By Rod Shetler

sports@joplinglobe.com

CASSVILLE, Mo. — Six seasons removed from an 0-10 campaign, Cassville coach David Large looked across the field swarming with jubilant Cassville fans and players Saturday afternoon and summed up the moment.

“I feel very fortunate to be a part of this community,” he said. “These folks love football.”

Choose whatever word best describes the Wildcats’ postseason run — improbable, unlikely, unexpected — a 14-13 victory Saturday over the top-ranked team in Class 3, the previously undefeated Chillicothe Hornets (13-1), means Cassville’s next stop will be the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis with a state championship on the line.

The Wildcats will take on Cardinal Ritter in the Class 3 state championship at 3:30 p.m. on Friday. Cardinal Ritter beat Sullivan 48-21 in the other semifinal game.

One constant for the Wildcats during the postseason has been a stingy defense that gives up yardage grudgingly. On Saturday that defensive crew might have had their best showing of the season.

“Our defense has done a great job all year. Today we just played great team defense and our secondary really made some plays,” said Large.

The Wildcat secondary picked off Chillicothe quarterback Tyler Trammell three times, one by Cody Pierson, his eighth of the season, and two more by Trenton Tanner, including the final play of the game that stopped a Hornet drive to help preserve the win.

Tanner’s first interception came with 8:04 left to play with the Wildcats clinging to a 14-13 lead.

Instead of milking the clock with a long drive, Cassville was forced to punt giving the ball back to the Hornets on the Chillicothe 32-yard line with 6:05 left to play.

Methodically the Hornets moved the ball to the Cassville 15, converting two fourth-down plays on the way. With 40 seconds left, and after a motion penalty on Chillicothe moved the ball back to the 20, Trammell dropped back, and was hit as he released the ball.

The ball fluttered over the line and into the hands of Tanner, who dove under it for the biggest defensive play of the season so far for the Wildcats.

“I’m in shock,” said Tanner after the game, still shaking from the experience. “I can’t believe any of this. I don’t really remember anything that just happened. I just saw the ball there in the air, and I dove for it and it was in my hands.”

Large said the final defensive stand by his team, deep in their own end, was almost too much to watch.