Joplin football had a lot of question marks heading into the 2020 season.
The Eagles had an answer for almost every single one of them in the team’s 41-40 win over Webb City in the season opener at Junge Field.
It was a regular topic of conversations all offseason — how would Joplin replace the production lost from one of the greatest senior classes in the history of the program?
Well, on Friday, the Joplin faithful who were fortunate enough to be in attendance got a first-hand look at just what to expect from their Eagles in 2020.
“We felt like going into this year that we had some answers for a lot of the questions that were left when some of our guys graduated,” Joplin coach Curtis Jasper said. “For the most part, we did a really good job of our guys stepping up and filling those roles.”
Joplin prepared for this season after losing three of the state’s top performers on offense from a year ago — quarterback Blake Tash (2,760 yards passing, 31 touchdowns, 75.5 completion percentage), running back Isaiah Davis (2,282 rushing yards, 47 total touchdowns) and wideout Zach Westmoreland (2,382 all purpose yards, 27 total touchdowns). The Eagles also graduated six starters on defense as well as standout kicker Garrett Landis, Joplin’s all-time scoring leader at the position.
NEW FACES, STRONG PRODUCTION
Joplin’s offense gained 379 yards of total offense against the Cardinals, averaging 10.9 yards per pass completion and 7.0 yards per rush.
“The guys up front, we lost Dontrell (Holt, freshman guard) I think midway through the second drive,” Jasper said of his offensive line. “I think we showed some good depth there when Zach (Harthan, junior OL) stepped in and played well. I thought we did a good job of being physical up front.”
In his first-career start, junior quarterback Always Wright completed 18-of-22 passes for 197 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, which came on fourth down of the opening drive.
“I thought Always did a great job,” Jasper said. “The one interception he threw was essentially like a punt on fourth down. … He is a shooter on the basketball court, and the thing about shooters is they have to have a short memory. If they miss one, they have to take that next shot. You can’t let a mistake bring you down, you have to keep moving forward, and he did an awesome job of that. He is a laid back kid, but he has a tough mentality.”
Senior running back Nathan Glades carried the ball 24 times for 161 yards rushing and three scores on the ground to lead the rushing attack, averaging 6.7 yards per touch.
“You can’t say enough about Nathan and the way he finishes every run,” said Jasper.
As for the group of receivers, five players caught two or more passes, with three players hauling in more than 40 receiving yards. Sophomore Dante Washington caught a team-high six passes for 78 yards and a score, while senior Trayshawn Thomas caught four passes for 47 yards and a touchdown. Senior Keaton Renfro caught three passes for 41 yards, while junior Bruce Wilbert caught two passes for 19 yards. Glades also caught three passes for 12 yards.
“The receivers caught a lot of balls and did a great job blocking,” Jasper said. “I was really proud of Dante Washington. Against a very physical team, he went in there and did a lot of that dirty work that Nathan (Glades) did a year ago. As a sophomore, and in his first start as a varsity player … Dante’s work there in the wing back position (was what I was most impressed with).”
SEVERAL BIG PLAYS
If Joplin had one trait last year as an offense, it was the ability to repeatedly find the end zone in a short amount of plays. That trait showed up several times in the season opener against Webb City as well.
Late in the second quarter with less than two minutes to play, Joplin saw a three-play drive last less than 60 seconds of game clock with it culminating in a 28-yard touchdown pass from Wright to Thomas to give the Eagles a 27-25 lead at the half. At the end of the third quarter, Joplin took possession at its own 27, with Glades ripping off a 24-yard run before Wright faked a handoff and hit Washington in the left flat on the next play, with the sophomore sprinting past everyone on the way to a 49-yard touchdown to put the Eagles on top 34-25. With less than 4:30 left in regulation, the Eagles took possession at the Cardinals’ 44 when Glades took the first-down carry for 3 yards before cutting his way to a 41-yard touchdown on second down to give Joplin a 41-32 lead.
RISE TO THE OCCASION
While starting five new players on offense, Joplin is also starting six new players on the defensive end. Last season, the mentality on the defensive end was bend, don’t break, with strong second-half adjustments made in nearly every contest. That showed up again in Week 1. After allowing Webb City to score on three of four drives, the Eagle defense forced Webb City into a punt on the opening possession of the second half. Joplin’s defense followed that up with the Cardinals turning the ball over on downs on their second possession — holding Webb City scoreless in the third quarter in the process — allowing the offense to build a crucial two-possession lead. Joplin’s defense also added a turnover in the final quarter.
“We mixed a couple of things up to change their reads a little bit,” Jasper said of the defense’s adjustments at halftime. “I felt like the second half (was closer) to how we usually play.”
Senior DB Jayden Holt led the Eagles with 13 total tackles — eight solo — while senior LB Marcelino Puente had 10 total tackles and senior LB Scott Lowe finished with nine total stops. Junior DB Korey Read had seven tackles and recovered a fumble.
STILL SPECIAL
The third phase of the game — special teams — is often forgotten about. That wasn’t the case for Joplin in 2019. The Eagles had three total special teams touchdowns, and had the benefit of Landis connecting on 90 percent of his PATs (77 for 88) to go along with 40 touchbacks.
Webb City went on an 11-play drive that started at the end of the first quarter and finished at the 7:27 of the second quarter when quarterback Cole Gayman scored from 9 yards out on a keeper to put the Cardinals on top 19-14 on Friday.
The Eagles responded with Glades returning the ensuing kickoff 92 yards to the house to put Joplin back on top 20-19 without taking a snap on offense, one of many important special teams plays to happen in the game. Senior kicker Keaton Huff also converted 5-of-6 PATs.
“Bruce (Wilbert) had some nice plays,” Jasper said. “I felt like we spent the whole time during the first half answering back every time we scored. After Devrin’s (Weathers) kickoff return for a touchdown, Nathan doing that was kind of like a ‘whatever you got, we’ve got it, too’ type of thing. The timing of it was pretty special.”
BIRDS OF A FEATHER
The Joplin Eagles travel to take on the Nixa Eagles in Week 2. Nixa is coming off a 42-6 win over Branson.
“We want to continue to build, and there are a lot of things we can be better at in all three facets,” Jasper said. “For the most part, in Week 1, you want your guys to play hard and make plays. I felt like we did a lot of things well, but we still have stuff we need to work on.”
