WILLARD, Mo. — Willard’s plan to run the ball effectively while consuming chunks of clock with long drives was successful as the Tigers earned a 32-20 win over Joplin on Friday.
“Hats off to Willard,” Joplin coach Curtis Jasper said. “They executed their game plan perfectly. They went on long drives and kept the ball away from us. They put pressure on us when we had the ball and made plays defensively as well. Willard was better than us tonight.
“The bottom line is we just weren’t good enough tonight. We have to get better and work hard to do that. We are going to fix things and we are going to get better. I believe in these guys, and I believe we are going to do what it takes to be a good football team. Tonight was not our night.”
Willard, which averaged 10 points per game before the matchup with Joplin, ran 60 offensive plays for 323 yards, while the Eagles ran 43 offensive plays for 300 total yards. The Tigers (1-4), who earned their first win of the season, won the turnover battle against the Eagles (2-3) by the tally of 3-0.
“They did a good job of playing keep-away from us,” Jasper said. “We knew we were going to see a lot of power and counter. They did a good job of their kick-out blocks and hitting it where we weren’t.”
After Joplin’s defense forced a three-and-out top open the game, the Eagles’ offense marched 66 yards on nine plays with running back Trayquan Peavler scoring from a yard out to make the score 6-0, the point-after try was no good, with 7:39 to play in the opening quarter. Peavler started in place of Nathan Glades, who missed the game with a knee injury.
Willard answered with an 11-play drive that culminated in a 3-yard touchdown from Tyler Janes to give the Tigers a 7-6 lead with 2:12 on the clock.
Joplin went three-and-out on offense, and Willard pushed the lead to 13-6 after Owen Bushnell scored from 7 yards out with 6:36 left in the first half to end a 12-play drive.
Joplin responded quickly, as freshman running back Quinton Renfro, the younger brother of senior WR Keaton Renfro, scored from 37 yards out for his first-career varsity touchdown in his first varsity game to trim Willard’s lead to 13-12 with 5:12 to play in the first half. The point-after kick was no good.
“We pulled (Quinton) up this week for depth behind Trayquan, and he had a really good week of practice,” Jasper said. “We gave him an opportunity in the second quarter, and he did a really good job with it.”
It looked as if Joplin’s defense had forced Willard into another three-and-out on the ensuing drive, but the Eagles were flagged for a roughing-the-punter penalty on fourth-and-6 to give the Tigers a first down and extend the drive.
Willard made Joplin pay for the penalty, eventually scoring with two seconds left in the first half on a 1-yard run by Bushnell to send the Tigers into the intermission with a 19-12 lead.
Getting the ball out of the locker room, Joplin took the lead back for the first time since early in the first quarter when quarterback Always Wright completed a 9-yard touchdown pass to Trayshawn Thomas with 10:17 on the clock. Wright found Keaton Renfro on the two-point conversion to put Joplin in front 20-19.
Willard took nearly five minutes off the clock on their ensuing drive, which ended on a 41-yard touchdown pass from Janes to Blake Hultgren on fourth-down-and-4 to put the Tigers back in front 26-20 with 5:41 left in the third quarter.
On the second play of the Eagles’ ensuing drive, Wright was picked off by Willard’s Dylan Leach, who returned it 30 yards to paydirt for a pick-6 score to extend the Tigers’ lead to 32-20 with 5:08 left in the third.
The turnover bug bit Joplin again after a long drive ended with Wright getting picked off at the goal line by Blaine Willard on a fourth-down-and-7 pass. After the Eagles forced the Tigers into a punt, Wright was picked off by Willard’s Evan Hancock on the second play of the ensuing drive with 3:15 left in the game.
“We have a lot of things we have to fix and get better at,” Jasper said.
STATS
Bushnell carried the ball 28 times for 142 yards and touchdown, while Janes completed 7-of-10 passes for 78 yards and a touchdown. He carried the ball 18 times for 40 yards.
Wright completed 15-of-23 passes for 166 yards, a touchdown and three interceptions, adding 26 rushing yards on three carries. Quinton Renfro carried the ball 17 times for 133 yards and a touchdown, while Trayshawn Thomas had seven receptions for 68 yards and a score. Keaton Renfro caught three passes for 43 yards and hauled in a two-point conversion.
UP NEXT
Joplin hosts Republic (2-3) for a 7 p.m. matchup and Junge Field.
