JOPLIN, Mo. – The Joplin Eagles host the Carthage Tigers in a battle of unbeaten teams on Friday night.
Joplin will have the tough task of slowing down a dominant run game for Carthage featuring running back Luke Gall and quarterback Caden Kabance.
Gall has already topped the 1,000-yard mark, rushing for 1,047 yards in just six games with 18 touchdowns. Kabance has racked up 716 yards on 86 carries, scoring 12 times.
“Those are the two that most people will start the conversation about, but honestly I feel like their offensive and defensive lines are also really good,” says Joplin head coach Curtis Jasper, “Those are what stood out to me. Obviously the quarterback and the running back are very good, but the offensive and defensive lines also stood out to me on film.”
On the other side, the Joplin offense will aim to stay hot against the best defense in the COC. The Eagles are averaging 42 points per game, while Carthage is only giving up 10 per week.
“We’re going to have to be more physical up front,” Jasper says of his offense, “We’ve done a really good job of spreading the ball around and being balanced offensively. I think those things will continue to help us. Obviously we have to take care of the football, and we’ve got to be the more physical team on Friday night. I think that’s a big deal.”
“They haven’t given up more than 14 points all season, so we know it’s going to be a tough challenge,” says Joplin QB Always Wright, who has thrown for 1,301 yards and 17 touchdowns this season, “We have a lot of play-makers on the field…I know they’re going to try to limit me getting out of the pocket, but I just need to stand in there and make plays and get balls to my receivers.”
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WATCH: Carthage tops Webb City 10-4 for their 7th straight win, and their 10th win in the last 11 games.
Senior pitcher Jensyn Elder strikes out 14 in the circle for the Tigers.
There’s a lot of belief in these kids,” says Carthage head coach Stephanie Ray, “We struggled hitting in the beginning. Now we’ve come out and focused really hard. They’ve stuck with it and they believe and they trust the process. It’s starting to pay off now in the end.” Ray adds of her team’s recent hot streak, “We intentionally put three tournaments in a row in the very beginning and got ourselves some good competition, so that way when we got to our conference play that hopefully we would be playing our best.”
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WATCH: Carthage prepares to face Joplin on Friday night in a battle of two unbeaten teams. Both teams are 6-0.
The Carthage defense has been one of the best in Missouri this season, giving up just 10 points per game. They’ll have a tough test on Friday against a Joplin defense that’s scoring 42 points per game through six weeks.
“It starts with their quarterback. He’s a very dynamic player,” says Carthage head coach Jon Guidie of Joplin QB Always Wright, “He’s a two-year starter. He does a great job extending plays and a great job in the quarterback run game. He’s got a strong arm and a very accurate arm, and he’s got some receivers to throw to. You have to somehow figure out a way to get to him, and at least contain him in the pocket and not let him out, because that’s where he hurts you a lot.”
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WATCH: Jordyn Jones gets the go-ahead hit for Carthage Wednesday night – giving the Tigers a 2-1 win over McDonald County in the team’s home opener.
Carthage snaps the Mustangs’ 7-game winning streak.
“She had the big RBI in the 2nd inning that gave us the 1-0 lead, and there at the end she had a great at-bat,” says head coach Stephanie Ray of Jones, “She was fouling balls off and fouling balls off. With an 0-2 pitch she put one over the left fielder’s head. I just knew if we could get that runner to third, we had a chance. We put the bat in the senior’s hand there and she just took it and she owned it there.”
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WATCH: Carthage tops Joplin 8-0 in COC play Tuesday afternoon at Joplin High School.
The Tigers scored 7 runs in the 4th, while pitcher Jensyn Elder strikes out 13 Joplin batters.
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CARTHAGE, Mo. – Carthage is going to look a bit different this year. There’s big shoes to fill, but the Tigers are ready to step up.
“If character means anything, we’re going to be very successful because we have some really high character kids, coachable kids, kids who want to be here and work hard,” says Carthage head coach Jon Guidie. “We’re really excited about that.”
Caden Kabance is the new guy under center.
“He’s not a stranger to varisty football, he started since he was a sophomore, but he’s a stranger to playing varsity quarterback,” Guidie says.” There’s going to be a lot on his shoulders, but Caden is a very capable, very smart, very football savvy kid, that I think is going to have a very good year.”
“Caden knows what he has to step up to. He knows he has some pretty big shoes to fill and I think he can do it,” says senior center Gavin VanGilder. “Everyone loves Caden. He plays for all of us. He’s a hard worker and we all believe in him. Everybody on this team knows that you’re not playing for yourself you’re playing for your brothers.”
The Tigers are hungry for a longer season this year than last and confidence is high.
“We know we have the strength at every position, we have the skill at every position,” VanGilder says. “We know that we have what we need to get back to the state championship.”
“We never play down to our opponent, no matter who we are playing,” says senior strong guard Garrett Lilienkamp. “It’s always a very high-level motor going. Whether it’s Webb City or Neosho, whoever we are going against, we’re giving it 100%.”
“Everybody in our district is hard runners, hard hitting. That is what Missouri football is. That’s what we are and we have perfected it,” VanGilder says.
Carthage will kick off the season on August 27th on the road against Ozark.
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