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By Nolan Epstein (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Despite losing 13 players to graduation and their top four wide receivers from a season ago, the Glendale Falcons (1-0) had very little trouble recapturing their mojo from 2016 by rolling to a strong victory over the Joplin Eagles (0-1) on Friday in Springfield.
Of course, when you bring back the defending Gatorade State Player of the Year in senior Alex Huston, chances were pretty good that last year’s success would carry over to Week 1 – and it did.
Glendale’s star quarterback delivered another rousing performance on the night by racking up 587 yards and eight passing touchdowns, including five in the first half, to lead his squad to a 54-25 home win.
“I think there are a lot of areas that we have to improve upon, naturally, but our guys made some throws, made some catches, and we were able to make some plays in the first half to give us the lead,” fourth-year Glendale head coach Mike Mauk said. “Playing against a good football team on a Friday night, you find out how good your football team is.”
Huston didn’t waste any time collecting his first touchdown pass of the new season – firing a 78-yard strike to fellow senior Max Nichols on the third play from scrimmage to give the Falcons an 8-0 advantage following the two-point conversion.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Nichols, who had nine total touchdowns to his name in all of 2016, reached paydirt four more times on Friday and hauled in impressive touchdown catches of 81 and 63 yards – feeding off the strength and accuracy of Huston’s arm.
“To me, it’s never been really about the touchdowns and never about the yards,” Nichols said of his five-touchdown performance following the win. “It’s about the team progressing as a whole. The only thing that I gauge is how everyone else is doing.”
With 6:04 remaining in the first quarter of play, Huston would find senior wideout Corbin Lukes on fourth down for a five-yard TD reception, his first of three on the night, to stretch the lead to 16-0.
That lead would swell to 34-0 by halftime, thanks to three more touchdowns from Huston.
“I thought he made a lot of high-pressure passes in key situations to either get us in the endzone or keep the drive going with a fourth-down pass,” Mauk said of Huston. “That’s his experience and that’s what we need from him.”
Things got a little less comfortable over the next 24 minutes, however, as Joplin managed to outscore the Falcons, 24-20, the rest of the way.
A nine-yard pass from sophomore QB Blake Tash to Zach Westmorland at the 7:53 mark of the third quarter put Joplin on the board, while Jacob Bartlett and Jay Ellis combined for three rushing touchdowns to get the Eagles to as close as 46-25 with 8:19 to play.
“It was a tough game in the second half,” added Mauk. “They made a run at it. At the end of the year, you’re going to see that (Joplin) is going to win a lot of games.”
Joplin, which saw the loss of its starting quarterback, leading rusher and leading receiver to graduation, are remaining optimistic after the loss. Looking to avoid their first 0-2 start in recent history, head coach Curtis Jasper’s team realizes the challenges ahead as the season progresses.
“We’ve got a young team,” Jasper said. “We have a lot of sophomores playing and they got some good experience tonight. We just have to clean some things and make sure we don’t make the same mistakes after tonight.”
Glendale welcomes in Hillcrest next week, while Joplin hosts Parkview in the Eagles’ home opener.
Glendale 54, Joplin 25
Joplin 0-0-18-7 – 25
Glendale 22-12-12-8 – 54
First quarter
Glendale – Nichols 78 catch from Huston (two-point conversion good)
Glendale – Lukes 5 catch from Huston (two-point conversion good)
Glendale – Lukes 4 catch from Huston (two-point conversion no good)
Second quarter
Glendale – Nichols 63 catch from Huston (two-point conversion no good)
Glendale – Nichols 81 catch from Huston (two-point conversion no good)
Third quarter
Joplin – Westmorland 9 catch from Tash (two-point conversion no good)
Glendale – Lukes 18 catch from Huston (two-point conversion no good)
Joplin – Bartlett 1 rush (two-point conversion no good)
Joplin – Ellis 4 rush (two-point conversion no good)
Glendale – Nichols 4 catch from Huston (two-point conversion no good)
Fourth quarter
Joplin – Bartlett 1 rush (PAT good)
Glendale – Quinn 8 catch from Huston (two-point conversion good)
