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By Israel Potoczny
Ozark, MO – The area’s most dynamic turnaround story continued on Friday as the Ozark Tigers put together a flawless second half performance en route to a 27-13 win in a Missouri Class 5 District 4 semifinal game over Lebanon.
Just one year after going 1-9, the Ozark Tigers improve to 8-2 this season and will competing for a district title next Friday when they take on the undefeated Glendale Falcons in Springfield.
Friday’s win over Lebanon comes on the heels of the Tigers losing its do-everything junior Curt Gracey for the remainder of the season as Gracey went down with a broken leg in Ozark’s regular season finale against Bolivar.
And against Lebanon, it appeared early on that the loss of Gracey and a bye week helped contribute to a slow start. After a scoreless first quarter, the Yellowjackets jumped out to a 7-0 lead early in the second frame thanks to a 52-yard touchdown run by John Berry.
The Tigers tied the game at 7-7 on its next possession, but the ‘Jackets came right back on their next possession as Hunter Bray ripped ff a 55 yard run and Berry followed with a 22-yard run to give LHS a 13-7 lead with 2:06 remaining.
With 28 seconds remaining in the first half, Ozark’s Chandler Doss connected on a 35 yard field goal, pulling the Tigers within three points, 13-10. Ozark got the ball first to open the second half and Doss capped the Tiger drive with a 25 yard field goal to tie the game.
From there, it was all Ozark.
Lebanon committed turnovers on its first two plays from scrimmage in the third quarter, the first an interception, the second a fumble, and the Tigers took advantage of the second Lebanon miscue with a two-play, 38-yard drive that was capped by an 18-yard touchdown run by Ryan Taylor, giving Ozark a 20-13 lead with 7:07 remaining in the third quarter.
“The defense creating those turnovers was critical,” Ozark head coach Chad Depee said. “The turnover ratio is always a massive stat in a game and it has been for us all year long. Hats off to our defense for going and creating those.
“(Lebanon) made a ton of adjustments to make it difficult on us and hats off to them, (Will Christian’s) staff did a great job. But at the end of the day, I’m proud of our kids to come back from that week off, and even though it took us a little while, we were able to get back into regular season form.”
The Yellowjackets had the ball and an opportunity to tie the game with seven minutes remaining in the third quarter, and appeared to be putting together a good drive, moving the ball from its own 35 to the Ozark 39, but on second-and-seven, the ‘Jackets fumbled the ball away again and Ozark recovered.
LHS stopped the Ozark offense and got the ball back and again had a chance to tie the game, but after a holding penalty wiped out a first down run, the ‘Jackets were forced to punt.
This time Ozark took advantage and went seven plays, 57 yards as Ozark quarterback Jack Hulse hooked up with Forrest Barnes for a 43-yard pass play, setting up a one-yard run by Hulse with 9:37 remaining in the game, giving Ozark a 27-13 lead,
The game ended with LHS moving the ball from its own 35 to the Ozark 36 where its drive stalled and the ‘Jackets turned the ball over on downs with 4:27 remaining in the game.
Ozark took over at its own 36 and picked up a pair of first downs to run out the clock.
“I thought defensively we executed things pretty well. In the second half we ran into some bad field position at times,” Lebanon head coach Will Christian said. “We didn’t do a good job on a couple of those possessions which resulted in three scores.
“Offensively we had some hard times in the second half. We knew coming into this game that they had a good defense. I don’t know they’re as good as Kickapoo, but they are the next best thing we have seen.”
Ozark finished the contest with 323 yards of total offense. Quarterback Jack Hulse had 82 yards passing and 54 rushing and five Ozark players recorded at least 27 yards rushing, but none more than Hulse’s 54.
“We may not ever see the huge individual numbers and have a guy lead the area or whatever, but one thing that I appreciate is a whole lot of guys contribute,” Depee said. “We lost a good one last week and one of our dear brothers, but somebody has to step up.”
Next Friday’s championship game will match one of the area’s toughest defenses in Ozark against the high-flying Glendale Falcons. Ozark has now allowed 182 points in 10 games, while Glendale has scored 538.
“They (Glendale) are a great offensive team and have had a tremendous season and we are going to have our work cut out for us,” Depee said. “We’re grateful for the opportunity and we’ll prepare the best we can and will play as hard as we can and see how it goes.”
High school football
OZARK 27, LEBANON 13
on Friday, at Ozark High School
Lebanon 0 13 0 0 — 13
Ozark 0 10 10 7 — 27
Second quarter
LHS — John Berry 52 yard run (Lakiah Capps kick), 8:19
OHS — Jack Hulse 1 yard run (Chandler Doss kick), 3:14
LHS — John Berry 22 yard run (kick failed), 3:06
OHS — Chandler Doss 35 yard field goal, 0:28
Third quarter
OHS — Chandler Doss 25 yard field goal, 8:53
OHS — Ryan Taylor 18 yard run (Doss kick), 7:07
Fourth quarter
OHS — Jack Hulse 1 yard run (Doss kick), 9:37
