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The Nixa Eagles shocked many around the Ozarks last year by surging to an eight-win season and reaching the district title game.
Now, expectations are high for the Eagles to find similar success in 2021.
Among the Nixa players hoping to maintain that success is an all-state defender, John Gholson.
“Everybody respects [Gholson], and nobody’s going to backtalk him,” said Nixa Head Coach John Perry. “He’s also a state champion wrestler so if they open their mouth, they’re in trouble, they’re probably going to get pinned.”
Perry doesn’t mince words when talking about the Nixa senior.
“He gives you the very best he has on every single snap,” Perry said. “He will rush the passer, turn around and try and go tackle a hitch by a wide receiver. That’s the effort that we’re trying to play with.”
For Gholson, it’s effort well-spent, as he hopes to help Nixa become a premier program in Southwest Missouri.
“We want everyone to come out here and be like ‘we want to beat Nixa,’ you know that’s what we’re building ourselves to. We want to be like Webb City where it’s like ‘man, we have them on our schedule, we want to beat them’,” Gholson said.
But making that happen requires more than just strong play.
It requires leadership.
“I’ve become more vocal as a leader, and that was just my next step in becoming [a leader].”
Perry says he wants Gholson to keep that trend going.
“There’s different levels of leadership. Number one, you have the coach leads, like we tell them what to do and they do it. Level two is they do it themselves, like John does it himself. Step three is he helps us lead the team, like when we become a player-led team, that’s when special things happen. That’s where we’re going to and he’s driving that bus,” Perry said.
And the “bus driver” says the Eagles are only getting better.
“This year we are going to be our best,” Gholson said. “Last year was just a sneak peak of what we’re going to be.”
