LAST WEEK:Nixa 49, Carl Junction 0; Webb City 48, Ozark 13
LAST YEAR: Carl Junction, 56-20
OUTLOOK:Carl Junction and Ozark are both coming off forgettable losses and will be wanting to head into the postseason with some momentum.
Carl Junction’s Brady Sims rushed 16 times for 45 yards against Nixa, and quarterback Alex Baker completed 12 of 29 passes for 93 yards and four interceptions.
Tylr Bolin led Ozark with 137 yards and touchdown, with a fumble, against Webb City. Cannon Cox also had a rushing touchdown and a fumble to go along with 64 yards on the ground on 13 carries.
LAST WEEK: Carthage 63, Republic 29; Nixa 49, Carl Junction 0
LAST YEAR: Carthage, 35-0
OUTLOOK: Carthage rolled over Republic last week and looks to remain perfect in the regular season finale against Nixa. This game has big COC implications. If Carthage wins, they are conference champs.
Last week, Carthage racked up 598 yards of total offense, with 530 of those coming on the ground. Gall finished with 177 rushing yards on 15 carries, while senior quarterback Patrick Carlton added 18 carries for 224 yards, on top of six-of-eight passing attempts for 68 yards. The pair each accounted for four touchdowns.
Reid Pitts completed 6-of-9 passes for 81 yards and two touchdowns. Ramone Green led Nixa on the ground with 15 carries for 108 yards and a touchdown.
As Joplin heads into its season finale, traveling to Bob Anderson Stadium to take on Neosho, Coach Curtis Jasper is looking for consistency from his Eagles as they look to build on top of last week’s win over Branson before heading into the postseason.
“(Consistency) has been our biggest Achilles’ heel all year long,” Joplin coach Curtis Jasper said. “We can have things rolling, and then we can shoot ourselves in the foot. We just have to continue to play smart, minimize the penalties and win the turnover battle. That’s what we need to do to keep building that momentum.”
One of the biggest keys for the Eagles in terms of carrying over the success from last week against the Pirates to this week against the Wildcats will be complimentary football. That aspect showed up in a big way in the middle of the win over Branson.
“When we get a turnover or a big stop defensively, I think that really gets the team going,” said Jasper.
With Joplin leading 13-10 with 3:58 left in the second quarter, the Eagle defense forced Branson into a three-and-out punt, its first of the game, and the Joplin offense rewarded the other side of the ball with a 14-play, 95-yard drive that led to a 1-yard rushing score by Nathan Glades, who finished the night with 250 rushing yards and six touchdowns, with 27 seconds left in the half to push the lead to 20-10.
“If you would have asked me how many yards he had at the end of the game, I wouldn’t have said 250,” Jasper said of Glades’ performance. “It was kind of a quiet 250, if that’s even possible. He had a great game, and we are continuing to look at building that momentum.”
On the next defensive possession, the Eagles again forced the Pirates into a quick punt, and again the Joplin offense crossed the goal line on its ensuing possession with a 1-yard run from Glades to push the lead to 27-10 with 8:06 left in the third.
Joplin took full control of the game with a third straight three-and-out series on defense followed by an offensive drive ending in a 15-yard touchdown run from Glades to put the Eagles on top 33-10 with 5:55 to play in the third.
“I felt like we did a good job of getting better last week defensively,” Jasper said. “We just want to keep building on that. … There are always going to be ups and downs in a game, but if you get out to a good start, it gives you confidence.”
LOOKING AHEAD TO NEOSHO
Joplin (4-4) is on the road for its final regular season contest of the year, taking on Neosho (0-8) on Friday at 7 p.m.
Neosho is not shy about changing up their offensive look in order to find success on that side of the ball. Knowing they may be facing multiple offensive sets and formations, it will be important for the Joplin defense to find success in its base formation.
“Alignment and assignment, if we get aligned and understand what they are trying to do, I think we can play fast and confidently on defense,” said Jasper. “We have to play our game and focus on what we do in order to get better.”
The Wildcats typically run a 3-3 cover three or 3-4 cover four on the defensive side of the ball. Neosho will blitz, but not nearly as much as the Eagles saw last week in the win over Branson.
“We have to have our eyes up and understand what their responsibilities are out of each look,” Jasper said. “We have to stay true to our zone (blocking scheme) and win the battle up front.”
Of course, heading into the final regular season game of 2020, the Eagles are looking to win consecutive games for the first time all year. As Coach Jasper puts it, he wants his team to put a good on top of a good heading into the postseason.
“We have to come out ready to play from the opening kickoff and set the tone early,” Jasper said. “We haven’t won two games in a row this season, and we desperately need to do that. If we can establish the tone, our pace and our brand of football early, I think that is going to go a long way.”
