Roderique reaches milestone victory

BRANSON MO NEWS:

Reaching another milestone in his illustrious career, John Roderique recorded his 250th coaching victory when his Webb City Cardinals earned a 34-13 win over the Pittsburg Purple Dragons on Friday night at Cardinal Stadium.Roderique is now 250-24 overall since taking over the reins of the program in 1997.“It’s pretty humbling to me to think I’ve been around that long,” Roderique said. “It makes you feel a little bit old. But I just look at myself as being fortunate to have been able to coach here this long.”

Roderique pointed out that lots of people have contributed to all those wins.“To me, I think about how many great players have gone through here during that time,” Roderique said. “And I think about how many great coaches we’ve had here that have poured hours into the preparation side of it. There have been a lot of great players, great kids and great parents in this great community that we have.”Roderique’s first win came in his debut, a 28-14 victory at Branson in Week 1 of the ’97 season.“We had a relatively new team that year and we went down there and won at Branson’s old stadium,” Roderique said. “I just remember the excitement. I think I was probably on cloud nine the whole way home from Branson that night.”Since taking over at his alma mater, Roderique has led Webb City to 10 state championships, with two runner-up finishes. Roderique’s win percentage — 91 percent — is tops in the history of Missouri high school football.A recent inductee into the Joplin Area Sports Hall of Fame, Roderique will be inducted into the Missouri Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in December.WORK TO DORanked No. 1 in Class 4, Webb City hiked its record to 5-0 with the win …