NEOSHO, Mo. — The Neosho Wildcats evened their record at 3-3 overall and Central Ozark Conference with a 50-31 Homecoming win Friday night against the Branson Pirates at historic Bob Anderson Stadium.
Very late in the first half, Neosho took a 29-17 halftime lead when Quenton Hughes found Isaiah Green quickly over the middle and Green tossed it to Siler on the hook and ladder for a 48-yard touchdown as time expired.
An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty moved Neosho 15 yards back on the extra point and Juan Blancarte made it from nearly 35 yards out.
To open the second half, Neosho senior offensive lineman Carter Baslee came through with another huge special teams play, recovering a pooch kick at the Branson 30.
On the next play, Hughes and Collyn Kivett connected on a 30-yard touchdown pass for a 36-17 Neosho lead only 12 seconds after halftime.
“That’s a huge part of the game that a lot of people talk about,” Neosho coach Brandon Taute said. “The middle four minutes there. They got a field goal late in the first half and knew they were going to get the ball back. For us to go down and get a touchdown was huge, then to get the ball back on the kickoff and score on the first play, it was momentum for us and a real shot to the heart for their team.
“We challenged our kids at halftime. We knew we had them on the ropes, let’s go for the knockout, and so they responded really well for us.”
Neosho came up with enough defensive stops throughout to be able to extend the lead, for example going ahead 50-24 early in the fourth after forcing a Branson punt and then scoring on a 5-yard TD pass from Hughes to Green on a slant in the end zone.
“The defense got big stops when they needed them,” Taute said. “They’ve got a big fullback (Cade Grimm) and he runs extremely hard. We knew he was going to cause some issues at times, and I thought the kids did a great job of continuing to rally and continuing to fight. We made some big plays and got them into some long-yardage situations where they’re not very comfortable. I thought we did a great job of executing the gameplan.”
Neosho and Branson each displayed their contrasting styles on their first possession.
As has been the pattern at home this season for the Wildcats, they struck first quick out of the gate with a short pass to Green turned into an 80-yard touchdown play down the Branson sideline only 23 seconds into the contest.
The Pirates answered with an 11-play, 63-yard scoring drive in 6:14 with all 11 plays solely adhering to running the football.
Hughes connected on a pair of touchdown passes each to Green and Kivett, while Siler added a pair of rushing touchdowns, including a 54-yard scamper that followed a big possession for Branson’s bruising bully Grimm.
Grimm’s 1-yard TD run at 8:02 in the third made it a 36-24 Neosho lead and Grimm carried the entire load on a possession that numbered eight plays for 62 yards.
Neosho improved to 3-0 at home this season, and the Wildcats are back on the road in Week 7 to face an 1-5 Ozark squad coming off a 49-7 defeat against Carthage.
“It was awesome,” Taute said. “Our home crowd has been awesome all year long. Our student section has been unbelievable. Our kids feed off their energy, so they’re a huge part of all the success we’ve had this year. It’s just a fun night to be a Wildcat.”