DISTRICT STANDINGS
Joplin currently holds the fifth seed in the Class 6 District 3 standings, with a road matchup against fourth-seeded Lee’s Summit West currently looming. There is a chance for Joplin to host a home game to open the playoffs, but it would take a solid win over Neosho with some help by other teams in the districts, including Lee’s Summit North defeating Lee’s Summit West this week.
“It would be huge to be able to play at Junge again,” Jasper said. “But honestly, as long as we continue to improve, attack this week the correct way mentally and come out doing the things we need to, it really doesn’t matter to me how districts shake out.”
Neosho holds the sixth seed in the Class 5 District 6 standings, with a matchup against top-seeded Webb City (7-1) on the horizon.
ONE GAME AT A TIME
If you have ever talked with Coach Jasper and asked him about upcoming matchups down the road, you wouldn’t get very far. His focus, as well as his team’s focus, is always on the next game on the schedule. You can be certain Joplin will not look past Neosho, not with so much on the line. The Eagles are playing for back-to-back wins for the first time this season, momentum heading into the postseason and a chance at hosting a district playoff game. When asked if this was the most important game of the season, Coach Jasper didn’t hesitate.
“Absolutely,” Jasper said. “We talked about that with the guys Saturday morning. … I told them to understand what we have in front of us and what the task is at hand. I said everyone in town is going to be talking to you about districts-this and districts-that. We need to take care of business this week to be successful moving forward. We cannot overlook an opponent or start thinking about other things.”
WE MADE IT
At the start of the season, many of the area coaches and their staffs had no idea how long the 2020 season would last. Many thought a game, or maybe a month before COVID-related issues would shut everything down. Yet, here we are in the last week of the regular season. Make no mistake, everyone is appreciative of the opportunity to still be playing football this season.
“If you would have talked to me, especially in April in May, or modified summer stuff, none of us were really sure,” Jasper said. “I remember being on a zoom meeting with the coaches from the Coaches Association, and there were ideas of delaying the start and shortening the season to six games to try to hopefully get to districts. There were guys who wanted to start at the normal time and get as many games as we could. If you would have taken a poll of that Zoom meeting on how many thought we would get to play a full season, it would probably be less than 50 percent.”
CARTHAGE, Mo. — Carthage suffered a 3-0 (25-22, 25-16, 25-13) loss to Nixa on Thursday night in Central Ozark Conference volleyball action, but Tigers coach Bradyn Webb was far from disappointed.
Webb noted she was pleased with her team’s performance.
“We played our best volleyball tonight,” Webb said. “Nixa ran the quickest offense we have seen all year and we struggled with that in the first set. This game made us so much better and more prepared for districts. We continue to get better with every game we are playing. Our girls are peaking at the right time.”
Sydnee Dudolski slammed 10 kills and had 10 digs to lead the Tigers, while Chloe Black handed out 21 assists and had seven digs.
Grace Schriever had seven kills, while Grace Pickering had five kills. Rylee Anderson had 11 digs, while Olivia Bourgault contributed nine digs. Sophie Shannon had three solo blocks.
Second-seeded Carthage takes on third-seeded Joplin at 5 on Wednesday in a semifinal contest of the Class 5 District 12 tournament at Carthage High School. In the regular-season meeting, Carthage defeated Joplin 3-0 (25-14, 25-20, 27-25).
Wednesday’s semifinal winner advances to meet either No. 1 Lee’s Summit West or No. 4 Raymore-Peculiar at 7 in the championship match.
Though Joplin defeated McDonald County 8-0 during the Joplin Invitational soccer tournament less than two weeks ago, it didn’t deter the Mustangs from challenging the Eagles on Thursday.
Joplin (8-12) and McDonald County (9-8) took a scoreless match into the second half before the Eagles struck in the 48th minute. Joplin added a late goal in stoppage time to seal the 2-0 win over the Mustangs.
“We’ve got another week or so before districts and I think this was the style of play we are wanting to see going into districts,” Joplin coach Josh Thompson said. “It was a good step for us. We didn’t concede any goals and that is something we are trying to work on.”
“We played great,” McDonald County coach Nathan Haikey said. “We played them here two weeks ago in their tournament and they just ran it to us. We were able to regroup, and we are playing better soccer here as we head into districts. We just need to get more shots on target and in the box.”
Joplin played much of the first half on offense, but had little to show for it. It wasn’t from lack of effort or opportunities, though, as McDonald County freshman goalie Tomas De La Cruz had several fantastic saves through the first 40 minutes of action.
“We graduated two senior goalkeepers last year,” Haikey said. “We had two incoming freshmen that we didn’t really know who they were. But, we were fortunate to find them. Tomas had a couple really great saves in the first half.”
“We came into it with the main focus being just how we move as a team, allowing the goals to come,” Thompson said of his team’s play in the first half. “Unfortunately, in the first half, the goals didn’t come just yet. There was some good goalkeeping and some unlucky hits on our end. We had the opportunities we wanted to, but we were forcing some things that weren’t necessarily there. We were happy with how we played in the first half.”
