VICTORY

SPRINGFIELD – Over the course of the last three weeks, the Neosho football team has been knocking on the door.

Against Nixa, the Wildcats moved the ball at will. But a few bad turnovers and penalties led to a loss. Against Branson, Neosho was one big (and controversial) touchdown on a fourth down play by the Pirates from possibly winning their first game.

On Friday, the Wildcats just decided to kick the door down. Neosho scored 28 unanswered points after falling in an early hole to defeat Kickapoo, 28-21 and spoil the Chiefs’ homecoming.

“It’s always very important for the morale of the team to have the kind of success that our team had Friday night,” Neosho head coach Jared Schoonover said. “They’ve worked hard and they earned a victory tonight.”

Neosho faltered early.

Kickapoo scored on the game’s first possession to make it 7-0. Then, a promising Neosho drive was cut short by a fumble and the Chiefs scored again to make it 14-0. After Kickapoo forced Neosho to go three-and-out for the first time in the game, the Wildcats’ punt was blocked and the Chiefs’ got it at the Neosho 29-yard line. A few plays later, it was 21-0, Kickapoo.

Once again, Neosho went on a drive and seemed destined for the end zone. And again, a fumble, this time in the red zone, gave Kickapoo new life. Over the course of the first half, the Wildcats lost two fumbles, dropped two potential interceptions, had a punt blocked and had a long drive on offense stalled by an unsportsmanlike penalty.

All of that added up to a 21-point deficit with less than a minute to play in the second quarter. It might have been easy for Neosho to hang their heads and say ‘here we go again,’ but they didn’t.

“I think our guys bought into the thought process that, whether it’s on the football field or in life, sometimes things go against you. I think it was a situation where we asked the guys ‘when things get tough are you going to stand up and fight for your family or are you going to give up?’ and I think that at this point in time, this football family is a big part of these boys’ lives and they battled for their football family Friday night,” Schoonover said. “There were some negative things that happened. Whether that was being down 21-0 or maybe a couple of turnovers or maybe some missed opportunities by individuals.”

With just seconds to go before halftime, Schoonover inserted Justin McKee at quarterback to utilize Tyler Rathmann’s ability as a receiver.

On the first play that McKee was at quarterback, he was flushed from the pocket to his left. The sophomore calmly rolled out and looked downfield. Nobody was open. So, McKee took off, and he made the Kickapoo defense look silly on his way to an 80-yard touchdown jaunt.

After the touchdown, which made it 21-7, there were 24 seconds remaining in the first half. The Wildcats reached back into their bag of tricks. Sophomore lineman Aaron Clardy lined up at kicker for the ensuing kickoff and he drilled a line drive onside kick that bounced off of a Chief’s chest and a Wildcat jumped on it. The play didn’t result any points for Neosho before the half ended, but momentum was clearly on the Wildcats’ side.

“The message to the team after the first quarter was that we just needed to keep doing what we were doing because we were having success. We just needed to clean it up, that means no more turnovers and no more penalties,” Schoonover said. “And we did. After the first quarter we didn’t turn the ball over and we didn’t have any more penalties on offense. I think we had 25 yards in penalties all night. Then, McKee obviously broke that 80-yard run and that was huge for us. It really got our momentum going. It rolled into the second half.”

The Wildcats took possession at the start of the third quarter and picked up right where they left off. Neosho went on a long, clock-chewing drive that culminated in a one-yard touchdown by Rathmann on a quarterback keeper. That made the score 21-14 with 5:15 to play in the third quarter.

The Neosho defense held serve on the ensuing drive and forced Kickapoo to punt. The clock ran out on the third quarter with the score at 21-14 in favor of the Chiefs and the Neosho Wildcats had a decision to make. It was fourth-and-four from the Kickapoo 38-yard line for Neosho. The Wildcats had all of the momentum and their defense was lights out in the third quarter. Schoonover decided to go for it and Rathmann carried it himself for seven yards and a first down.

A few plays later, Ethan Pogue scored on an eight-yard run around the right side. Ryan Taylor’s point after was off the mark and the score was 21-20 Kickapoo.
On the ensuing drive, the Wildcats held Kickapoo in check once again and forced a punt.

Neosho, which had struggled finding the big play on offense all season, got its second of the night on its next drive. After successfully driving the ball into Kickapoo territory, Rathmann went 30 yards for a touchdown. The Wildcats got the two-point conversion and took a 28-21 lead with 4:09 to play.

