NEOSHO, Mo. — Joplin ended the regular season in the win column after starting fast and never looking back against Neosho on the way to a 56-24 win on Friday in Week 9.
Riding another big night from running back Quin Renfro, the Eagles built a three-score lead by the intermission and traded scores with Neosho early in the second half before Joplin’s continued dominance on the ground and the defense’s pressure in the backfield put the game out of reach for the Wildcats.
“I was pretty happy overall,” Joplin coach Curtis Jasper said. “I thought there were still some things we need to work on, but we got off to a good start and executed well. Quin had another big night. Great job by the offensive line. The tight ends and skill guys did a great job blocking downfield. We were efficient in the pass game, really good on special teams and 100 percent on PATs and had good coverage on kickoffs. Defensively, other than the touchdown right before the half, I thought we played really well.”
DISTRICT UPDATE
Joplin wraps the regular season with a 6-3 record and is entrenched as the third seed in the Class 6 District 5 standings. The Eagles will have an off week before traveling to take on second-seeded Kickapoo (8-1).
“We are in a pretty good spot and will appreciate the bye week to get a little more healthy,” Jasper said. “Having the 2-3 matchup, we already know who we are going to play, so we get a little bit longer to prepare. We will start on that and get rolling with it.”
Neosho closes with a 1-8 record. The Wildcats are the seventh-seed in the Class 5 District 7 standings and will travel to take on second-seeded Raytown South next week.
“That is a really good football team that is getting healthy down the stretch, and they are going to be a tough matchup for anyone,” Neosho coach Brandon Taute said after the loss. “I thought our kids did a great job of battling all game long. There were a lot of points in that game where we could have just rolled over and called it a night, but they kept clawing to make it a game for four quarters.”
STATS
Joplin’s offense gained 565 yards on 61 plays (9.3 yards per play). Renfro rushed 33 times for 334 yards and scored five times in the win. QB Hobbs Gooch ran six times for 42 yards and a touchdown, while completing 7-of-12 passes for 130 yards and a touchdown. WR Jett Beal finished with two receptions for 69 yards and a touchdown.
“You could feel it building, starting with the CJ game and then these last two weeks,” Jasper said of Renfro’s effort. “He just keeps getting better and better. We just want to continue that through the playoffs.”
Neosho gained 356 yards of offense on 68 plays (5.3 ypp). QB Quenton Hughes completed 16-of-30 passes for 250 yards and a touchdown. RB Keisean Rhone rushed 19 times for 54 yards and a touchdown. WR Tyrone Harris caught five passes for 145 yards and a touchdown, while WR Hudson Williams caught nine passes for 88 yards.
GAME ACTION
After Joplin’s defense forced Neosho into a turnover-on-downs to open the game, the Eagles’ offense gave the Wildcats a heavy dose of Renfro on their first drive. Renfro took the first handoff of the possession 27 yards before adding a 29-yard run later in the series to set up a goal-line touchdown and a 7-0 lead over Neosho with 7:26 on the clock.
Neosho came up empty on its second series and Joplin put on another lengthy drive, milking the rest of the first quarter off the clock before Renfro punched it in from 2 yards out with 11:45 to play in the second period for a 14-0 lead.
Neosho used a long hookup from Hughes to Williams to get into the red zone for the first time midway through the second quarter with Juan Blancarte converting on a 31-yard field goal to cap the drive and cut Joplin’s lead to 14-3.
Joplin needed just two plays to answer in its ensuing possession, using a 62-yard pass from Gooch to Beal up the sideline for a 21-3 lead with 5:25 left in the first half.
“The nice thing about having weapons like Davin (Thomas), Aidan (Sampson), Whit (Hafer), Neil (Barstow) and Jett is they can’t just load up to stop Quin or we can throw it to those other options,” Jasper said. “Hobbs is also doing a nice job of being a threat in the run game and moving the chains when he needs to.”
Joplin got into the end zone for a fourth time in the first half when Renfro took a first-and-goal handoff from the 6 and looked for his opening before sprinting right past the goal line for a touchdown to give the Eagles a 28-3 lead with 1:09 left in the first half.
Neosho responded with a long passing score of its own when Hughes found Harris in the flat, with Harris taking the ball 48 yards to the house for a touchdown to cut the Wildcats’ deficit to 28-10 with six seconds to play before halftime.
“Joplin did a good job of bringing blitzes and pressuring (Quenton) through the first quarter and a half,” Taute said. “Once we were able to see it better and start picking those things up, we started settling in and Q started doing what he does at quarterback. Tyrone Harris and Hudson Williams both played outstanding and were unguardable at times. If we can continue to do that down the stretch in districts, then we are going to be in good shape.”
Joplin took possession to start the second half and used a 41-yard rush from Renfro to set himself up for a 3-yard touchdown to make the score 35-10 with 10:34 to play in the third quarter.
Neosho answered back with a 51-yard deep ball from Hughes to Harris to set up a 1-yard rushing score from WR Brody Crane to trim Joplin’s lead to 35-17 with 9:15 on the clock.
A 20-yard run from Renfro on Joplin’s next possession set up a 6-yard rushing score on a keeper by Gooch to put Joplin on top 42-17 with 5:55 left in the third.
Neosho drove down inside the 15 on its next drive before Hughes was stopped short of the first-down marker on a fourth-down scramble to turn the ball over on downs.
Joplin responded and ultimately put the game out of reach after Renfro picked up gains of 16, 24, 17 and 19 yards to get a drive that started at the Joplin 5-yard line down inside the red zone at the other end of the field. Renfro finished off the drive later after taking the wildcat snap across the goal line from a yard out to make the score 49-17 with 9:53 left in the game.
Neosho added a late touchdown on a short-yardage run from Rhone before Joplin’s final score came in the form of a 2-yard rush from RB Kaden Gilmore.
