Ozark coach Chad Depee and Nixa offensive coordinator Dustin Baldwin both have ties to Republic, but weren’t on the same staff together.
However, they have worked together.
Depee and Baldwin spearheaded efforts to form the Show-Me South Youth Football League beginning in 2018.
"I wanted to make some improvements to our youth league and when Dustin came to Republic, we visited at a (coaches) clinic and started the talks," Depee said. "We said, 'Let's do this.' Four or five years later and there are 20-some teams in the third through sixth grades."
The Show-Me South Youth League now includes COC members Ozark, Nixa, Branson, Republic, and Willard, Big Eight members Rogersville, Cassville, Aurora, Reeds Spring, Hollister, Marshfield, Ozark Conference member Bolivar, Mid-Lakes Conference members Forsyth, Clever, Strafford and Fair Grove and Ozark Highlands Conference member Buffalo.
“We've been fortunate to see our league grow and grow,” Depee said. “We have had like-minded folks who decided to join in.”
"I'm very proud of the league and Chad is too," Baldwin said. "I think it will pay great dividends in the long run for southwest Missouri football and COC football specifically.”
Depee was compelled to make changes on the local youth football scene after seeing the league the COC's five Joplin-area schools — Joplin, Webb City, Carthage, Neosho and Carl Junction — were a part of while he was at Monett.
The COC’s five Springfield-area schools have to hope Nixa earning a share of the COC championship by sweeping Carthage, Joplin and Webb City will be part of a trend and that there is a shift of power to the east.
Each year, Ozark, Nixa, Republic, Branson and Willard are welcoming aboard more and more players who are products of the Show-Me South Youth League.
“Our juniors would have been sixth graders when we got it going,” Depee said. “We're just now starting to get groups of kids who have been through it (all five years) Kids in junior high have had it since they were in the third grade.”
