Neosho eliminated from playoff contention

Early on, it looked like the district football game between Neosho and the visiting Ozark Tigers was going to be a slugfest.

However, Ozark used an hour-long, 27-point third quarter to pull away from the Wildcats for a 47-12 win. The loss eliminates Neosho from playoff contention.

The Wildcats came into the game needing to win by a wide margin and needing Kickapoo to beat Branson in the other district game. After falling behind 21-0, the Chiefs came back and beat Branson 28-24 in that contest.

Neosho opened up the scoring in the second quarter. After a halfback pass from Ryan Manuel to Johnny Lowe put the Wildcats in Ozark territory, Christian Lopez ended the drive with a nine-yard touchdown run up the middle. Because they needed to win by at least 13 points or more, the Wildcats went for two and were stopped for a 6-0 lead.
Ozark answered back on the next drive by scoring on a 21-yard pass, they kicked the extra point to take a 7-6 lead.

Four minutes later, Ozark got another big play. This time it was a 32-yard run by quarterback David Salazar to give the Tigers a 13-6 lead going into the locker room.

The nightmare third quarter started when Ozark running back Cody Lindsey broke two arm tackles and rumbled 40 yards for a score to give Ozark a 19-6 lead.

After a Neosho fumble, the Tigers got a 79-yard touchdown pass to take a 27-6 lead after the two-point conversion.

The Wildcats still had some wind in their sails, however. Neosho executed a perfect double-reverse flea flicker for a big gain from Tyler Rathmann to Lowe. A few plays later, Rathmann found Ryan Taylor down the middle of the field on a pass and Taylor strolled into the end zone for a 42-yard touchdown. Another failed two-point conversion made it 27-12 Ozark, but showed that Neosho still had some momentum.

“We decided before the game obviously that we were going to shoot all of our bullets in this one,” Neosho coach Jared Schoonover said. “And you saw that with the halfback pass and the double-reverse flea flicker that both went for big plays and got us juiced up on those drives.”

That momentum was quickly lost. After a big kickoff return by the Tigers gave them possession at their own 48. Lindsey ran up the middle for a gain of four yards. On second-and-six, Ozark got a 48-yard touchdown run from Auston Adams to take a 33-12 lead with less than four minutes to play.

With Neosho forced to throw the ball, the Tigers were able to fit in two more possessions in the third quarter and the Tigers scored on a five-yard run and a two-yard run to take a 47-12 lead.

“In the first half our defense stopped a team that simply hasn’t been stopped this year,” Schoonover said. “This is a team that was up on Webb City in the fourth quarter, they beat
Kearney, beat Carthage big and they moved the ball all over those teams with ease and we stonewalled them for a half. In the second half, we just didn’t finish plays. We didn’t make tackles. You can’t do that as a great defensive football team and I feel like we are close to that point. But, to be great you have to finish plays and you have to make tackles and we didn’t do that tonight.”

In defeat, there were a handful of underclassmen that shined through, giving reason for optimism and hope for the future of Neosho football.

Taylor and David Dean, both juniors had some of their best offensive games for the Wildcats. Taylor finished with three catches for 71 yards and a score. Dean had two catches for 22 yards including one highlight grab in the first half. Sophomore Justin McKee looked as comfortable on the field as ever whether it was at the quarterback position or split out wide as a receiver. And of course, the offensive line, which is packed with underclassmen, impressed Schoonover in pass protection once again.

“There were a lot of positives in this game,” Schoonover said. “There were a lot of kids stepped up tonight and executed our gameplan which was to keep it close and have an opportunity to make big plays. We did that for a half. We forced them to punt on the first four possessions of the game. Obviously they popped two big plays there to go ahead at half, outside of that, I felt like we played well defensively in the first half. On offense, we had success in our gameplan. We missed a few reads and things like that. We made some adjustments and we had some success in the second quarter.”

Juniors Kyler Finley and Nathan Douglas saw playing time as well as sophomores Grant Shurley, Dexter Marble, Logan Marble and Aaron Clardy. Finley and Clardy were also mainstays on the interior of the defensive line.

On offense, the Wildcats had possibly their most effective game passing the ball. It wasn’t efficient as Rathmann finished just 6-of-17, but Neosho threw for about 190 yards, the most they have all year.

“I definitely see things that I want to run in our passing game, there’s no secret about that. I love the passing game,” Schoonover said. “It’s been something that I’ve done forever. I think that some things opened up for us and I think there are some things that we can execute better. The key was that Tyler (Rathmann) had time to throw and he had a pocket. He did a great job hanging in the pocket and delivering the football.”

Since the loss Friday eliminated the Wildcats from the playoff picture, Schoonover has already told his offensive skill guys to get ready for what could be the most fun they have ever had on the football field Thursday night against Central. Basically, he says, the playbook will be wide open.

“We don’t have the same type of offense that we had here last year,” Schoonover said. “But, with that being said, we plan on opening up the playbook this week. We’ve done that more and more the last couple of weeks but, this week should be a lot of fun.”