The sideline and the group of fans who made the drive to Springfield were absolutely beside themselves.

With their backs now firmly against the wall, Kickapoo was forced to go to the air. Quarterback Alex Lawson’s first pass on the ensuing drive was knocked down by Rathmann. Then, Kickapoo tried a trick play. That didn’t work either. Gavin Rainwater and Dalton Epperson blew past the Chiefs’ offensive line and flattened Kickapoo running back John Fuchs on an attempted double reverse. The play resulted in a 14-yard loss.

Now facing third-and-long, Kickapoo dropped back to pass again. Taylor chose this as the moment to redeem himself.

Taylor, who had dropped two interceptions in the first half and missed an extra point in the fourth quarter, stepped in front of a receiver and snagged the football out of the air for an interception with just over three minutes to play.

For the first time in what seemed like a long time, the Kickapoo defense was able to hold Neosho out of the end zone and got the ball back.

After two incomplete passes, Kickapoo was facing third-and-10. Lawson scrambled for five yards up the middle. On fourth-and-five, Lawson heaved the ball up the Neosho sideline to one of his receivers. Johnny Lowe, who is listed in the program as 5-feet-10, leapt high into the air and got a hand on the ball to stop the Kickapoo drive in it’s tracks. From there, Neosho just ran out the clock.

For the game, the Wildcats continued their trend of the last few weeks, amassing more yards than the previous game. This week, Neosho had 367 yards of total offense. Of that, 340 yards came on the ground.

Rathmann led the attack with 136 yards and two scores on 29 carries. McKee finished with 80 yards and a score, Pogue finished with 42 yards and a touchdown. Christian Lopez and Ethan Epperson finished with 21 and 20 yards, respectively. Even sophomore Davin Bentz got in on the fun with one carry for 17 yards.

Rathmann and McKee combined to go 4-for-8 for 27 yards through the air.

“Rathmann had a monster night, Ryan Taylor made a key interception in the fourth quarter. Justin McKee had a huge run that swung the momentum towards us,” Schoonover said. “And it didn’t stop there, our offensive line had a great night and our defense stepped up. After that first quarter, we didn’t even give up 100 yards the rest of the night and that includes only letting (Kickapoo) get 44 yards in the second half.”

The defense bottled up the Chiefs’ No. 1 running back, Fuchs. The Kickapoo star finished with 66 yards on 17 carries. He had 68 yards in the first half — he ran for negative yardage in the second half.

“We regrouped on the defensive side of the football at halftime and Coach (Zac) Nelson made some excellent adjustments at halftime and the boys came out and executed and they earned a victory,” Schoonover said. “They performed and did exactly what we asked them to do tonight. I am very proud of both the offensive and defensive line. The way they dominated the line of scrimmage, especially in the second half, was a huge part of why we won the football game. Anytime your big boys can consistently win the battle at the line of scrimmage, you’re going to have success and that’s what happened this week.”

For the Wildcats, it was an all-around, team win. And the team seemed as happy as they had ever been to run to their fans and sing the Neosho fight song after the victory.

“I’m very happy with Tyler Rathmann and Justin Mckee. I was very pleased with the play of Gavin Rainwater, Dalton Harris, Jacob Brock and the Marble boys; they had an excellent game on the offensive line. Our receivers blocked better than they had all season,” Schoonover said. “On defense, Gavin, Ethan Epperson, Aaron Clardy again just had huge games for us and I was just very pleased with the way they played, especially with Kyler Finley and Aaron Scroggins out with injuries. Those are two guys that have started on the defensive line for us and I thought our defensive line really stepped up and played well.”

And perhaps the most amazing thing of all for Neosho — they are still alive. In other district action Friday night, Ozark was throttled by Nixa, 36-7. That game, in addition to punching a ticket to the playoffs for Nixa, dropped Ozark to 0-2 in district play. What that means for Neosho, they are currently only one win behind Branson in the win column for the second playoff spot out of this district.
So, despite an 0-7 start to the season, if Neosho handles Ozark by a wide margin on Friday night at Bob Anderson Stadium and Branson drops its next two district games by a wide enough margin, the Wildcats could find themselves back in the playoffs.

“The way the system is set up, it allows for some late season drama,” Schoonover said. “We need Kickapoo to beat Branson and then Nixa has to beat Branson as well. If that happens and the point margins are right, then yeah, we still have a chance to make the playoffs. Our goal at this point is still to get better as a program and really I feel that we have been taking steps in the right direction in the last few weeks.”