NEOSHO, Mo. — The Neosho Wildcats scored 26 unanswered points during the first and second half to come away with a 55-29 win Friday night over their Central Ozark Conference rival Carl Junction at historic Bob Anderson Stadium.
For the second time in as many home games this season, Neosho won the coin toss, elected to receive, and just like the 79-72 win over Willard to open the season, the Wildcats came out and scored their first two possessions and never trailed Carl Junction.
The Wildcats led 22-0 late in the first quarter and then responded with the 26 unanswered after the Bulldogs trimmed it to 22-15 with eight minutes remaining before halftime.
The Wildcats’ defense and special teams forced five turnovers and senior running back Jared Siler broke three long touchdown runs in the second half to put the game out of reach.
Neosho, 2-1 overall and COC, partook in the traditional ringing of the victory bell, something that never gets old for players like Siler and their enthusiastic student section.
This is the first season Neosho has been able to ring the victory bell more than once since the 2018 Wildcat team won five home games.
“It’s awesome,” Neosho coach Brandon Taute said. “Our crowd support, our community support, our students have been awesome. It gets so loud here in the stadium. That’s such a huge factor for us in the game. They play a huge factor in our success, as well, and I’m extremely thankful for our student body and what they do for our kids.”
“It feels amazing because the last couple years we haven’t been able to get that many wins,” Siler said. “Two wins this year, it’s great.”
The Wildcats exceeded their scoring average by five points on Friday night, but it was their defense who stepped up in a big way after surrendering 137 combined points the first two weeks against Willard and Nixa.
“We played well in all three phases of the game tonight,” Taute said. “Obviously, our offense played well. We executed well. We had some mistakes here and there, but the kids overcame those things, and I was proud of them for doing that. The defense stepped up. We challenged them a little bit this week to prove the haters wrong. They did just that. They played with energy and confidence, and with a little bit of swagger to them. Our special teams did as well, and they forced some turnovers, made big plays and made them drive the field.”
“The defense played amazing tonight,” Siler said. “It’s the best I’ve ever seen them play my whole life.”
Three plays after Neosho stopped Carl Junction on fourth down inside the Neosho 20, Siler put Neosho ahead 41-15 at 8:11 in the third on a 70-yard touchdown run.
Siler added scoring runs of 31 and 32 with the latter putting the Wildcats ahead 55-22 early in the fourth.
“He’s such a tough runner,” Taute said. “He’s worked hard in the weight room to get stronger so he can wear people down. It starts with the big guys up front and they’ve done a great job all year paving the way for him. Then, our wide receivers on the perimeter blocking, springing those big plays, we tell them they’re the difference between a 20-yard gain and a touchdown. Those big runs, it’s all 11 guys on the field doing their jobs.”
“They’re amazing,” Siler said of all his blockers. “They opened up holes all game. I was just watching it come open.”
Neosho heads back on the road in Week 4 against conference and district foe Republic. The Tigers are 1-2 on the season after their 35-14 loss Friday against Webb City.
“We’ve gained a little bit of confidence,” Taute said. “Not just winning but being able to separate ourselves score wise in the second half, it was huge for our confidence and showing our kids that we’re capable of doing that and putting teams away.”
The Wildcats are currently third in the district standings behind leader Carthage (45 points) and Webb City (41) with 37.33 points, followed by Republic (26.33), winless Willard (20), and winless Parkview (10.33).
