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Day: August 25, 2022

FOOTBALL PREVIEW: With several new faces in the starting lineup, Joplin is ready to build on last year’s success

Posted on by Lucas Davis

Coming off a 10-2 season a year ago that saw an 8-1 regular season end in a loss in the district title game, Joplin football will look to once again compete in an always-daunting Central Ozark Conference with several new faces in the starting lineup on both sides of the ball. 

“The plan is to plug the next guys in and keep rolling,” Joplin coach Curtis Jasper said when asked about the difficulties that come with roster turnover. “Obviously, it’s early and we have a lot of guys who are on the field now that didn’t see a whole lot of time last year. We are learning. The good news is that this group is really coachable and they really care. We will have some growing pains here and there but, ultimately, I think we have a chance to be a really good team.”

Joplin WR Terrance Gibson (10) returns for his senior season with the Eagles.

The Eagles welcome back eight starters, five on offense, two on defense and kicker Joseph Ipsen. Offensively, Joplin returns senior RB Drew VanGilder, senior WR Terrance Gibson, who earned first-team all-conference, area and district honors last season, junior OL Dontrell Holt, who was first-team all conference, area and district as well as second-team all-state, junior RB Quin Renfro and junior WR Aiden Sampson. Of course, with the graduation of Always Wright, the Eagles will have a new quarterback this season—junior Hobbs Gooch—who saw varsity action late last season.

“Majority of the guys we return on offense are skill guys,” Jasper said. “That is good to have. Dontrell is a tremendous leader to have on the offensive line.”

Players looking to make an impact on varsity this season on offense include junior TE Whit Hafer, junior RB Chavis Coleman, senior WR Isaiah Knoderer, senior ATH Orion Norris and sophomore ATH Davin Thomas.

With Holt the lone returning offensive lineman at left tackle, the Eagles will need the new faces to gel quickly as they accrue varsity snaps in the early portions of the season. The good news is Coach Jasper has seen positive progression already to this point through the offseason and preseason. Alongside Holt will be junior Dejuan Clark at LG, senior Rashaun Hill at C, junior Cadyn Taylor-Wise at RG and senior Jude Jimerson at RT.

“They want to be good and they know it takes a lot of hard work to get there,” Jasper said about the o-line. “They are on that path.”

Senior LB Draven VanGilder, a first-team all-COC selection, is one of two starting linebackers returning to the Joplin defense.

The defensive side of the ball will see the most transition for the Eagles, who return a pair of linebackers—senior Draven VanGilder, who finished with 168 tackles as a junior with first-team all-conference, area and district honors, and junior Jonathan Williams. Though he has nine new starters on defense, Jasper is thankful for the two returning linebackers because he views that position as the quarterback on that side of the ball.

“Not only are they tremendous linebackers and football players, they are tremendous human beings and tremendous leaders as well,” Jasper said. “We are very fortunate that if we are going to return two, we return those two to the heart of our defense. It’s nice having those two back. … Defense is all about watching film and understanding tendencies. Those two understand that and are doing a great job of helping everyone else get up to speed.”

The defensive line figures to be made up by senior DE Luke Smith, senior DT Luke Gunn with sophomore Keshawn Peavler at NT. In the second level, the Sam LB spot will see rotations alongside Draven VanGilder at Mike and Williams on the Will side. Senior Bennett Dall will man one of the CB spots in the secondary with the other corner spot and both safety positions in position battles. 

“Once the snap happens, it’s just about playing football,” Jasper added about the defense. “Playing with a lot of speed and effort, getting 11 hats to the football, tackling and being physical up front.

Coach Jasper acknowledged that with so many new faces starting at the varsity level that there may be growing pains. The comfort comes with knowing the culture that has been built over the last several seasons along with the leadership he has inside the locker room makes him believe it won’t take long for them to get their feet under them.

Joplin kicker Joseph Ipsen returns to the Eagles this season for his senior year.

“As long as we show up every day and have great attitudes, give great efforts and be great teammates, I truly believe everything else will take care of itself,” Jasper said. “The thing I like most about football is if it is done right, it will give you great life tools. We know there is a lot of adversity in life and there is going to be adversity during the football season. As long as we work with each other, be good teammates and do the little things right, we’ll be alright.”

After opening up against Webb City the last two seasons, Joplin will have a new Week 1 opponent—Branson. The Eagles host the Pirates at 7 p.m. on Friday at Junge Field.

“We got the ball rolling here and have a bit of a tradition built,” Jasper said on the season outlook. “We play in a great stadium and we represent a great community and the greatest high school in the universe. We are going to do everything we can to represent all of those people to the best of our ability.”

FOOTBALL PREVIEW: College Heights set for inaugural season

Posted on by Jason Peake

 

College Heights Christian School is set to debut its 8-man football team.

The Cougars are scheduled to open their inaugural season against North Shelby at 7 on Friday night at St. Joseph Christian.

