|
|
|
The Neosho Wildcats outgained the Nixa Eagles on offense Friday night.
The Neosho offense was more effective than it had been all year long and the Wildcats crossed the 300 yard threshold for the first time in 2011.
All of that wasn’t enough to overcome five turnovers as the Nixa Eagles topped Neosho, 35-6.
“I think we had our best offensive performance overall that we’ve had all season. I think we had 305 yards. We moved the ball up and down the field, but turnovers definitely did play a big factor,” Neosho football coach Jared Schoonover said. “Out of the 35 points that Nixa scored, 21 came off of turnovers and seven came off of a tipped punt. So, 28 of the 35 points were scored from turnovers or a partially blocked punt.”
The one touchdown that Nixa scored after a sustained offensive drive came on the game’s opening possession.
After Nixa scored, making it 7-0 in the first quarter, Neosho’s offense took the field. All season long, the passing game has been something of a struggle for the Wildcats. However, on the first play from scrimmage, senior quarterback Tyler Rathmann stood in the pocket and delivered a pass over the middle for a gain of seven yards. This seemed like it could set the tone early on, but ultimately, Neosho was forced to punt on the drive. Rathmann’s punt was tipped by a Nixa defender and the ball went out of bounds at the Neosho 35-yard line.
One play later, Nixa made it 14-0.
In the first half, Neosho had success moving the football, but untimely penalties and turnovers kept the Wildcats off the board. Perhaps none of the turnovers were more deflating than Ryan Taylor’s fumble.
In the second quarter, Schoonover dialed up a double reverse pass. Johnny Lowe came in motion and took a hand off from Rathmann on a reverse. Lowe then pitched the ball back to Justin McKee who had been lined up as a receiver on the other side of the field. McKee set his feet and heaved a deep pass downfield to Taylor who was wide open. The Neosho sideline erupted in cheers as Taylor turned it upfield for a huge gain. Then, as the Eagles’ defender hit Taylor, the ball squirted free and a Nixa player pounced on it.
“There were opportunities tonight for us and some of the turnovers were huge. We had a double reverse pass that was probably a 40 or 50 yard gain and the ball got popped out of the receiver’s hand at the end of the play,” Schoonover said. “I will say that the player who put that ball on the ground probably had his best offensive game as a high school football player, that was Ryan Taylor. He had some really good catches tonight and I was very pleased with the way he played overall on the offensive side of the football.”
The Neosho Wildcats outgained the Nixa Eagles on offense Friday night.
The Neosho offense was more effective than it had been all year long and the Wildcats crossed the 300 yard threshold for the first time in 2011.
All of that wasn’t enough to overcome five turnovers as the Nixa Eagles topped Neosho, 35-6.
“I think we had our best offensive performance overall that we’ve had all season. I think we had 305 yards. We moved the ball up and down the field, but turnovers definitely did play a big factor,” Neosho football coach Jared Schoonover said. “Out of the 35 points that Nixa scored, 21 came off of turnovers and seven came off of a tipped punt. So, 28 of the 35 points were scored from turnovers or a partially blocked punt.”
The one touchdown that Nixa scored after a sustained offensive drive came on the game’s opening possession.
After Nixa scored, making it 7-0 in the first quarter, Neosho’s offense took the field. All season long, the passing game has been something of a struggle for the Wildcats. However, on the first play from scrimmage, senior quarterback Tyler Rathmann stood in the pocket and delivered a pass over the middle for a gain of seven yards. This seemed like it could set the tone early on, but ultimately, Neosho was forced to punt on the drive. Rathmann’s punt was tipped by a Nixa defender and the ball went out of bounds at the Neosho 35-yard line.
One play later, Nixa made it 14-0.
In the first half, Neosho had success moving the football, but untimely penalties and turnovers kept the Wildcats off the board. Perhaps none of the turnovers were more deflating than Ryan Taylor’s fumble.
In the second quarter, Schoonover dialed up a double reverse pass. Johnny Lowe came in motion and took a hand off from Rathmann on a reverse. Lowe then pitched the ball back to Justin McKee who had been lined up as a receiver on the other side of the field. McKee set his feet and heaved a deep pass downfield to Taylor who was wide open. The Neosho sideline erupted in cheers as Taylor turned it upfield for a huge gain. Then, as the Eagles’ defender hit Taylor, the ball squirted free and a Nixa player pounced on it.
