WEBB CITY, Mo. — The Carthage Tigers faced an early deficit in Friday's rivalry showdown with Webb City. 
But after trailing early, the Tigers scored 28 unanswered points in the opening half to take a lead they would never relinquish. 
Carthage rode that strong first half surge to a 28-14 victory over longtime rival Webb City in a Central Ozark Conference clash at Cardinal Stadium. 
 "I feel really good right now," Tigers coach Jon Guidie said. "That was a tough, physical football game from start to finish. Our kids hung in there and made some plays defensively. I'm really proud of them. That's a really good football team over there in Webb City." 
Playing in front of a large homecoming crowd, fired up Webb City scored on the first drive of the night.
But the Tigers responded in a big way. The visitors not only answered back with a game-tying score, but they also got on a roll.
Clicking on all cylinders, Carthage built a 28-7 lead by intermission.
"They took right at us," Guidie said of the start to the game. "It's hard to simulate their speed and physicality in practice. But I thought once we got adjusted to it defensively, we did a much better job. The kids didn't flinch when they scored. We put some drives together and got into the end zone, which was huge." 
Webb City kept Carthage off the scoreboard in the second half, but the Tigers put together time-consuming drives that limited the Cardinals' comeback chances. 
"The bottom line is you can't put yourself in a 28-7 hole against a team like that and think you're going to have a chance to win," Webb City coach John Roderique said. "We just dug such a hole for ourselves by giving up big plays defensively. We made a couple of mistakes on special teams. Part of it was the field position. They faked a punt on us and got it. They pinned us down here on the 1-yard line when we made a mistake on the kick return. We couldn't flip the field. We couldn't get any continuity on offense." 
Senior two-way standout Luke Gall (RB/LB) scored all four of Carthage's touchdowns. 
Simply put, Gall also wreaked havoc defensively, as the Air Force Academy commit recorded 12 tackles. 
"I don't know if I've ever seen a kid dominate both sides of the football like Luke did tonight," Roderique said. "We had a hard time tackling him in the first half. It seemed like we couldn't get a pad on him the whole game. He's just a phenomenal player. He was obviously a big part of their success."
Ranked first in Class 5 by the Missouri Media, Carthage improved to 6-1 on the season. Webb City, ranked fourth, slipped to 4-3. 
Of course, these two teams are district opponents and could see each other again in the postseason. 
GAME RECAP
Webb City marched 71 yards on 10 plays to begin the night, taking a 7-0 lead on Breckin Galardo's 10-yard touchdown run. 
The Tigers answered on the ensuing drive, as Gall's 10-yard touchdown run tied it up with 3:44 remaining in the opening frame. 
After forcing the Cardinals into a quick three and out, Carthage took the lead after Gall's 42-yard touchdown sprint at the 1:29 mark of the first period. 
Carthage pulled off a fake punt to extend the next drive, and Gall's third touchdown of the night, a 2-yard scamper, made it 21-7 in favor of the Tigers with 7:24 left in the first half. 
The Tigers extended their lead to 28-7 with just over a minute left in the opening half on Gall's 5-yard plunge.
Webb City's defense forced the Tigers into a pair of turnover on downs in the third quarter to keep their deficit at three scores.
The Cardinals pulled within 14 with six minutes left when Galardo scampered into the end zone from 5 yards out.
But the Tigers' lead was never in jeopardy. 
"That is a little frustrating, but we can learn from that moving forward," Guidie said of not scoring in the second half. "But our defense came through." 
NAMES & NUMBERS
Carthage finished with 339 yards, 238 on the ground and 101 through the air.
Gall ran 29 times for 182 yards and four scores. He had 115 rushing yards in the first half.
"Luke was pretty special in the first half," Guidie said. 
Cooper Jadwin completed 7 of 12 passes, with Hudson Moore recording four receptions for 56 yards. 
Defensively, Aiden Rogers had seven stops and Davion King made five tackles. 
Webb City was limited to 205 yards, 134 rushing and 71 passing. 
"We wanted to control the line of scrimmage on both sides and I thought our guys up front did a really good job," Guidie said. "I felt like we controlled the line of scrimmage for the most part." 
A junior running back, Galardo ran 10 times for 58 yards and two touchdowns. Backup QB Gabe Johnson, a freshman, ran nine times for 29 yards.
Senior linebacker Lucas Ott made 12 tackles for the Cardinals, while sophomore defensive back Andrew Young made eight stops and junior linebacker Christian Brock was credited with seven tackles. 
WHAT'S NEXT?
Carthage hosts Joplin next Friday, while Webb City is at Neosho in Week 8. 
-Jason Peake, SoMo Sports