By David Kvidahl (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
O’FALLON – Isaiah Davis wasn’t at Junge Stadium but when he closed his eyes it sure sounded like it.
The Joplin football team’s powerhouse running back and linebacker, Davis was awed by the sheer number of fans and students that made the nearly five-hour drive to the eastern side of the state to take over Fort Zumwalt West’s Hoekel Stadium.
“Tonight it felt like a home game we had so many fans here,” Davis said. “We knew we had our community behind us.”
The Eagles, and Davis, made the trip well worth it. The 6-foot-2 and 230-pound Davis rushed 37 times for 200 yards and scored five touchdowns to lead Joplin to a 41-20 win over Fort Zumwalt West in a Class 6 semifinal Saturday evening.
The No. 3 team in the Class 6 Missouri Media poll, Joplin (13-0) will face No. 1 De Smet (13-0) in the state championship game at 3 p.m. Saturday at Faurot Field in Columbia.
It will be the first state championship game appearance for Joplin High itself but not its lineage. Parkwood won three state championships, its last in 1983. Memorial claimed the 1976 Class 3A title. Since the two schools merged in 1985 they’ve been shutout of the last game of the season.
That changed on Saturday.
“This feeling is absolutely insane. I know all our players are flying high right now,” Joplin senior quarterback Blake Tash said. “We’re so excited for this moment. It’s something we’ve prepared for. It’s a great feeling.”
It didn’t come easy.
Fort Zumwalt West (10-3) proved to be a worthy opponent. The Jaguars’ defense gave up chunks of yards to Davis. Tash connected with senior receiver Zach Westmoreland time and again on quick passes down the sideline that were fruitful. But the Eagles didn’t hit the Jaguars with any home runs Saturday. Joplin’s longest play of the game was when Tash found senior receiver Zach Westmoreland for a 31-yard pickup. The longest scoring play was a 25-yard strike to junior receiver Nathan Glades. Joplin never hit Fort Zumwalt West with the home runs that are a staple of its explosive offense.
“I thought for the most part we did a good job on (Westmoreland),” Fort Zumwalt West coach Ben Pike said.
Westmoreland caught 14 passes for 118 yards but took several big-time hits, one of which left him laying on the turf. He walked off on his own power but the Jaguars defense made an impression.
“Hats off to Fort Zumwalt West. They’re a tough ball club,” Joplin coach Curtis Jasper said. “They fought us every bit of the way and we’re just happy to come out on top.”
Tash completed 26 of 34 passes for 234 yards and a touchdown. Glades caught eight passes for 95 yards.
Joplin led 27-17 at halftime after Fort Zumwalt West senior quarterback Jake Murphy scrambled for a nine-yard touchdown on the last play of the second quarter. Fort Zumwalt West carried that momentum over when it received the ball to start the third quarter. The Jaguars leaned on their own bruising running back James Strauss to tote the load. He helped them break into the Joplin red zone before being stuffed on third-and-eight at the 16. Fort Zumwalt West senior center and kicker Matt Lange stepped up and drilled a 42-yard field goal to make it 27-20 with 7 minutes and 53 seconds to play in the third.
The Jaguars defense forced Joplin’s first three-and-out on its next possession only to see the Eagles turn the same trick.
Fort Zumwalt West was really riding high when it managed to hold Joplin on fourth-and-1 at the 38. Fort Zumwalt West senior linebacker Ulysses Ross IV met Davis in the hole and stopped him short. But three plays later the Jaguars put the ball on the turf and the Eagles pounced on it. It was the third turnover of the afternoon for Fort Zumwalt West but proved to be the most costly.
“We had a couple of mistakes and they capitalized on that,” Ross said. “They’re really good at that. You try to keep fighting.”
Joplin was given a second chance and cashed in. It took seven plays and just under two minutes to go 44 yards. Davis capped the drive with a 2-yard touchdown for a 34-20 lead.
“We were all kind of like ‘whoa, that actually happened,’” Tash said of the fourth-down conversion. “When we got the ball right back and put it in the end zone. That was a huge thing getting the ball right back.”
Davis all but sealed the victory when he scored a 3-yard touchdown with 1:46 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Then the celebration was on.
Jasper had a bucket of water dumped on him. The fans rallied with the team on the field. The long drive those eight, maybe nine, fan buses made was worth it to watch the Eagles punch their ticket to the title game.
“The most important thing is we get seven more days with our kids,” Jasper said. “We get to play out the whole season. We’re going to go have some fun doing it.”
