WEBB CITY, Mo. — “There’s only good teams from here on out, obviously. And it certainly doesn’t get any easier this week,” says John Roderique, Webb City head coach.
Never count out the Webb City Cardinals.
They proved that statement in their district title victory over Carthage, their quarterfinal win over Lebanon, and now, they hope to keep it true against defending Class 5 state champions Jackson in the semifinal round.
Roderique says, “The last loss they had was they lost to Carthage in overtime in the 2019 state championship. So they’re a really powerful team. They haven’t really had very many close games the last couple of years. So it’s gonna take a great effort by us, no doubt.”
This week in practice, the Cardinals have been fine tuning their game plan, because they know they have to be playing their best football at this point in the season.
Roderique says, “At this point in time, everybody understands what it’s all about. It’s great to be practicing this week. We tell our kids it’s really a privilege to be able to do that.”
Another privilege the team has this week is hosting the matchup, making this the first time Jackson has had to travel in the playoffs.
Buddy Belcher, Webb City center/defensive lineman, says, “It’s a pretty big deal. We’ve been excited all week for practice and it’s been a pretty good week of practice.”
Roderique says, “We feel really excited about having to host this kind of a game. It’s worked out for us many years where we’ve hosted this semifinal game, so hopefully we’ll play our best.”
The game kicks off on Saturday, November 27 at 1:00 p.m.