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Fourth-down failures seal Nixa’s fate in District semifinal loss at Joplin

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JOPLIN — Nixa defensive lineman John Gholson and Joplin quarterback Always Wright were glad to see each other Friday and not just because of their high regard for each other.

Wright and six other Joplin starters returned from a one-game suspension to hand Gholson and Nixa a 24-13 Class 6 District 3 semifinal defeat.

“It was good to play against him,” Gholson said. “I wouldn’t want to play against them when they were at their worst. I wanted to play them at their best. I’m glad their whole team was out here. I don’t want any excuses. Excuses are for babies. I’m here to beat everybody at their best.”

Wright completed 14-of-19 passes for 125 yards and ran seven times for 85 yards. He engineered a 46-yard drive that took all of the final six minutes off the clock and capped the night with a four-yard touchdown run.

“We were ready to put (the suspensions) behind us,” Wright said. “We were happy to be back. But we couldn’t get too excited about just being back. We had to go beat Nixa.”

Wright and Gholson got to renew their friendship during scrums at the line of scrimmage. 

“Always is a a dual-threat QB, a great runner and a thrower,” Gholson said. ”He’s a great guy.”

“I’ll take that as a big compliment,” Wright said when relayed Gholson’s kind words. “I’m going to reach out to him. John is an outstanding player. We have a mutual respect.”

With the teams tied at 10 at halftime and neither offense able to break open a play of more than 30 yards, it seemed third-down conversions or third-down stops would decide the outcome. Instead, it turned out to be two fourth-down stops by Joplin’s defense and a fourth-down conversion by Joplin’s offense that loomed ever so large.

Nixa had a drive stall at the Joplin 3-yard line in the first half, after two runs produced no gain and a fourth-down pass fell incomplete.

With Joplin holding a 17-13 lead midway through the fourth quarter, Nixa faced a fourth-and-six at its own 46. Coach John Perry initially sent his punt team onto the field intent on trying to pass for a first down. But he was forced to call a timeout and then sent his offense onto the field. An ensuing pass fell incomplete.

“We had slipped a backup quarterback in there and had a play we’ve worked on where if they don’t see (a receiver) running off the field, we snap it and throw it to him,” Perry said of his proposed fake punt attempt. “As it turned out, we had a guy not go out on the field, so it would have been turned back for not having enough guys on the line of scrimmage. We recognized that (and called the timeout).

“We weren’t going to get (the ball) back,” he added about going for the first down. “They’re good on offense and the quarterback is kind of an eraser. When they had to have a play, he always made the play. In a game like this, when the quarterback can pull it down and take off with it and get a first down with his feet, that’s huge.”

Nixa indeed didn’t get the ball back, as Joplin running back Quentin Renfro moved the chains. He gained a first down on fourth-and-one with 1:30 play at the Nixa 25-yard line. Renfro finished with 28 carries for 106 yards.

“He was a dog tonight. Kudos to him for taking all those hits and going north and south and not juking too much,” Wright said. “The game was about physicality all night. I feel we were a little more physical than them. That won us the game. We pushed through in big moments.”

“Class 6 is tough. Big teams and big guys,” Gholson said. “You would try to get lower than the other guy and if he got lower than you, you were kind of screwed. It was tough at the line. They ran hard and were able to get a few extra yards after the hit.”

“There were definitely a lot of big plays tonight on third and fourth downs. and they converted on fourth down at the end of the game,” Nixa quarterback Connor Knatcal said. “It would have been nice if we could have got the ball back. But that’s how it goes sometimes.”

Perry bemoaned Nixa having to settle for field goals on two drives.

“We got into the red zone and they stopped us a couple times and we did not stop them. That was the difference in the game,” Perry said. “It was unlike us. We have been really good in the red zone. Tonight, we couldn’t stick it in. Some of that was being down a couple running backs. That’s not to make an excuse, but some of that is what it was. But some it was they were whipping our butts inside. Hats off to them for doing that.”

Perry went to freshman Dylan Rebura at running back for most of the night, after Spencer Ward was injured in the first quarter. Rebura responded with nine carries for 34 yards.

Knatcal completed 22-of-35 passes for 242 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown to Austin McCracken. Wide receiver Kael Combs had six receptions for 86 yards. In the teams’ regular-season matchup, Combs had nine catches for 241 yards.

Most of Knatcal’s completions were on passes underneath Joplin’s secondary.

“Most of our plays were chunk plays of 10-15 yards to try to get the first down,” Knatcal said. “They were dropping their safeties pretty far back because the last time we played them Kael was beating them every play. They were trying to not let that happen again. So, we were taking what they were giving us. We were getting the underneath, hitch route. That was working for us.”

Even in defeat, both Perry and Knatcal agreed with Gholson that they were glad to see Wright play.

“No doubt about it. You don’t want to come here and play somebody who has only half their team,” Perry said. “We were glad they were playing. We fully expected them to play.”

“If we wouldn’t have played them at full strength and beat them, they could have said we lost because of that,” Knatcal said. “ I love competition. We all love competition. That’s why we play sports. So, it was great to play the best Joplin we could have played.”

Joplin 24, Nixa 13

Nixa    3 7 3 0 - 13

Joplin 7 3 7 7 - 24

Scoring

N — James 40 FG

J — VanGilder 4 run (Ipsen kick)

N — McCracken 12 pass from Knatcal (James kick)

J — Ipsen 28 FG

N — James 28 FG

J — Renfro 1 run (Ipsen kick)

J — Wright 4 run (Ipsen kick)

 


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