It looked like Cardinal Ritter might get blown out early in the Class 3 championship game on Friday at the Edward Jones Dome.

The Lions struggled to move the ball against the Cassville defense and allowed two early touchdown passes — Jake Nolan conencted with Trevor Tanner for a 53-yard touchdown and then hit Joseph Gouvion for a 10-yard score — as the Wildcats built a 14-0 lead midway through the first quarter.

But Ritter responded with a scoring drive midway through the second quarter, sparked by a 42-yard pass from Calvin Mooney to Kirk Pruitt. The drive was finished off by sophomore Trey Perry’s 5-yard touchdown run off left tackle and Ritter had cut the deficit in half, to 14-7.

Cassville added a 42-yard field goal from Aaron Jamieson with 1 minute, 14 seconds left before halftime to take a 17-7 lead, but the Lions went into the second half looking like they might have a puncher’s chance — if the defense can slow down the Wildcats and Maurice Taylor and Co. generate some more scoring opportunities.

Here are some stats from the first half…

Ritter had 160 yards of total offense, compared to 144 for Cassville, but is two for seven on third-down conversions and failed on both of its fourth-down conversion attempts. Cassville’s offensive numbers, which include 80 rushing yards, are deceiving because the Wildcats have had good field position to start most of their drives.

Perry has rushed for 48 yards on nine carries, while Taylor has rushed for 48 yards on four carries. Mooney has completed four of 10 pass attempts and was intercepted twice.

Nolan, the Cassville QB, completed three of seven passes for 64 yards, though one of his passes went for 54 yards.

Cassville has the ball first to start the second half.