By Anvil Welch
awelch@joplinglobe.com
WEBB CITY, Mo. — Webb City produced the exact kind of start it wanted in moving past Bolivar 41-21 in a quarterfinal game of the MSHSAA Class 4 football playoffs on Saturday.
The Cardinals jumped in front 14-0 in the first period, shrugged off a Bolivar touchdown and made it 28-7 by halftime at nearly filled Cardinal Stadium.
The game — believed to be the first meeting between the teams — was played in temperatures in the 30s with a wind chill in the 20s.
Webb City, ranked third in Class 4 by the Missouri Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association, visits No. 1 Kearney at 1:30 p.m. next Saturday in a semifinal clash of 13-0 teams.
Kearney, which handled the Cardinals in the semifinals in 2002 and 2003, earned a fourth playoff game in a row at home by trimming Sedalia Smith-Cotton 36-7.
Braxton Baker, a 5-foot-11, 180-pound junior, rushed for the first three Webb City touchdowns and finished with 163 yards on 20 carries to pace the Cardinals’ 326-yard ground assault.
Said Cardinal quarterback Mack Kyle: “Definitely, we were focused. We wanted to get off to a good start. We played better on offense than we did in our previous game (a 35-8 win against Neosho).
“We beat a solid team,” Kyle said. “Bolivar was deserving to be in this game.
“They were big and physical like Neosho,” Kyle said of the Liberators, who dished out some hard licks to the 6-1, 190-pound senior. “They could move, too.”
Said Cardinal coach John Roderique: “We executed better on offense compared to the Neosho game. We did some nice things on offense.
“Defensively, we struggled with the counter play a bit and other aspects of their offense,” Roderique said.
“Bolivar was a good, physical ballclub,” Roderique said. “The quarterback (junior Preston Guiot) did a nice job.”
Said Bolivar coach Lance Roweton: “I was extremely impressed with the Webb City community as well as its players.
“The going was tough and, in the end, Webb City was just too much on offense,” Roweton said. “I thought we played tough until the end. We were able to move the ball. But, today, Webb City was a better team.
“This was our first time in Class 4,” Roweton said. “Our kids represented our school and community very well.”
Baker’s first touchdown came at 5:40 in the first period. The 15-yarder capped a six-play, 54-yard drive on the Cardinals’ first possession. Sophomore Jake Brasfield kicked the first of three extra points.
Baker’s 8-yard scoring play capped a 51-yard march in just three plays that was keyed by Kyle’s pass for 34 yards to senior wide receiver Brandon Williams on first down.
Derek Lee’s 22-yard run put Bolivar on the scoreboard at 6:18 in the second period.
But Webb City, before the half, struck for scores on Baker’s 48-yard run at 5:12 and Kyle’s 66-yarder with just 11.8 seconds remaining. Junior Patrick Drake ran for the conversion after the touchdown by Baker.
Runs of 24 yards by Kyle and eight by senior running back Seth Helton set up Baker’s 48-yarder on second-and-2 to cap an 80-yard drive. Kyle’s long scoring run came on first down.
A bit of trickery by Bolivar provided the only scoring in the third period. Chris Welch, on an end-around, lofted a 45-yard scoring pass to an open wide-out Alex Talley on fourth-and-15 at 1:24.
Helton had scoring runs of 3 and 22 yards in the fourth period at 10:02 and 6:53, respectively, before Bolivar marched 80 yards for the final touchdown of the game on Lee’s late 2-yard plunge.
Kyle, who completed 5-of-7 for 97 yards, added 94 rushing on nine carries. Helton netted 64 on just seven carries to help the team total 423 yards.
Bolivar totaled 169 rushing yards and 183 passing. Guiot was 9-of-15 for 138 with Talley, a 6-0, 205-pound junior, catching five for 137. Josh Moffett, 160-pound junior, rushed for 66 yards.
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