By Chris Parker
Nixa football has gone 38-9 over the past four seasons including 11-1 last year. The Eagles ended their 2023 season with a 38-14 Class 6 state quarterfinal loss to Rockhurst.
Nixa graduated a talented senior group featuring six all-district selections, but plenty of talent returns.
If the Eagles are to make a deeper playoff run this season, an offensive line featuring all-state selections Jackson Cantwell and Jacob Lile will be a big reason why. They will be joined by returning starter Oakley White at center along with Hayden Mays and Hunter Jensen. Zach Austin and Dylan Terry are also in the mix for time on the offensive line.
“We’ll probably average 6-foot-4, 280 or (290 pounds) across the board,” Nixa head coach John Perry said. “What that gives you is an opportunity to run the football. To win championships, it is my belief that you have to be able to run the football. When we got beat last year at Rockhurst the difference in the ballgame was that Rockhurst could run the football and Nixa could not, plain and simple,” Perry said. “In the playoffs, we’ve got to go 5-0 to win a state championship. One of the five games is going to be in the rain or the cold or more, and you have to be able to run the football. At the end of the day, I think having those guys up front is a blessing that lends itself to we should be able to run the football on any given night.”
Cantwell, the No. 2 recruit in the nation in the Class of 2026 according to Rivals, is the star of the group. He recently trimmed his recruitment down to 14 schools including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Texas A&M and USC.
Cantwell continues to improve his skill on the offensive line entering his third season playing up front.
“In junior high, he (Cantwell) played tight end H-back. When he came into the ninth grade, we moved him to the offensive line, and he didn’t really have that skillset behind him,” Perry said. “Now we’re two years later, and he’s two years down the road. He’ll tell you he’s still got a ton to learn. He still has a long way to go. His growth has been phenomenal because he’s going to fast track it. He’s going to work on his own. He’s going to find extra time. He’s going to be up here on Saturday working on his first step and hitting the sled by himself. He has a desire to be great, and that separates him.”
Last season’s leading rusher Dylan Rebura will be a big beneficiary of the stout offensive line. Rebura carried the ball 180 times for 1,288 yards and 18 touchdowns last season.
He will see an even bigger workload this season with the graduation of Malachi Rider, who rushed for 1,236 yards last season.
“He (Rebura) is fired up about (more carries). He loves football as much as anybody on this team. He has worked extremely hard. He’s probably 175 or 80 pounds, but he bench-pressed 225 pounds 10 times the other day. He’s extremely strong, physically fit and athletic. He’s fired up for the opportunity. He’s worked his whole career for this,” Perry said. “I think he has set for himself a personal goal of breaking that Nixa rushing record, and he’ll have a chance.”
Bryin Sandgren will also see carries after moving from wide receiver to running back.
Handing the ball off will be a new quarterback with sophomore Adam McKnight being the front-runner for the starting position.
“He (McKnight) brings something to the table that we’ve not had since I’ve been here,” Perry said. “We’ve not had a quarterback that can physically go make plays on his own. Adam will be as good an athlete as anybody on the field. When you have a quarterback that can run as well as throw, hand it off as well as keep it, it’s a game changer offensively. They can’t put 11 guys on the running back. We’re excited to have a dual-threat guy back there.”
McKnight had a standout freshman season starring at the varsity level on both the basketball court and baseball field. The varsity Friday night lights will be a new but not unfamiliar experience for the sophomore.
“He (McKnight) has already gone out there in front of packed-out gyms and played basketball and baseball. Those are transferable skills. I don’t think he’s going to walk out there on Friday night and freak out because there’s 5,000 folks sitting up in the bleachers,” Perry said. “I think that skill will transfer. Playing quarterback for him is still a work in progress. He’s not where he needs to be. None of us are. We’re trying to get better. He is going to make some mistakes, but that’s life. Mistakes are how you grow. We’re just anxious to get him started and get him out there and excited for what the future holds.”
Maddox Gibson was the quarterback of the undefeated junior varsity team last year and is also in the mix at quarterback.
The receiving corps will be led once again by one of the area’s fastest players Wyatt Vincent. The senior led Nixa with 639 yards and seven touchdowns receiving last season. He caught 24 total passes for an average of 26.6 yards per reception.
Keivon Flint will be another top target in his senior season. Last year, Flint played both ways but will focus on offense this season. He had eight receptions for 199 yards and a touchdown.
Baron Johnson will also play at receiver. Champ Porter will be a factor at tight end.
Defensively, senior Parker Mann returns after tallying 133 total tackles and 10 tackles for a loss on his way to a second-team all-conference selection at linebacker last season.
He will slide back to safety this season. He led the team with nine passes defended last season and two interceptions.
“He (Mann) has already taken over that leadership role,” Perry said. “He is a gem to coach because he goes so hard every single day. He is a great football player that is going to hold the others accountable by the way he plays, by his effort and by his tenacity. He’s going to be the bell cow of the defense.”
Randy Flint is also back in the secondary at cornerback after he was second on the team in passes defended with six as a sophomore.
“He (Randy Flint) is extremely athletic. He’s a six-foot kid that is off-the-chart fast, unbelievably gifted, and a big-time basketball player as well,” Perry said.
McCoy Sullivan and Braydon Parks will also see time at cornerback. Ty Kellis will factor in at safety.
The linebacking corps will be deep.
“We’re pretty stacked in the linebacker positions as far as we have a lot of bodies that we feel very comfortable with going out there and playing,” Perry said. “We probably have six or eight guys that we feel pretty good about.”
Senior Carter Fangrow returns to the football field at linebacker after not playing the past two seasons.
Jaden Russell, Morgan Thompson, Anthony Ramey, Zane Stewart, Dylan Johns and Weston Heppner are all potential factors at the second level at linebacker.
Up front, Nixa must replace the production of the graduated Jayden Antonelli who led the team with eight sacks last season. Adam Jedlicka and Kaden Kelley will be the players to watch at defensive end.
No one player will fully replace Antonelli’s production.
“Jayden Antonelli was phenomenal. It’s the reason why he’s at Army right now,” Perry said. “What we’ll do as a defense is generate more pressures, more stunts, more things to try to replace the productivity.”
Interior defensive linemen Peyton Covel and Aiden Sigman are two players who will also help replace that production.
“This year, their (Covel and Sigman) role is to eat up blockers, get off blocks, and make plays,” Perry said. “A lot of times if they’re not very talented, you just want them to eat up blocks and take up gaps and let linebackers run and make plays. But these two guys are athletic. They’re 6-foot-2, 275 (pounds) and athletic. We expect them to make plays. We want them to make tackles and get in the backfield and create havoc, and they have. As we’ve worked through summer, they’ve given us fits. We’re supposed to be pretty good on the offensive line, and those two guys have caused us some grief.”
Urban Arnold and Kaden Flood are also players to watch on the defensive line.
Braden Kahmke returns at kicker.
Nixa will jamboree at Kickapoo with the host Chiefs and Ozark before opening play in the new-look Central Ozark Conference on Aug. 30 against Class 5 state runner-up Republic. The last two meetings between Nixa and Republic have been decided by four total points.
While a conference championship is always a goal, Nixa has its eyes on a better playoff result this season.
“We are trying to figure out how to go 5-0 in the playoffs and win a state championship,” Perry said. “It is about us getting better as we go and playing our best football at the end of the season. And we didn’t feel like we did that last year. Last year I felt like we peaked a little early, and it cost us in that game with Rockhurst. Now, Rockhurst played great. I take nothing from Rockhurst, but I just didn’t feel like we gave them, as a competitor, our best effort. That’s something that we’ve spent a lot of time this offseason talking about.”
