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.”
