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On a day when the Webb City defense was not at their best, the Cardinal offense rose to the challenge scoring 20 fourth quarter points to bring home the Cardinals eighth state championship 41-34.
Although they weren’t statistically at their best, in the end Webb City’s defense still played a huge part in the win as they harassed Helias QB Jay Shimmens all day and held him well below his season averages. The dual threat QB is the Crusaders biggest weapon but could only complete 9 of 21 passes for 149 yards while being sacked 4 times, and rushed for only 40. Yet Shimmens still accounted for 4 touchdowns. 3 passing and 1 rushing. Meanwhile, his Webb City counterpart Mack Kyle was the model of cool leadership and offensive efficiency. Kyle ran up 110 yards and a TD on the ground while going 7-10 through the air for 214 yards and 2 TDs.
A wild affair from the start, this title matchup saw six lead changes including 3 in a 6 minute 25 second span of the final quarter. Helias got on the board first on their second possession as Shimmens threw a 49 yard TD strike to Chris Tannehill. Helias threatened to go up even more but a missed field gave the Cardinals the ball back at their 20. Then Webb City took over.
Kyle drew Webb even when he hooked up with Boo Rodgers on an 80 yard TD pass. The Cardinals then put together drives of 56 and 44 yards, both ending with Jeremiah Box going in from 1 yard out, and Webb City had a 21-7 lead. It seemed like the Cardinals were ready to roll through the rest of the game. The defense had found it’s legs after a couple of Crusader drives, the offense was clicking, but Helias came back to life.
Getting the ball back with just over 5 minutes left, Helias put together a drive of their own, going 80 yards in 12 plays to score with 27 seconds left in the half on a 7 yard TD pass from Shimmens to Clint Distler. Halftime score 21-14 Webb City. Helias picked right up where they left off in the second half as Shimmens and Distler hooked up for another score. This time a 32 yard strike. The Crusaders then got their only turnover of the night, picking off Kyle and returning it to the Webb City 27. Seven plays later, Helias had the lead as Shimmens took it in himself. The extra point was blocked and Helias carried a 27-21 lead into the fourth.
Nine seconds into the fourth, Webb City finished off an 87 yard drive they started in the third period with Kyle hitting Austin Daniels for a 32 yard score. The extra point was again blocked and the stage was set for the closing drama with the score 27-27.
The Cardinal defense made a stand next with Dacota Cortez and Austin Lepper getting sacks to force a Helias punt from their 8. Boo Rodgers fair caught it at the Helias 49 and Webb took only 4 plays to go the distance. Kyle running it in from 15. The 2 point try was no good and it was 33-27. Helias struck right back taking only 4 plays to go 80 yards. The conversion was good and Helias lead 34-33.
With their whole season on the line, the Cardinal offense took the field with 6:49 to go. Needing any score to make sure they didn’t end short of their ultimate goal. By now Webb City’s offensive line was obviously asserting itself, and showed exactly what they made of as they paved the way on rush after rush. 10 plays, 10 rushes, all for positive yards, with Braxton Baker going in from 2 yards out to put Webb back on top. Box scored the 2 point try to make it 41-34 Webb.
Now it was Helias turn to attempt to pull out one last score. 2:28 was plenty of time for them to march down. But facing a third and ten, Shimmens finally blinked as Seth Kelly got the pick to end the Helias drive before it started. Webb picked up a first down, then took a knee to kill the clock on another state championship. A fantastic game from start to finish, but as they have all season, Webb City turned up their play when the most was on the line.
