In what could be his final game at Junge Field, Joplin senior running back Nathan Glades had a career night, and gave the home crowd a performance they will always remember.
Glades finished with six total touchdowns and 255 yards rushing on 31 carries on the way to leading the Eagles (4-4) back to .500 with a 45-24 win over Branson on Friday.
“I love the coaches, I love everybody on this team,” Glades said about his time with the Joplin football program. “I am proud of the way that we’ve shown up in practice all week. We’ve bounced back from being selfish to being a family again, and I am very proud of that. I hope we keep on doing it the family way.
“All week in practice, I made sure to do the little things right. This week, I made sure that I did everything I possibly could to help the team be where we need to be. That is what showed up on the field tonight.”
Glades, who suffered a knee sprain earlier in the season and fought his way back to the starting lineup, averaged an eye-popping 8.2 yards-per-carry on the evening. He scored twice in the second quarter, three times in the third and rounded out his night with another rushing score in the fourth.
“I am honestly excited about the way my knee has responded to the rehab,” Glades said. “That was a big maturity moment for me to see if I was going to be a good football player, or a great football player. I was proud of the way I matured and rehabbed the way I needed to instead of cutting corners.”
“I don’t know who is more dynamic in Southwest Missouri, or in much of the state,” Joplin coach Curtis Jasper said. “He is doing it not even at 100 percent. Just the heart that he has, and I know he gives all the credit to the guys up front because they work their tails off, he is definitely a dynamic player.”
“(Branson head coach Anthony) Hays was trying to talk me into resting him for districts before the game,” Jasper continued with a smile. “I told him, we have to get on a roll here, man. We have to get things going. We took the first step tonight.”
Joplin opened the game with possession and made the most of it, driving 58 yards on six plays that led to a 12-yard touchdown pass from Always Wright to Quinton Renfro on the wheel route to put the Eagles up 6-0 with 9:55 left in the first quarter.
“They came out in a defense that we hadn’t seen them run since we played them two years ago,” Jasper said. “I thought our offensive line did a real good job of handling that and making adjustments. Then, (Branson) went back to what we thought they were going to run, and we did a good job of handling that, too. I am really proud of the offensive line, the players and the offensive coaches as well for having our guys prepared.”
Glades had a 21-yard gain on fourth-down-and-1 and added a 14-yard gain on the next play to set up the score.
Branson followed with a long drive that ended up in a goal-to-go situation, but Jopin limited Branson to a 22-yard field goal by Cristian Berumen to trim the lead to 6-3 with less than two minutes left in the opening period.
“We just have to give 100 percent every play, every down,” senior linebacker Marcelino Puente said of the defensive effort in the win. “We can’t give up or let them get momentum. … (Tonight) was awesome. We needed this as a confidence boost. Now, we just have to keep it up.”
“We did a lot better job tonight of getting a lot of hats to the football, pushing the pile back and not letting their power and counter game get going,” Jasper said. “I think that was a big boost in this game.”
The first turnover of the game came shortly into the second quarter. Joplin’s defense forced the Pirates into a punt, which was misplayed on the other end by Glades and recovered by Branson. The Pirates took the lead, 10-7, after a 12-yard touchdown run by Tristan Pierce with 8:34 left in the second quarter.
“One big play can change the whole game,” Glades said of his miscue on the punt. “I decided not to let it get in my head. I let it make me mad, and use that as my fuel to get better. I am happy that I did that, but in practice this week, I am going to practice all week catching punts until I am so tired that I can’t anymore.”
Glades atoned for his special teams mistake, scoring from 9 yards out on the ensuing drive to put Joplin back on top 13-10 with 5:58 left in the half.
“That is one thing the offense has been really good at all year,” Jasper said. “Being able to come back from adversity to answer the bell. They did it again tonight, and did a really good job.”
Joplin’s defense earned a three-and-out stop, forcing the Pirates into a punt and the Eagles closed the second quarter with their best drive of the half. Taking possession at its own 5-yard line, Joplin marched 95 yards on 14 plays that culminated in a 1-yard touchdown run out of the tank formation by Glades with 27 seconds on the clock to put Joplin up 20-10 at the intermission.
“I am so proud of the way the defense played tonight,” Glades said. “Coaching was unbelievable, and the players were very coachable. I am proud of the way everyone was giving 100 percent effort, no matter what.”
The Eagles started the second half as hot as they finished the first, with the defense forcing a three-and-out and the offense complementing it with an eight-play drive that ended with a 1-yard touchdown run by Glades to push the lead to 27-10
“That was huge,” Jasper said of his team’s start to the second half. “We talked to them about that at halftime. The advantage to getting the ball first (to start the game) is you get some momentum. The disadvantage is you don’t get the ball coming out of halftime. We told them getting that stop out of halftime is going to be huge. We were able to convert it on the offensive side, and we felt that put pressure on them to go to the pass game more. Once they did that, Coach (Nick) Reid did a good job of making adjustments and bringing pressure from different spots. We were able to hit home on a lot of them.”
Glades found the end zone for the fourth time on a 15-yard run with 5:55 to play in the third, and after Branson answered with a 16-yard passing touchdown pass from Pierce to Colton Cooper, Glades picked up a head of steam from 8 yards out and finished off the run with a Superman dive into paydirt, surpassing the 200 rushing yards in the process, to give his Eagles a 39-17 advantage with 2:20 to play in the third.
“I thought every time that (Branson) fought back to find some life, we were able to come back and answer that and come back offensively,” Jasper said. “That is the sign of a good team. You need to close the door when you have the opportunity. I thought we were able to do that.”
Pierce scored from a yard out with 9:14 to play to cut Branson’s deficit to 39-24.
Matching the number he wears on his chest, Glades found the end zone for the sixth and final time on a 2-yard score, sealing the Joplin win, with 7:08 left in the fourth to wrap the scoring.
“A lot of teams, when they win the first half, they get into their head and think we have this game won,” Glades said of his team’s performance in the second half. “We still had 24 minutes left in the second half. We couldn’t let that happen. I am proud of the way we came out and responded in the second half by playing smash mouth football.”
STATS
Joplin gained 424 yards of offense on 63 carries. Wright completed 14-of-19 passes for 192 yards and a touchdown, and added three carries for 39 yards. Keaton Renfro caught three passes for 33 yards, while Trayshawn Thomas added three receptions for 46 yards. Landen Atherton led Joplin in receiving with four receptions for nine yards.
Branson gained 208 yards of offense on 58 plays. Pierce completed 15-of-24 passes for 194 yards. Berumen carried six times for seven yards, while Cooper caught three passes for 34 yards and a score. Brady Blackwell caught eight passes for 74 yards.
UP NEXT
Joplin wraps up the regular season with a road game at Neosho (0-8).
SCORING SUMMARY
Branson 3 7 7 7 — 24
Joplin 6 14 19 6 — 45
FIRST QUARTER
JHS—Quinton Renfro 12 pass from Always Wright (kick fail)
BHS—22 field goal from Cristian Berumen
SECOND QUARTER
BHS—Tristan Pierce 12 run (Berumen kick)
JHS—Nathan Glades 9 run (Keaton Huff kick)
JHS—Glades 1 run (Huff kick)
THIRD QUARTER
JHS—Glades 1 run (Huff kick)
JHS—Glades 15 run (kick fail)
BHS—Colton Cooper 16 pass from Pierce (Berumen kick)
JHS—Glades 8 run (run fail)
FOURTH QUARTER
BHS—Pierce 1 run (Berumen kick)
JHS—Glades 2 run (run fail)