College Heights coach Travis Burk noted his squad is thrilled to kickoff the season.

“I think we’re as ready as we can be,” Burk said. “North Shelby was a top-four team in the state last year. It’s our opening game and it’s going to be a tough game. We’ll need to play well. But I expect our kids to get after it. And we’ll find out where we are.” 

Burk said the team has made steady progress during preseason practices.

“We’re learning a lot,” said Burk, who has previous head coaching experience at Oswego and Humboldt in Kansas. “I think the kids are learning something new every day. We’ve got 22 kids out, and for 12 of them it’s been the first time they’ve ever put on a football helmet. They’re getting better and learning a lot. It’s been a journey. It’s been a lot different than other programs I’ve taken over. We started from scratch.”

College Heights football coach Travis Burk (left) is pictured with CHC athletics director Phillip Jordan. Courtesy photo.

The Cougars competed at a jamboree in St. Joseph last Friday.

“I thought we looked pretty good for our first time out,” Burk said. “We didn’t make a lot of mistakes. Overall, it went pretty good.” 

Burk said sophomore Logan Decker is the team’s starting quarterback. 

“He’s a smart kid and very athletic,” Burk said, noting that Decker is a dual threat. 

Junior Colsen Dickens is slated to start at running back.

“He’s a great kid and is athletic,” Burk said. “He can play receiver, too.”

Junior Caleb Quade is a wide receiver.

“He’s about 6-4 or 6-5,” Burk noted. “He can jump and he runs well.”

Derrick McMillan, a senior, is another wide receiver. 

“He’s quick and explosive,” Burk noted.

Sophomore Levi Durling is a player who can contribute at both running back and receiver, while freshman Cannon Miller is another option at receiver. 

Senior Curtis Davenport (6-5, 235) is expected to anchor the offensive and defensive line.

“He’s very strong,” Burk said. “It looks like he’ll be an offensive guard and a defensive end for us.”

Matt Williams, a junior, is a player Burk expects to contribute at linebacker and on the offensive line. 

Junior Kyson Miller is the starting center and a defensive lineman. Noah Hipple, a senior, is another player who will start on both sides up front. Sophomore Caleb Hipple is a nose guard.

“There are several other kids who will get some playing time,” Burk said, adding several freshmen could be in the mix. 

College Heights has three home dates scheduled — Sept. 9 vs. Greenfield, Sept. 23 against Appleton City and Sept. 30 vs. Norborne. The home games will be played at Joplin High School. 

With the program’s first-ever game arriving on Friday night, Burk noted he and the players are thankful for the opportunity to make College Heights proud. 

“We’ve got great kids,” Burk said. “They work hard, and they ask questions and want to learn. They’re coming in before school to get their lifting in. I’ve got some great assistant coaches (Andrew Campbell, Kaden Decker, John Lucas). The administration has backed us and our parents have been wonderful. And I think we’re going to do some good things this season.”

 

2022 SCHEDULE

https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=574&alg=21

FOOTBALL PREVIEW: Carl Junction ready to compete in 2022 behind several returning starters

Posted on by Lucas Davis

While the 3-7 record from a year ago might not show it, Carl Junction had a very competitive season a year ago with plenty of experience coming back to make an impact for the 2022 campaign.

“We faced a lot of adversity throughout the entire year and that is one of the most important things young people can experience,” Carl Junction coach Doug Buckmaster said. “Being able to learn from an and push through adversity, and I think we learned a lot of lessons a year ago. I think that will carry over into this season. It’s game week, but we’ve already had to deal with adversity this year with a key player going down. So, we will find out how we rise to the occasion, keep fighting and keep competing and preparing. Fortunately for this year, we have a little more depth, so hopefully we can overcome that key loss. I am pleased with how the kids have handled themselves the entire summer and it’s just about game time.”

The Bulldogs return seven starters on the offensive side of the ball: junior quarterback Dexter Merrell, senior RB/DB Chance Benford, sophomore RB Tony Stewart, senior wide receivers Ayden Bard and Nathan Planchon, junior wide receiver Kyler Stewart and senior offensive lineman Rose Craig. 

“We have Dexter Merrell back there at quarterback and we have a few key wide receivers back on the offense as well,” Buckmaster said. “Where we have inexperience is up front on the offensive line. We do have a returning starter there in Ross Craig who is a tremendous football player for us. He was our center last year, but he is going to move out and play left tackle. 

“With the type of kids at the skill position that we have this year, we feel like we have an opportunity to be a little bit more explosive than we were a year ago. We have really focused on improving our running game. We don’t want to line up and throw it 40 times a game. We want to be more balanced, or even more top heavy running the football. … We have three or four kids who can rotate at running back, and they also play defense, so we are trying to get better at platooning than we have been the last couple of years. 

Newcomers to the offense who are expected to make an impact on the varsity level include junior RT/DE Aidan Beachner, senior OG Josh McDermott and junior OG Pason Winder and junior C Dylan Robbins.

