Remember, remember the fifth of November when second-seeded Joplin ousted third-seeded Nixa from Class 6 District 3 tournament with a 24-13 win in the semifinals at Junge Field.
After Joplin handed Nixa its first loss of the season on Sept. 3 in Week 2, it seems quite poetic that Joplin also gave Nixa its final loss of the season in the district semifinals on Friday.
In a low-scoring first half, Joplin (10-1) and Nixa (8-3) went into the intermission tied at 10-10. Nixa struck first in the second half with a field goal late in the third period only for Joplin to score 14 unanswered points on the way to victory.
“It was a huge win,” Joplin coach Curtis Jasper said. “Our kids played fantastic. All three phases of the game did an amazing job.”
Joplin advances and travels to face top-seeded Lee’s Summit North, which defeated fourth-seeded Raymore-Peculiar 21-14 in the other district semifinal matchup, in the Class 6 District 3 title game on Nov. 12. This is the third district title game appearance in four years for Joplin, and its first since 2019.
“We are in a really tough district, and we are very fortunate to playing for the championship,” Jasper said. “We knew whoever we faced, it was going to be a good team. But, that is Class 6 football all the way through. We relish that opportunity, and we relish that we get to spend seven more days together fighting for a common goal. We’re going to enjoy every moment of it.”
Joplin’s offense finished with 354 yards on 64 plays. Running back Quinton Renfro led Joplin’s offense with 106 yards rushing and a touchdown on 28 carries, while RB Drew VanGilder added nine carries for 38 yards and a touchdown. QB Always Wright had seven rushes for 85 yards and a touchdown, while completing 14-of-19 passes for 125 yards.
“Everyone kept asking me what the difference was going to be in this game,” Jasper said. “I thought it was going to come down to who was the more physical team. That started up front, and I thought both with our offensive and defense lines were more physical than theirs.”
Nixa came into the game scoring nearly 40 points a game, but was limited to 13 points and 300 yards of offense on 53 plays.
“We have an experienced defensive coordinator who knows what he is doing,” Joplin LB Robert Kelly said of DC Nick Reid and the game plan for Nixa. “We practiced this stuff all week. This is our defense. We are for real. We are the real deal.”
Nixa QB Connor Knatcal completed 22-of-35 passes for 242 yards, while Austin McCracken caught five passes for 30 yards. WR Kael Combs had six receptions for 86 yards, while RB Dylan Rebura finished with 34 rushing yards on nine carries.
GAME ACTION
Nixa took the initial lead on the opening possession when PK Kaleb James capped a 12-play drive with a 40-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead with 6:44 left in the opening period.
Joplin responded with a double-digit drive in return, marching 65 yards on 13 plays with VanGilder punching it in up the middle from 4 yards out to give his team a 7-3 lead with 2:25 left on the clock.
Nixa looked to make it two drives with points before Joplin came up with a goal-line stand at the start of the second quarter to hold on to the early lead.
Nixa went to the air during its second drive before Rebura picked up 9 yards on first down deep in Joplin territory to give NHS a second-down-and-1 from the JHS 3-yard line. Rebura was stuffed on two consecutive runs before the fourth-down pass fell incomplete.
“Nixa is a good team, and they did some really good thing offsensively,” Jasper said of his defense’s stop. “We didn’t give up the big play. We kept making them lineup and snap the ball again. It was huge. Hats off to the kids for making those plays and the coaching staff for preparing them.”
Nixa eventually regained the lead late in the first half when Knatcal hooked up with McCracken on a slant over the middle for a 12-yard touchdown to make the score 10-7 with 3:35 to play in the second period. The score capped a 13-play drive for Nixa that started at its own 29-yard line.
Joplin had enough time to drive down deep into Nixa territory before PK Joseph Ipsen tied the contest at 10-10 after knocking through a 28-yard field goal as time expired in the second period. His fifth make this season.
Nixa got on the board first in the second half when James connected for a 28-yard field goal to give NHS a 13-10 lead with 2:08 left in the third quarter. Joplin looked as if it forced a turnover just two plays earlier when Kelly came up with a strip sack, but it was called an incomplete pass despite the ball moving backwards after Kelly hit the quarterback.
Joplin eventually regained the lead when Renfro capped a four-minute drive with a rushing touchdown from a yard out to give JHS a 17-13 lead with 10 minutes left in the game.
Joplin’s defense forced Nixa into a turnover on downs near midfield with less than seven minutes to play, and the offense took advantage.
“We played fairly mistake free,” Jasper added about his defense. “It was a very clean game, and when you’re playing the caliber of teams such as Nixa, you have to play mistake-free ball, especially on the mental side.”
Joplin took possession at the Nixa 46 and bled the final six-plus minutes off the clock before Wright found room four a 4-yard touchdown on fourth-down and goal with three seconds remaining to ice the win.
“Offensively, they were going to try and keep a roof over us and limit our big plays,” Wright said. “We knew that coming in. It was really won in the trenches. The most physical team won. The defense played second to none tonight. I really appreciate our defense because they help out the offense a lot.”