With McDonald County in possession near midfield, Joplin’s Andrew Taylor stole the ball from a Mustang and fought off pressure as he dribbled down the field before firing a shot to the bottom, right corner, finding the back of the net in the eighth minute of the second half to put Joplin up 1-0.
“I love to see that from a team captain,” Thompson said. “We asked him the last game to start out playing defense. It is something we are trying to work with him on because he is used to attacking. We moved him into a more familiar role in the second half, and he got a goal out of it.”
Taylor struck again late in stoppage time, giving himself and the Eagles a pair of goals in the win.
“Our big thing is showing that whenever we are moving together, and we are defending first, goals are still going to happen,” Thompson said. “It was good to see them get that goal there late just because the boys deserved more goals than what the scoreboard showed.”
DISTRICT MATCHUP SET
The Class 4 District 12 matchups are set, with fourth-seeded Joplin taking on top-seeded Nixa at 5 p.m. on Nov. 2.
“We’ve gotten to play Nixa before,” Thompson said. “It’s going to be a lot of film study to see what worked and what didn’t. … We are optimistic going into the district game that we’ve got a pretty good shot to get a win.”
WEBB CITY, Mo. — Faced with a win-or-go-home scenario, the Webb City Cardinals used painful memories of past postseason exits as extra motivation.
And with plenty of incentive to put the heartbreaking setbacks of years past behind them, the Cardinals simply rose to the occasion in order to keep their stellar season alive.
And now, for the first time in seven years, the Cardinals are in the semifinal round of the Missouri state softball tournament.
With a solid overall performance, Webb City earned a 7-3 win over Bolivar in a Class 4 quarterfinal on a windy Thursday at Webb City High School.
“I’m so proud of these girls,” Cardinals coach Shauna Friend said. “They’ve worked so hard all year to get to the Final Four. I couldn’t be more proud.”
The Cardinals (26-5) advanced to Saturday’s semifinals, where they’ll play at Platte County (21-1), with gametime set for 2 p.m. in Platte City.
“It’s an amazing feeling to be going to the Final Four,” Webb City senior center fielder Alyssa Jennings said. “I couldn’t be any happier. This is what we wanted all year.”
Webb City last advanced to the semifinal round in 2013, a year that saw the Cardinals fall in the championship game to Lee’s Summit.
Webb City fell short of its ultimate goal the past three years, falling in the sectional round last fall, in a district championship game in 2018 and in the quarterfinals in ’17.
This year, the Cardinals got over the hump.
“We fell short the last three years, so winning this game means everything to me,” Webb City senior Haidyn Berry said, noting the extra motivation. “It feels good to win, and it feels even better to win like that. This is what we’ve been working for since August. I’m excited.”
Ranked first in Class 4, Webb City beat sixth-ranked Bolivar 2-1 on Sept. 14. The rematch wasn’t as close, as Webb City scored the game’s first five runs to take control early.
The visitors on the scoreboard, the Cardinals pushed across a single tally in the top of the first inning. Peyton Hawkins reached on an error and then went to third when the Liberators couldn’t corral a hard grounder off the bat off Jennings.
The miscues in the field cost the Liberators, and Hawkins’ aggressive baserunning paid off, as she scored a few pitches later on a passed ball.
“That was excellent baserunning,” Friend said. “She took advantage of a mistake. At this point of the season, you have to take everything you can get.”
Peyton Hawkins scores the first run of the game on Thursday. Photo by Israel Perez.
While Berry kept Bolivar’s bats silent, Webb City added three runs in the game-changing third inning. With one out, Berry launched a solo home run to right field.
The Cardinals weren’t done. Hawkins walked, Jennings singled to left and then Kaylyn Gilbert was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Emalee Lamar recorded a run-scoring ground out and Hannah Wells followed with a sharp two-run single through the right side, giving the Cardinals a comfortable 5-0 lead.
“We put some hits together and did what we needed to do,” Berry said of the big inning.
Bolivar got on the board in the bottom half of the fourth when pitcher Katie Brooks homered to center.
Webb City got the run back in the top of the fifth. Jennings drew a one-out walk and Gilbert reached on an infield single. Lamar then came up big with an RBI single into left, making it 6-1.
“I’m extremely proud of the offense,” Friend said. “They made things happen. The girls did a good job.”
The Liberators pulled within three in the sixth when Brooks reached on an error before Avery McClure smacked a two-run home run over the fence in left.
Webb City added an insurance run in the seventh when Jennings singled and later charged home on Wells’ ground out, giving the hosts a 7-3 cushion.
