With less than two weeks until the start of the season, Joplin football held its annual Red-White scrimmage on Saturday.
Under normal circumstances, a scrimmage doesn’t bring much in terms of excitement other than it meaning the regular season isn’t too far away as the players begin to shake the rust off in a live situation. But the last eight months have been anything but normal, and it was obvious by the large turnout in the stands at Junge Field that the Joplin fanatics are going to cherish every bit of football they get this season. Coach Curtis Jasper, his coaching staff and his players all feel the same way.
“With everything going on in different parts of the state, here is Southwest Missouri, knock on wood, we are in pretty decent shape,” Jasper said. “I talked to the kids all the time about a lot of this being on them and what their limitations are as far as what they can do and where they can go in order for us to have a season.
“That is not something you or I had to deal with growing up and playing sports. Obviously, we can’t be with them 24-7, but so far, so good. They are doing the right things, and you can tell this means a lot to them. We want to play each week, and they know each week is a blessing.”
As for the product on the field, Coach Jasper was happy, for the most part, with what he saw from his kids.
“I liked the physicality that I saw from them,” Jasper said. “I liked getting them out under the lights and seeing some big plays. Even though we graduated some big-play guys from last year, it was nice we could still chunk the ball down the field. The biggest thing was getting out of here healthy and getting some film to go over because we still have several positions up for grabs.”
As for what he wanted to see an improvement on, less yellow laundry on the field would be ideal.
“We saw a lot of penalties,” Jasper said. “We will have to clean the little things like that up, obviously.”
Junior quarterback Always Wright took snaps as the first-team quarterback to open up the varsity portion of the scrimmage. The Eagles are looking to replace Blake Tash after the most-accurate passer in the state of Missouri graduated.
“We haven’t made that decision final yet, but I’d say he has the edge right now,” Jasper said when asked if Wright would be the Week 1 starter.
Wright, who completed 7-of-12 passes on the night, had a big play through the air when he connected on a 54-yard touchdown pass over the middle to 5-foot-11, 165-pound sophomore wide receiver Dante Washington.
“He is doing a real good job, and he is very coachable,” Jasper said of Wright. “He is a great athlete, and he does a really good job, with a great pocket presence and touch on the football.”
Washington made several head-turning plays in the passing game during the varsity portion of the scrimmage to steal the spotlight. He caught three passes and gained more than 100 yards through the air, showing off his big-play ability.
“He is a guy who can be very explosive for us,” Jasper said. “We are probably deeper at the receiver position than we’ve ever been. We have four guys we may consider starters, but we may have two or three behind them that, in other years, could have been a starter. We feel that is a really deep position group and the guys have to bring it every day because they have guys pushing them.”
Wright threw a pair of interceptions in the first varsity portion of the scrimmage, with junior LB Joe Jasper and sophomore DB Morgan Keller each coming away with takeaways.
“I thought our kids flew around defensively and did a really good job,” Coach Jasper said. “And that’s what (Defensive coordinator) Coach (Nick) Reid asked of his defense. We will coach them up on film, but the main thing we want to do is get 11 hats to the football. If you are going to make a mistake, make it going full speed. We don’t want to have to coach effort. If we have to coach effort, you’re probably not going to be on the field, and those guys know that.”
Starting senior RB Nathan Glades also carried the ball three times for solid gains on offense.
Joe Jasper also saw time as the quarterback for the start of the second varsity session, completing half of his two total passes, which was a 29-yard completion to Washington. After his two early passes, Jasper moved out wide to finish the scrimmage.
“Joe found a nice window and did a good job hanging in the pocket, stepping up and delivering a nice pass to a talented receiver,” Coach Jasper said.
Later in the drive, with All Wright in at quarterback, younger brother of Always, the bend-don’t-break mentality showed up for the Joplin defense as they forced a turnover on downs on the 3-yard line for a red-zone stop.
“No quit in the defense,” Coach Jasper said. “That has been a calling for our defense since I
I’ve been here with Coach Reid taking over. That was awesome to see.”
The Joplin defense finished with two more turnovers, as Jacob Prosser came up with a fumble recovery and Bruce Wilbert picked off a pass.
Joplin has one more week until the start of the regular season, with the Eagles planning on hosting Seneca for a jamboree at 7 p.m. on Friday at Junge Field.
“That is going to be important for us because we have a lot of new faces,” Jasper said. “That is going to be a big night for us to see a different team lining up against us. But, obviously, no one forgets we have Webb City for Week 1.”
Lucas Davis is a sports reporter and podcast host for SoMo Sports. You can follow him on Twitter at @sportsbyLD. You can follow SoMo Sports on Facebook, or on Twitter at @SoMo_Sports.
