CARTHAGE — Jon Guidie said earlier in the week he wanted his Carthage team to finish the regular season at its best form.
A 56-6 blowout over Central Ozark Conference foe Ozark is what the coach got on Friday night at David Haffner Stadium. And it didn't disappoint.
"We needed to come out and play that well," Guidie said. "The last couple weeks, we've been right there, but we just haven't made the plays when we needed them. But today we did."
Carthage (8-1), which had already clinched the top seed in Class 5 District 6, racked up 436 yards of offense while limiting Ozark (1-8) to just 132.
The triumph clinched an eight-win regular season for the third time in the past four seasons for Carthage. It also ended its two-game losing skid against Ozark, which is the only team that has handed the Tigers a loss at David Haffner Stadium since the venue opened in 2017.
"I think they've given us our only home losses since 2014," Guidie said. "That was mentioned several times throughout the practice week by us coaches."
The first half was all Carthage as the home team hung 21 points in each of the first two quarters to take a 42-0 advantage into the break.
Tucker Downing got the scoring started with a 45-yard touchdown run off a jet sweep midway through the first quarter. And following a quick three-and-out for the Ozark offense, Carthage used a 58-yard drive that was capped by a 6-yard touchdown scamper by Tyler Mueller.
The Carthage defense generated three takeaways that all led to points in the first half.
A fumble recovery by defensive end Oscar Campa allowed the Tiger offense to set up shop in Ozark territory late in the first quarter. And the first play from scrimmage saw quarterback Patrick Carlton hit wideout Jayden Morgan for a 35-yard touchdown pass.
Carlton, who also had a 4-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter, followed an interception by Mason Bryant with a 41-yard strike to Morgan with 5:31 to go in the opening half.
Morgan's final score of the night came on an interception that he returned 26 yards for a touchdown to give Carthage its 42-point halftime lead.
"Carthage is just a tremendous team, and they made it tough on us both offensively and defensively," Ozark coach Chad Depee said. "I thought they were very physical on both sides of the ball, and their team speed really showed. And of course, they're absolutely well-coached.
"Turnovers will kill you at any point and time of the game. But I attribute that to their pressure. They did all of the things they needed to do against us. I would not be surprised to see them make a very deep run this year."
A running clock was used throughout the entirety of the second half as Carthage outscored Ozark 14-7 in the final two quarters.
Ozark got on the scoreboard early in the third, using a 60-yard drive that resulted in an 11-yard touchdown run by Ethan Sandoval, who finished with 66 yards on 15 carries.
"Any time you're in that type of situation, you want to try and claw your way back and show some fight," Depee said. "That score was good because it showed some pride and got some competitive respect back for us."
The Carthage reserves finished the game from there as quarterback Stephen Kurz and wideout Marcus Huntley capped the scoring on runs of 10 and 25 yards, respectively.
"Those guys play hard all week long," Guidie said of his backups. "You know, they were Ozark all week long, and they really give our varsity a good look. Week in and week out, those guys really do a nice job."
Carthage will have a first-round bye in the district playoffs and then host in the second round on Nov. 2.

Carthage 56, Ozark 6
Score by Quarters
Ozark           0      0    6    0 -   6
Carthage    21    21    7    7 - 56

C - Tucker Downing 45 yard run (Marcus Huntley kick)
C - Tyler Mueller 6 yard run (Huntley kick)
C - Jayden Morgan 35 yard pass from Patrick Carlton (Huntley kick)
C - Carlton 4 yard run (Huntley kick)
C - Morgan 41 yard pass from Carlton (Huntley kick)
C - Morgan 26 yard interception return (Huntley kick)
O - Ethan Sandoval 11 yard run (kick fail)
C - Stephen Kurz 10 yard run (Huntley kick)
C - Huntley 25 yard run (Huntley kick)