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By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
After winning on a field goal as time expired in week one, there were no last-second heroics by the Joplin football team on Friday night.
Instead, the Eagles simply took a knee.
Joplin, ranked No. 4 in Class 6, came back from a 10-point deficit in the first half to clip sixth-ranked Nixa 28-25 at Junge Field in a Central Ozark Conference battle between two teams that could match up again in district play.
“I thought our kids played really hard, I thought we played together; for the most part I thought we played pretty smart and I think our conditioning played a factor again this week,” Joplin coach Curtis Jasper said. “Coach (Michael) Juergens has that set up for us so I want to give credit to him, he’s doing a great job. Just physical. I keep talking to our guys about being the most physical team, especially in the trenches and I think we definitely did that tonight.”
Joplin, which trailed 10-7 at halftime, opened the third quarter with a 79 yard, 17-play drive that included three conversions on fourth down. The last was the most important: facing a fourth-and-4 at the Nixa 13, senior quarterback Always Wright found junior Hudson Moore in the back of the end zone for the lead.
Nixa answered with an 80-yard drive to retake the lead, capped by a 1-yard plunge into the end zone by senior Casen Hammitt.
But Joplin responded by marching 71 yards and scoring on a 3-yard run by sophomore Quinton Renfro to make it 21-17 after junior Joseph Ipsen nailed the extra point.
Then it was the defense’s turn. Joplin forced Nixa to go three-and-out and got the ball back at the 44, which led to a 16-yard touchdown pass from Wright to sophomore Whit Hafer for a 28-17 lead with 6:07 left in the game.
Jasper said there were no “rah rahs” at halftime from him; instead he told his team they’d been in that situation before.
“Last game we got up and then let them come back,” he said. “I said none of that this time. We’re going to go out there and take care of business, we’re going to get up and keep the lead and be able to do that and they were able to do that. I told them the only way it’s going to happen is if you give everything you’ve got every play both physically and mentally because this is a team we can see in the playoffs again and this is essentially a playoff game at this point in time mentality-wise.”
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Nixa made it closer with a 1-yard touchdown pass from junior Connor Knatcal to junior Kael Combs with 2:06 remaining. Hammitt ran it in for the two-point conversion to bring the visitors within three points. But the ensuing onside kick attempt was recovered by Joplin, which moved the chains on third down to put the game out of reach.
Jasper credited his offensive line with the team’s scoring output in the second half.
“Especially against a defensive line like that, that defensive line is tremendous and I thought our offensive line really took care of business,” he said.
“It boiled down to them making one more play than we did,” Nixa coach John Perry said. “I thought they controlled the line of scrimmage a little bit, especially their O-line on our D-line. We’re not that big. I thought they were able to run the ball a little bit. Got good players all over the field. They just made one more play. That’s two good football teams. I’m really proud of my team for the way they played. They never quit, they had every opportunity to bow down a little bit when they went down 10, 14, whatever that was at the end.
“We’ve got a good football team, they’ve got a good football team,” he said. “We’ll be seeing them again.”
Nixa was in control early in the game, though. Combs hauled in a 60-yard catch on the first play of the game and junior Kaleb James booted a 31-yard field goal to finish off the drive.
After the teams traded turnovers – Nixa’s Bradley Vorse intercepted a ball at the goal line – Combs added a 48-yard catch-and-run score to make it 10-0 less than five minutes into the game.
A 2-yard score by Joplin junior Drew VanGilder got the Eagles on the board.
Joplin’s defense also stopped Nixa twice on downs in the first half – at the Joplin 12 and at the Joplin 24.
Wright completed 14-of-23 attempts for 194 yards and two scores with seven different receivers making catches. Joplin rushed for 89 yards in the first half and 130 in the second half.
“I thought he was awesome,” Perry said of the Joplin quarterback. “I thought he was awesome before we got here but I thought he was really, really good. Throws the ball really well, he’s got some good wide receivers. They’re mismatches physically because they’re so freaking big and you’re worried about them beating you deep and they hit you with the comebacks and then he can pull it down and run it. He is a true dual-threat guy. He was the difference in the ballgame, no doubt about it.”
Nixa’s Knatcal finished 16-for-33 passing for 314 yards and two scores. Combs had a huge day with nine catches for 238 yards.
“There’s probably not a better football player in the state of (Missouri) that’s played two varsity football games in his life,” Perry said of Combs. “That’s the best performance I’ve ever seen from a wide receiver in my 28 years and I’ve coached guys that played at Ole Miss, all over the place. He is as physically gifted as anybody and he’s a great kid. The future is very bright.”
Nixa was limited to 28 yards rushing in the first half and 11 in the second, but junior running back Ramone Green, Jr. spent most of the game watching from the sideline after suffering an apparent arm injury in the first quarter.
