Willard 33-14 in a Central Ozark Conference contest Friday night.
Moore opened the scoring with a 32-yard TD pass from Trey Derryberry, then ran in another touchdown from 17 yards out to give the Tigers a 13-0 advantage after the first quarter.
Following a 26-yard TD strike from Derryberry to Steven Ellefsen in the second quarter, Moore again scored but this time on defense by intercepting a pass and racing 32 yards for another TD. The half ended 26-0, with Victor Vargus adding two extra point kicks, missing another and having one blocked.
“It was a tale of two halves,” said Carthage coach Jon Guidie. “That was in large part due to our defense. It was kind of the reverse in the second half as we turned it over three times and they capitalized on it.”
Ryan Barker scored both Willard touchdowns on runs of 9 and 14 yards, while Moore added another Carthage TD on a 3-yard in the fourth quarter.
Derryberry completed 13 of 18 passes for 193 yards and two TDs. Moore caught four passes for 78 yards and one passing touchdown to go with his three other six pointers.
Brian Poston proved another bright spot for Carthage on the ground with 13 carries for 97 yards.
Carthage, going to 3-0 in the league and 4-0 overall, will be host to Neosho at 7 p.m. next Friday.