Joplin scored on its first nine drives of the game while the Eagles defense pitched their first shutout of the season on the way to a 63-0 win over Neosho on Senior Night to wrap the regular season on Friday at Junge Field.
“It is a fun group and they work hard,” Joplin coach Curtis Jasper said of his senior class. “I am really proud of them and was happy to be able to come out and do what we needed to do on Senior Night.”
The Eagles built a 49-0 lead by halftime to start a running clock by the second half, with several starters exiting the game to start the third quarter.
In the first half alone, Joplin picked up over 400 yards of offense on the way to seven touchdowns while the Eagle defense shut out Neosho in the first two quarters and limited the Wildcats to 82 yards of offense and two first downs in the first two quarters.
“Obviously, I am not very happy that we had some bonehead penalties, which is still something we need to clean up,” Jasper said. “But as far as executing, blocking, catching, passing and running the ball on offense, I thought we did a really good job. Defensively, we did a good job of alignment assignment and tackling, that sort of thing.”
Joplin gained nearly 200 yards rushing in the first half, with junior RB Drew VanGilder leading the way with nine carries for 93 yards and a score. Sophomore Quinton Renfro also gained 74 yards on nine carries before intermission.
“I thought (Quin and Drew) were back to complementing themselves like they were earlier in the year when they were both healthy,” Jasper said. “They finished runs, we kept them fresh and the guys up front did a good job of blocking.”
Senior QB Always Wright completed 15-of-22 passes for 206 yards and five touchdowns in the first half, with senior tight end LT Atherton hauling in three of those touchdowns alone.
DISTRICT UPDATE
Joplin, which came into the contest as the No. 3 team (40.41 points) in the Class 6 District 3 standings, finishes the season with an 8-1 record. With Carthage’s 49-14 win over Nixa (7-2) on Friday, it appears that Nixa will fall from the top seed to the third seed, while Lee’s Summit North (8-1) takes over at the top spot and Joplin moves up to No. 2. If that is the case, Joplin will host Lee’s Summit in the district opener.
“The main thing was coming out tonight and taking care of business, and we were able to do that,” Jasper said. “Now, we just have to see how everything falls. But that looks the way it is going to fall and if that is the case, we will enjoy the home-field advantage.”
Neosho (1-8) will be the fourth seed in the Class 5 District 6 tournament and will host fifth-seeded Willard (0-9) in the district opener.
GAME ACTION
After stopping Neosho on the first possession of the game, Joplin needed just three plays to find the scoreboard when Wright found senior WR Terrance Gibson on his first pass of the game on an out and up deep down the sideline for a 37-yard touchdown pass at the 9:39 mark to make the score 7-0.
Joplin went on top 14-0 after capping off a sizable drive with a little trickeration, as Wright took a third-down-and-2 snap from the 3-yard line and rolled right before throwing a lateral back to the flat to sophomore LT Dontrell Holt (yes you read that correctly). Holt caught the lateral and fought his way past the goal line for a touchdown with 5:13 left in the opening period.
The big play showed up again for Joplin just a few minutes later when Wright found a wide-open Atherton for a 58-yard touchdown with 3:39 on the clock to extend the lead to 21-0.
Joplin scored its fourth touchdown of the first quarter when Wright and Atherton hooked up again with 55 seconds left. Capping off another drive inside the 10-yard line, the Eagles went to play action on third-down with 2 yards to gain as Wright faked the handoff and immediately threw a jump pass to Atherton over the middle for a 6-yard touchdown to push the lead to 28-0.
The Eagles made it five straight drives with a score on their ensuing possession when senior TE Jack Stanley made a one-handed grab over the middle on first-down-and-goal from the 3-yard line with 7:17 left in the first half for Wright’s fifth touchdown pass of the first half.
Despite rushing up and down the field in the first half, Joplin didn’t get its first score on the ground until VanGilder found paydirt from a yard out with 3:52 to play in the second quarter to make the score 42-0.
Wright finished off the Eagles’ perfect first half in scoring with his sixth touchdown pass and third to Atherton, this time an 8-yard connection, to push the lead to 49-0 with 13 seconds left in the opening half.
Junior RB Clayton Culie got in on the scoring fun after capping off the opening possession of the second half with a 3-yard touchdown run to make the score 56-0 with seven minutes left in the third quarter.
Sophomore QB Hobbs Gooch connected with sophomore WR Jett Beal for a 22-yard touchdown to make the score 63-0 with 9:49 left in the game.
Sophomore DB All Wright came up with an interception in the end zone late in the fourth quarter to preserve the shutout with less than four minutes to play.
Joplin’s only drive of the game that didn’t end in a score was the Eagles’ last possession of the game, which ended in a punt.
