The offense was outstanding. The rushing attack was even better.
The defense, well, it was perfect.
That combination for the Neosho Wildcats football was a great one as the team rolled to a 32-0 victory over Rogers, Ark., in the home opener at Bob Anderson Stadium.
The win was the first for Coach Jared Schoonover as coach of Neosho and in the process it spoiled the season opener for the Mounties, now coached by former Neosho coach Shawn Flannigan.
“The first win is always sweet whether it is your first win or your 50th, I’m sure,” Schoonover said. “We are getting better. What we need to talk about is the kids. This is the kind of win you can build on for the rest of the season.”
Said Neosho senior wide receiver/defensive back Jared Brown, “The first win is definitely exciting. It is one of the most memorable ones. Everyone knows the situation you are in. We all stayed together and we didn’t have as many mistakes as we did last week. Last week, we played decent on defense but the little things, like turnovers and penalties killed us.”
The storyline of the power running game that Neosho showcased, which finished with 399 yards of total offense – 322 coming on the ground.
Four of the team’s five touchdowns came through the ground game that had Tyler Rathmann doing an efficient job of running the show and for a change of pace, Blake Stauffer stepped into the role and ran a Neosho version of the “Wildcat offense” that many teams from high school the NFL have been using in recent years.
Neosho (1-1) methodically ran its way to the win scoring at least one rushing touchdown in each of the four quarters Friday.
On its second drive of the game, Neosho rattled off a 78-yard scoring drive in 14 plays – 11 of which were running plays.
The longest plays were a pair of 16-yard gains. Brown gained that amount when he took an option pitch from Rathmann. The two then connected on a 16-yard gain on the penultimate play of the drive. With Neosho set up at the 11-yard line, Rathmann ran it in for a touchdown with 1:31 left in the first quarter. Ryan Taylor’s point after attempt made it 7-0.
Rathmann had a 33-yard rush during Neosho’s first drive of the second quarter and got the Wildcats down to the 3-yard line. However, a missed field goal – though it appeared good from the press box – was missed to halt the drive.
The defense, after stopping Rogers again, set up the offense with a short field and it took only three plays to get on the scoreboard again. Stauffer – taking the snaps at quarterback – had runs of 11 and 14 yards. Taking his third straight snap at quarterback, Stauffer handed off to Will McDaniel who dashed 25 yards for a touchdown.
Neosho, thanks to the touchdown, led 13-0 at halftime.
The Wildcats had the ball only twice in the third quarter and put two more touchdowns on the board to all but end the game.
Staying with the ‘Wildcat’ formation, Stauffer and Rathmann combined to lead the Cats on an 8-play, 53-yard scoring drive on the team’s first possession of the third quarter. Stauffer had a 17-yard run the first play and Rathmann had an 11-yard jaunt. On 4th-and-1 from the Rogers’ 26-yard line, Rathmann drove through the line for a 3-yard gain. Two plays later, Stauffer capped the drive with a 20-yard touchdown pass from Rathmann.
“They found the thing that worked for them running that Wildcat formation and found a weakness in our defense and really exposed it,” Flannigan said. “We tried to adjust to it, but we couldn’t get it done.”
The Neosho defense – in posting its first shutout for the school since the 2007 season – killed the only scoring chance Rogers had late in the third quarter. Brown picked off a pass at the 9-yard line and returned it 35-yards to give Neosho good position on offense. It was Brown’s second pick of the game, but the first, in the first quarter, was negated on a defensive penalty.
A 49-yard run by McDaniel opened the drive and two plays later, Stauffer took a direct snap and scored on a 5-yard run, making it 25-0.
In the fourth quarter, backup running back Ryan Manuel sparked the team’s final scoring drive running for all 40 of his yards, capping it with a 3-yard touchdown. The PAT by Taylor was good, making it 32-0.
Stauffer ran 102 yards, while Rathmann racked up 80 and McDaniel had 72 yards on the ground. McDaniel had a 73-yard touchdown called back due to a holding call in the first half.
“If you look at our skill kids, we have Will who has top-end speed and we have a shifty runner in Blake who is kind of a down-hill kid,” Schoonover said. “The big thing is having confidence in your line and you have to give it to Gavin Rainwater, Riley Plew, Anthony Bates, Dalton Harris and Sibo Bohannon and on the back side, a kid in Jake Barnes, who has been playing tight end and doing a heck of a job at it.”
Schoonover expanded, “Every week Tyler is getting better and better. This was only his second starting at quarterback … the second game he has ever started at quarterback. He managed the football and he multiple opportunities in the flat, where he tucked it and ran. There was one play where he turned it up and ran eight yards and got us in 2nd-and-2 and we got the first down after that.”
The win for Schoonover was the first and came against his former boss in Flannigan.
“Shawn is my friend and he gave me a great opportunity, I wouldn’t have been here without him,” Schoonover said. “I appreciate everything he has done for me. I want him to be successful every game, except for when he plays Neosho. The win feels great, I am happy get things going in the right direction. We need to stay grounded. We have a very tough Republic coming in. They beat Willard by 30 points (in week one) and they are a great football team with a great coach (Kurt Thompson) and great athletes. We need to enjoy this win this weekend, but we need to move on the first of the week.”
