With his strawberry-blonde locks requiring a hair-band to keep his bangs out of his face, Kaleb James hears comments from friends that he resembles Sunshine from “Remember The Titans” or Prince Charming from “Shrek.”
James has grown his hair longer than ever before and he’s also grown like never before. From 6-foot-1 and 160 pounds as a sophomore to 6-3 and 180 now as a junior, the Nixa center-back is suddenly a physical presence.
“I get told all the time by my freshman teachers, or even my sophomore teachers, that it seems like I keep growing,” James said. “As a freshman going up against seniors, I was getting destroyed by all those big, masculine dudes. It’s nice now not to be the little, skinny dude who gets hammered all the time. I can play way more physical and compete with the bigger kids.”
James combined with fellow defenders Seth Weatherfield and Caiden Cloud to shut out highly-touted Carlton Epps in Nixa’s 3-1 victory versus Branson on Tuesday.
Epps’ 41 goals during his all-state junior season last year included a pair of goals against the Eagles. But he couldn’t find the back of the net this time.
“He’s torched us in the past,” Nixa coach Evan Palmer said. “He’s tough to handle. He’s really good on the ball, has good vision, looks to find his teammates and is a great finisher. To keep him off the board tonight was pretty good. Our three main center-backs. did a fantastic job on him. We had some guys on the outside help, too, with Landon Myers and Zack Voelker, Corey Kemp, Presley Sundy, Jake McClain and Adam Matlock. We had a lot of guys help us defensively.”
The Eagles had their eyes and minds on Epps constantly.
“They’ve got a good all-around team, but he was our target guy,” Weatherfield said. “Not letting him turn was our focus. He had maybe three or four turns, but then he would dribble and we would find a way to get the ball away from him. We were seeing where he could go and beating him there.”
“He’s going to be one of the better players we face. He’s very dynamic,” James said. “We matched up very well on him. When he had his back to us, we dropped one of our wing-backs in and doubled him. Whenever he touched the ball, we almost always had two people on him. We wanted to keep our bodies between him and the goal at all times. Whenever he had his back to us, we stepped hard and made sure he couldn’t cut one way and take the ball the other way.”
Palmer has enjoyed watching James develop.
“He really shot up,” Palmer said. “He’s starting to get fast and quick, along with his size. It’s nice to have a guy in the middle who can ‘head’ everything out. That’s so frustrating for other teams.”
“Being best buds with him, I’ve seen him shoot up and I’m still here (at 5-8),” Weatherfield said.
Weatherfield provides Nixa’s defense exceptional quickness.
“Seth has been solid all year. His quickness is his big asset,” Palmer said. “It’s his quickness, not only with his feet, but his thoughts, that stands out. He’s able to see things happen before they do.”
“My main thing is protecting Kaleb and covering for him,” Weatherfield said. “I focus on being faster and seeing where the play is going, so I can defend make a run with a guy and stop him.”
The Eagles are counting on Cloud to be the final piece to their defensive puzzle. Cloud was moved from midfielder to defender last week. So far, so good.
“Caiden can play about anywhere,” Palmer said. “We needed someone to solidify our back line and he’s done a great job back there.”
“It’s locked up our defense,” Weatherfield said. “Yes, we still allow silly goals. But we’re working on it and are getting better. We’ve cleaned things up and are putting ourselves in a better position for the rest of the season.”
On the offensive side, Andrew Butler continues to emerge into a star. He netted a pair of goals. Colin Cash also scored for the Eagles (4-4 overall and 2-2 in the COC).
