CARTHAGE — Francis Howell had little resistance on its way to the Class 5 semifinals, but containing top-ranked Carthage was supposed to be an arduous task.
It wasn't.
The St. Charles school handed the Tigers a 35-13 loss on the rain-soaked turf of David Haffner Stadium on Saturday, the Vikings' 14th blowout win in as many tries.
Francis Howell (14-0), which faces Fort Osage in next week's Class 5 state title game in Columbia, knew that if it wanted to hand Carthage (11-2) a rare lopsided loss, it would have to force the Tigers into even rarer mistakes.