Bolivar threatened in the bottom of the seventh, as Ashton Lynn singled and Jadyn Hamilton walked, putting two on with no outs. That resulted in a meeting in the circle. Whatever was said worked, as Berry retired the next three batters.
After striking out Shae Smith to end the game, Berry jumped into the arms of her catcher Gilbert and the Cardinals celebrated a historic win in front of a large hometown crowd.
“It’s awesome to get a victory like that,” Berry said. “We came out and we played ball today.”
Berry hiked her pitching record to 24-5. The right-hander scattered four hits, walked one and struck out 11. Berry tossed 81 pitches and threw a first-pitch strike to 24 of 27 batters.
“She’s been on a great run and she’s throwing some of her best stuff right now,” Friend said. “I’m sure she didn’t like giving up those home runs, but she threw a great game against a good team.”
Jennings, Gilbert and Wells had two hits apiece for the Cardinals.Wells drove in three and Lamar had two RBI. Jennings scored three runs.
A right-hander who has committed to play for the Kansas Jayhawks, Brooks was charged with the loss. Brooks, who threw 150 pitches, struck out 14. Bolivar ended the season with a record of 16-7.
Haidyn Berry delivers a pitch to the plate against Bolivar on Thursday during Webb City’s quarterfinal win. Photo by Israel Perez.
CROWD SUPPORT
The Cardinals noted they had amazing crowd support for the contest, as the entire area surrounding the softball field was packed.
“This was the biggest crowd we’ve ever had,” Jennings said. “We had so much support behind us. We wanted to show them that we can go all the way.”
“It was awesome,” Berry added. “We play for the community and we play for the little kids that come out and watch us play. And playing for my family and my teammates and coaches means everything to me.”
“We had a lot of support and this is a great community,” Friend said. “I’m thankful we have so much support.”
ALL ALONE IN SECOND PLACE
The third-inning blast was Berry’s 17th home run of the season. That puts her all alone in second in the state record books for homers in a season. Carlie Sanders of Hillsboro hit 21 in 2017.
As a team, Webb City has now hit 45 homers this season, which is good for second all-time (Hillsboro hit 52 in ’17).
Webb City’s Bri Batson hauls in a pop fly on Thursday against Bolivar. Photo by Israel Perez.
SEMIFINAL IS SATURDAY
Platte County defeated Grain Valley 3-1 to advance.
Saturday’s other semifinal features Webster Groves (14-2) at Rockwood Summit (11-3). The semifinal winners meet in the championship game on Oct. 29 at Killian Softball Complex in Springfield.
Friend noted her squad will be ready to go on Saturday.
“This group is amazing,” Friend said. “They just need to play with confidence and stay calm. The Final Four is a great place to be. The girls are pretty darn excited about it and the coaches are, too. We’ll get back to work tomorrow and get ready for Saturday.”
Webb City coach Shauna Friend high-fives Peyton Hawkins during Thursday’s game. Photo by Israel Perez.
Webb City senior Alyssa Jennings rounds third base and heads for home during Thursday’s quarterfinal win over Bolivar. Photo by Israel Perez.
Second baseman Shea’lee Key fields a grounder on Thursday. Photo by Israel Perez.
Last week: Willard beat Neosho 27-20 in OT; Webb City defeated Ozark 48-13.
Last year: Webb City beat Willard twice in 2019, 49-21 (regular season) and 49-14 (playoffs).
OUTLOOK: Ranked second in Class 5 by the Missouri Media, the Cardinals will look to end the regular season with an eighth straight victory. A win should also lock up the top seed in the district for the Cardinals.
Last year’s Class 4 state champion, Webb City has outscored its opponents 311-113 this season. The Cardinals average 335 rushing and 66 passing yards per game. Senior running back Devrin Weathers has rushed for 1,074 yards this season, with a 134 per game average. Weathers has scored 17 touchdowns. Dupree Jackson (506 yards) and Cole Gayman (427 yards) are other running threats. A senior QB, Gayman has also passed for 485 yards with four TDs. Senior tight end Gary Clinton caught four passes for 120 yards last week. Cohl Vaden and Mekhi Garrard have hauled in TD passes this fall.
Leaders of the Webb City defense include Treghan Parker (60 tackles, three INT) Lucas Ott (56 tackles), Matt McDaniel (52 tackles, four sacks) and Brayden Hollingsworth (46 tackles, three sacks). Ott left last week’s game with an injury.
Willard picked up its second win of the season last Friday. The Tigers compiled 267 yards of offense against the Wildcats. Owen Bushnell ran for 115 yards and two touchdowns, while Kanin Keller added 79 rushing yards. Quarterback Tyler Janes completed 6-of-11 passes for 60 yards.
Willard has been outscored 270-120 this season. Webb City coach John Roderique noted he’s reminding his players that Willard defeated Joplin. Of course, the Eagles are the lone team to hand Webb City a loss this season.
