WEBB CITY, Mo. — It’s the Talk of the town. Webb City – Joplin. The bitter rivalry game is this upcoming Friday.

Gabe Johnson said, “As being having this circled on my calendar to probably one of my favorite games to play.”

The 2-1 Cardinals will play host to the 3-0 Eagles. Head Coach Ryan McFarland is turning things around with back-to-back wins after the opening loss at Nixa. The Cardinals have wins over Carl Junction and Republic and their offense in the last two games has scored near 45 points.

Shaun Hunt said, “But going in that game, you know, we’re going out, playing fast, playing hard, you know, playing our game, you know, being disciplined, having a little bit of fun with it as well.”

He says he’s honored to be coaching a team he played for under former head coach John Roderique.

How do you prepare for a team that is your arch-rival

Coach Ryan McFarland said, “When we know that communities are very excited about this game and we get a chance to host a really good Joplin team. And, you know, there’s a lot of, you know, of our community members that work for their community members. So there’s a lot of talk about the game. I think the big thing for us as a football program is this is a week for games that we get a chance to play. You know, a really good team to see where we’re at, at this time of the year. And I think our guys have done a really good job preparing each week. And I feel like we’ve gotten better as a football team.”