TIPTON, Mo. - The Tipton Cardinals had a big 32-16 win last Friday against the Cole Camp Bluebirds, snapping a five-game losing streak and getting their first win in Kaysinger Conference play.
Now the Cardinals look to make it back-to-back wins tonight on the road against the Lighthouse Christian Chargers in Ozark. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
Tipton head coach Tony Braby said last Friday's win was huge for his team.
"We haven't beaten Cole Camp in four to five years," Braby said. "We played one of our better games. The smiles on their faces after the game said it all."
Braby was happy with how the offense was able to mix up the pass and the run in the win against Class 2 Cole Camp, something that had been an issue for the team earlier in the season. He thought succeeding in mixing up the offense was a big reason for their victory.
"It loosened them up and they didn't know for sure what we were going to do at different times," Braby said. "That made a very big difference."
At half the game was tied at 16, but Tipton took over in the second half en route to doubling up Cole Camp.
Braby said the second-half performance was thanks to the adjustments they made during halftime.
"We just made some adjustments at halftime," Braby said. "On some secondary coverage they were picking on one of our defensive backs, a freshman and we made a change there. Offensively we weren't getting our outside blocking by our skill players and we made a change at wide receiver and those both seemed to have a big impact."
Braby felt his team did a good job of catching Cole Camp off-guard.
Going into tonight's game, Braby thinks his team will be more confident coming off the win. Braby noted the Cardinals' pass defense is going to have to play well as Lighthouse Christian has a pass-heavy offense. He expects his team to mix up bringing more pressure and dropping players into coverage to keep their opponent's offense on their toes.
"Our pass defense is going to have to be on point," Braby said. "We are going to have to play assignment football and do what we do well."
Lighthouse Christian (5-1) were off last week, but they are coming off a 50-28 win Sept. 22 at Forsyth. The Chargers built a 36-7 lead at halftime.
Sophomore quarterback Braeden Mathews completed 32-of-50 passes for 279 yards with five touchdowns and three interceptions in the win against Forsyth, adding a pair of touchdown runs. Junior splitback Gavin Bess and senior wide receiver Caleb Miranda combined for 234 yards receiving on 28 catches.
Trey Bess caught two of Mathews' touchdown passes.
Lighthouse Christian operates out of a spread formation, often using five wideouts with an empty backfield.
Earlier this season, Lighthouse Christian - a homeschool program that is MSHSAA-sanctioned but is not classified in football - defeated Class 5 Springfield Central 38-16.
In the first meeting between the two schools last season, Lighthouse Christian won 37-12 at Tipton.