Nixa has received rare post-season recognition from COC coaches by leading all conference teams in players named All-COC First-Team while not winning the league championship.
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For all the adulation Kickapoo is receiving and to a lesser extent, the hype train is rolling in Nixa, as well, Ozark beat both the Chiefs and Eagles last season.
Colin Ruffin was generally regarded a year ago at this time as a backup whose emergence on the varsity level was probably still a year away. His name didn’t appear in any Nixa pre-season previews.
Quinn Nelson left quite an impression during his high-scoring senior season at Ozark three years ago on a certain Tigers freshman.
When Ozark coach Tod Sundlie did some interior designing on the Tigers’ wrestling room, he sought out signs with various words of motivation from the mouths of legends in sports. One placard includes a succinct statement from Olympic gold medalist and highly successful Iowa coach Dan Gable.
Riley Childs feels his body of work at Nixa should be enough to already make him a bona-fide college prospect.
Ozark’s Dillon Holesapple and Nixa’s Nick Reid capped their senior seasons by being named to the Class 4 All-State Team, as chosen by the Missouri High Schools Soccer Coaches Association.
After being convinced to give football a try his senior year at Nixa, Smith Wheeler is now hearing talk that maybe he should think about catching the pigskin at the college level.
As part of the Headliner News’ coverage of the 2020 Ozark football season, sports editor Pat Dailey engaged in a Q’s and A’s session with Tigers coach Chad Depee:
Nixa pitcher Isaac Mitchell passed along word to his teammates last summer that the Eagles would be receiving help, with a senior shortstop coming on board via the transfer route.
Kaleb Wofford was able to take pride in being back to his smooth-shooting self as a junior last season. He showed resilience by bouncing back from a subpar sophomore season.
Despite being only seven miles apart and sharing a unique last name, Clever’s Jake Tennis and Billings’ Kyle Tennis aren’t cousins.
Not many freshmen have the kind of unofficial high school debut Nixa’s Brenya Crahan enjoyed last week.
Going on his fourth year as a starting guard for Nixa, Kaleb Wofford hasn’t been part of a District championship team. In fact, his senior class could be the first to go through high school without celebrating at least one Eagles District title since the graduating class of 2007.
HEADLINER-AREA FOOTBALL LEADERS
Nixa’s Sydney Golden is an all-stater for the second straight season, this year as a member of the Class 5 All-State Team, as voted on by the Missouri High Schools Volleyball Coaches Association.