“There were opportunities tonight for us and some of the turnovers were huge. We had a double reverse pass that was probably a 40 or 50 yard gain and the ball got popped out of the receiver’s hand at the end of the play,” Schoonover said. “I will say that the player who put that ball on the ground probably had his best offensive game as a high school football player, that was Ryan Taylor. He had some really good catches tonight and I was very pleased with the way he played overall on the offensive side of the football.”
Taylor finished with three receptions for 65 yards.
In the second half, Neosho continued to move the ball. Unfortunately, the turnovers continued as well.
Nixa returned an interception for a score to make it 27-0 early in the third quarter.
Then, midway through the third, Nixa got a 40-yard touchdown strike and a two-point conversion to make it 35-0.
Neosho showed no quit in the game. The Wildcats defense tightened and didn’t allow another score through a quarter and a half of football.
Neosho finally got on the board in the fourth quarter. After a long run on a broken pass play by Rathmann, Ethan Epperson slammed in a two-yard touchdown. The extra point was no good and the score was 35-6.
The Wildcats then recovered an onside kick and looked as though they might score again. After a long pass play from McKee to Dayton Boldin, the Wildcats had first-and-goal. With nine seconds left and with the ball inside the Nixa 5-yard line, Neosho took a timeout to try to put one more score on the board.
Bodin was stood up at the line of scrimmage and Nixa claimed the victory.
“There were some other opportunities that we will see in film that we just missed. There were some positives that I will take away from this, but obviously the turnovers had been something we’d fixed for the last few weeks and tonight we had two fumbles and three interceptions. You can’t beat a team like Nixa with five turnovers,” Schoonover said after the game. “But the offensive tempo was there. There was rhythm, we got into some no-huddle and that helped us with our rhythm. We moved the ball, now it’s just a matter of sticking the ball in the end zone when the opportunity presents itself.”
The Wildcats were finally able to get their passing game going in the game. And a big part of that was the offensive line. The line actually had a surprise lineup change early Friday morning.
“The offensive line played their best game of the season. The pass protection was much, much better. Gavin Rainwater and Dalton Harris, the two seniors on the offensive line, played a great game,” Schoonover said. “We were in a situation where we had to put a young man in the starting lineup today because on of our regular starters was sick. Dexter Marble came out and he performed. He played with great effort and heart. He is a sophomore that probably weighs 170 pounds and went up against a kid that weighs about 240 and he held his own most of the night.”
Despite surrendering 35 points (28 by the Nixa offense, seven by their defense), the coaches saw a lot of positives out of their defense.
“Gavin Rainwater played a great game on defense. He effected (Nixa’s) center all night long. He shaded the center all night long, that’s a big reason why there were so many bad snaps for Nixa tonight, because Gavin just punished him all night long,” Schoonover said. “Ethan Epperson was a man again tonight, he had a good game. Johnny Lowe had a good game tonight, we had a lot of guys that stepped up on defense for us.”
For Schoonover, there was one number that made up the key to the game Friday night.
“Again, 21 of (Nixa’s) 35 points were scored on a short field. The punt that was partially blocked went out around our own 35, they actually had an interception return for a touchdown and then we had one turnover around our 30,” Schoonover said. “So we put our defense in a bad situation a few times tonight and I thought they actually did a good job outside of a couple of big plays. Big plays were the problem tonight, Nixa made them and we didn’t. We actually outgained Nixa on offense. Anytime the score is so lopsided, that’s hard to understand, but all that is big plays.”
For Neosho, offense has been a struggle all season long to this point. For the first five weeks, they couldn’t seem to get anything going. They weren’t gaining field position and they weren’t scoring. At least after Friday, the Wildcats have proven that they are capable of moving the football down the field.
“I saw a lot of positive things tonight. There were plenty of things that we can build on. Anytime you can build that rhythm and flow, you get a little more confidence and all of a sudden things start working for you and you’ve got the defense playing on their heels instead of downhill,” Schoonover said.
In the other district game that was played Friday night, Branson beat Ozark in something of an upset, 26-14. Ozark came into the game ranked in the top 10 in the state.
“You can’t say it’s a surprise. Coach Hancock has been there a long time and Malachi Daniels is a senior and as a junior he was a first-team all state running back,” Schoonover said. “Any time you’ve got a guy like (Daniels) running the football for you on offense, good things are going to happen.”
Neosho takes on the Branson Pirates this Friday at Bob Anderson Stadium.