The focus for the offensive side of the ball for the Bulldogs, who base in multiple spread, will be taking care of the football. With Carl Junction playing several opponents tough last season, particularly in the first half of games, making sure to limit the game-altering mistakes on offense will be crucial to take the next step.

“The last three weeks of the football season, I have never had a team turn the football over as much as we did a year ago,” Buckmaster said. “It was unbelievable in the number of ways we turned it over the last three weeks. We talked about dealing with adversity, that is just another thing we are going to have to overcome. We have to value the football, and that’s been an emphasis. If you can’t take care of the football, you can’t play. … Hopefully, all of that is past us. We have focused on doing all of the little things right.”

Carl Junction is also returning eight starters to the defensive side of the ball, with Bard, Kyler Stewart and Tony Stewart all coming back in the defensive backfield. Benfield and senior Arlen Wakefield return at outside linebacker, while juniors Johnny Starts and Bentley Rowden are back at linebacker. On the defensive line, senior ends Braxton Dodds and Cayden Bolinger also return. Both will see time at TE on offense as well.

“We expect a lot of good things out of our defense because we return as many starters as we do,” Buckmaster. “The young man who we will leave nameless right now that was injured in the jamboree also started on the defensive side of the ball, so he will be tough to replace. Fortunately we have the depth we didn’t have a year ago, so hopefully someone will step up to do a good job to fill his shoes.”

Some new faces looking to contribute on varsity this year are senior DT Donnie Keith and senior DE/NT Wyatt Ausborn.

The Bulldogs open their season with a road matchup against Ozark on Aug. 26.

“Young men everywhere who are playing high school football in the state of Missouri are excited this week,” Buckmaster said ahead of Week 1. “These kids do a great job for you through the school year with strength and condition, during the summer when they get done what you need done and, now, here we are to this point. It’s payday.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: We are aware of the injury to the Carl Junction player in the jamboree. We decided not to mention/focus on the injury out of respect for the player and Coach Buckmaster.

FOOTBALL PREVIEW: Continuing culture shift a focus for Neosho in 2022

Posted on by Lucas Davis

As Neosho coach Brandon Taute heads into his second season at the helm of the Wildcats, his focus continues to circle around shifting the culture of the past in a positive direction.

“We have taken huge steps forward as a team,” Taute said. “Being able to have them in the weight room for an entire year and having a full offseason program, we’ve been able to get our culture and standards entrenched in the kids. We’ve made huge steps in that regard and are leaps and bounds ahead of where we were a year ago.”

Though Neosho finished with a 1-9 record last season, the Wildcats did see an 18-game losing streak come to an end with a win over Willard in October. With a year in the system for the returning Wildcats, Taute has already seen vast improvements from this time a year ago.

“I am extremely excited,” Taute said. “We’ve got a good group of kids who have been working really hard and have done a ton in the offseason, a lot of team-building stuff. I have gotten to know these kids a lot more than I did a year ago. So, I am excited to watch them go out there to compete and have some success.”

Neosho returns 11 starters back to the varsity squad, with eight of them coming along the offensive side of the ball.

“Having those kids back is huge because they have the experience of playing under the Friday night lights and you can’t replicate that no matter what you do,” Taute said. “For those kids to have played in those moments, that is going to give them an advantage. And, we are going to have a lot of young kids out there who are going to need to lean on those kids with experience who have been through it. We are going to count on those returners to be leaders and to teach the new kids, take them under their wings a little bit and get them ready for the moment.”

Offensively, the Wildcats welcome back junior QB Quenton Hughes, senior RB Jared Siler, senior WR Isaiah Green, senior WR Collyn Kivett, senior WR Brock Franklin, junior WR Cade Camerer, senior OL Carter Baslee and junior OL William Velasco.

“It’s not very often you bring back all of your skill guys on offense,” Taute said. “Getting all of that experience back is huge for an offense, especially when it’s still a new system to everybody. … We just understand the offense a lot better, so we are going to be able to do a little bit more than what we were able to do last year in terms of throwing in some wrinkles and adjustments for games. We are going to be able to execute at a higher level.” 

On defense, Neosho returns a starter at every level in senior DL Nico Olivares, junior LB Zak Goff and senior DB Aiden Howell. Of course, with only three returning starters on the defensive side of the ball, there may be some growing pains early as players gain their footing under the Friday night lights. That is where the luxury of having experience at each level of the defense pays off.

“We have a lot of new faces on the defense,” Taute said. “But, they all have somebody they can go to, a leader, that has played that position or someone they can turn to for knowledge or answers on the field. We will do the best we can to prepare them for that moment but at the end of the day, it’s the 11 guys on the field that matter.

“We just want to get better every week on defense. We’ve been preaching to rally to the football, play with high energy and be physical. If we can do those three things, we are going to have success.”

Neosho opens the season hosting Willard at 7 p.m. on Friday.

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