WEBB CITY — Take it from Nixa safety Riley Childs, running up against Webb City tight end Gary Clinton is anything but child's play.
Childs acknowledged Friday that Clinton deserves the All-COC and All-State attention he has received and predicts Arkansas State is getting a good one.
"The dude is a beast," Childs said. "He pancaked me a few times tonight. I told him, 'Good job.' I didn't expect to be put on my butt. But that happens."
Likewise, Nixa didn't expect the 28-0 whipping Webb City handed the Eagles. It was another in a long line of mismatches in the teams' series. The 15-time state champion Cardinals have won them all.
Webb City (5-1) knocked Nixa (6-1) from the unbeaten ranks with a methodical beatdown. The Cardinals put up a touchdown in each quarter and immediately stuffed the lone scoring chance the Eagles had.
Nixa coach John Perry couldn't have been much more impressed in his first encounter with Webb City coach John Roderique and his team.
"They're the best coached team I've seen in my 27 years (of coaching)," Perry said. "I have not seen anyone as 'coached up' as they are. They do a fantastic job here. When you run up against a coaching staff like that and players playing like that, you can't make any mistakes and we made a couple.
"They didn't start playing football here this week," Perry added. "They've been playing for a long time. I've been doing it long enough to know we were fixing to get their best shot because they were sick of hearing about Nixa. They had heard all they could hear about us. They whipped us. They outplayed us. That is a model of where we are going. We're just not there, yet."
This final score is similar to most of the Webb City-Nixa games of the past. But the Cardinals weren't able to score as quickly as they have previously against the Eagles and about everyone else in the COC. Webb City repeatedly mounted scoring drives of 10 plays or more.
"They showed us what ball control is, how to run the clock down and score points," Nixa linebacker Steven Ward said. "They brought it to us. They kept going, no matter what. I'm not going to lie, they're tough."
Ward also gave Clinton praise and added the entire Cardinals offensive line gained his respect.
"(Clinton) had a perfect angle on me almost every time and was able to get to my shoulder," Ward said. "Their offensive line is so good. They do the same thing every time. It's hard to read their keys. You don't know if they're doing anything different."
Webb City gained 26 first downs and 306 yards rushing. Devrin Weathers ran the ball 22 times for 132 yards.
"We were trying to contain him by getting up in his face because he's really fast," Childs said. "They run really hard and never stop moving. They don't finish until the whistle."
Nixa managed a modest 163 yards of total offense. Quarterbacks Reid Potts and Austin McCracken combined for only seven completions in 25 attempts with two interceptions.
The Eagles weren't in the red zone all night. The one series they were inside the Cardinals' 25-yard line was extremely short-lived. After cornerback Ben Mills recovered a Webb City fumble on the Webb City 23-yard line in the first half, Nixa was picked off on a pass in the end zone.
"We just got a turnover, probably the only mistake they made all night long. Then, we turn it right back over to them," Perry said. "We had a blown assignment. That should have been a touchdown. We had them in a look we liked. I thought we had a great play call. It is what it is. They were the better team. tonight by far."
Both Perry and wide receiver Nate Nixon pointed to Webb City's defensive backs as game-changers.
"Their secondary didn't do exactly what we thought they would do on a lot of plays we thought would be touchdowns for us," said Nixon, who had three catches for 34 yards. "Their 'D' switched things up on us. We weren't ready for that. We were expecting the safeties to part when I was going up the middle, but they didn't. I was being double-covered and it messed us up. It left Ramone (Green) open, but we hadn't practiced on getting the ball to him. That happened on a bunch of plays."
"Their two safeties are absolutely awesome," Perry said. "I enjoyed watching them all week long. I didn't really enjoy watching them tonight.
"We didn't help the defense out at all on offense," he added. "There were too many three-and-outs. There were too many plays our defensive kids had to play. We've got to get better on offense to give them a break and keep them from having to get back on the field so fast."
While Weathers upped his number of 100-yard rushing nights to seven in seven weeks, Green's streak of 100-yard nights ended at six. He had 66 yards on 19 carries.
"That's a really well-coached team with good athletes," Green said. "They knew what we were doing. Their D-line was super aggressive and their linebackers were, too. We didn't have our best game offensively. We couldn't get anything going."
Webb City 28, Nixa 0
Nixa 0 0 0 0 - 0
Webb City 7 7 7 7 - 28
Scoring
WC - Gayman 10 run (Clark kick)
WC - Jackson 7 run (Clark kick)
WC - Vaden 13 pass from Goddard (Clark kick)
WC - Gayman 10 run (Clark kick)
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