Jace Whatley was pleased his right shoulder held up Friday and that he didn’t have to reach up above him to haul in any passes.
The junior tight end had missed Ozark’s last three games with a sprained collarbone and sternum.
“When I’m on Ibuprofen it feels pretty good,” Whatley said of his shoulder. “When I’m reaching up (for a pass), it’s okay. It could feel worse. Mostly, all the passes tonight were right where I wanted them.”
Problem was there weren’t quite enough of them and not nearly as many offensive plays as Ozark would have liked in its 63-42 loss to Neosho.
After coming back to even things up at 28 with a minute-plus left in the first half, the Tigers did not get a stop defensively in the final minute of the first half and not at all in the second half.
Neosho’s play-count in its 28-point second half was 40, while Ozark ran 28 plays. At one juncture in the second half, the Wildcats had 33 offensive plays to the Tigers’ 14.
Ozark entered the game hoping to play ball-control to keep the ball away from Neosho’s potent offense.
“That was the idea, but it didn’t work out,” quarterback Brady Dodd said.
The Wildcats ended up being the ones to play ball-control.
Running back Jared Siler carried the ball a whopping 24 times for 113 yards in the second half alone. Quarterback Quenton Hughes completed 11-of-12 passes for 136 yards, also in the second half.
“They’re very good offensively and we knew it. They’ve done a good job all year long,” Ozark coach Chad Depee said. “They did a good job running the ball and they can throw it around, whether it be a vertical passing or the screen game. They keep you guessing and keep you honest.
“We didn’t want a back and forth game,” he added. “We wanted to get some stops and use some things we can be good at and control the ball. But they did their job.”
Whatley, who also returned to Ozark’s lineup defensively at outside linebacker, gave Neosho credit for keeping the Tigers on their toes.
“You think Neosho ad that they’re pass-first,” Whatley said. “But then with (Siler), you have to key on him. He’s kind of shifty. He took one step, planted and would go and get about five yards every time. They also have very good speed. They have fast kids on the perimeter.”
One reason Ozark’s offense wasn’t quite able to keep pace with Neosho was the Tigers’ special teams. Ozark fumbled on a kickoff return in the first half and at the beginning of the second half.
“When you have a hard time getting them stopped, those little things come up and bite you,” Depee said. “We needed everything to go right for us tonight. Battling back right before the half we put ourselves in a good situation. We gave up the late score, but felt we were getting the ball (at the start of the second half) and we could square it back up and it would be a ball game in the fourth quarter. But it didn’t bounce our way and we were playing catch-up the rest of the game.”
Whatley, who had three catches for 30 yards in the second half and hauled in a two-point conversion pass in the first half, was back for the first time since being injured in Week Three versus Joplin.
“We missed him the last few weeks,’ Depee said,. “I don’t know if he’s 100 percent. But it was good to see him back on the field.”
“I’m so thankful (the collarbone) wasn’t broken. God blessed me on that one,” Whatley said. “Oh my gosh, those three weeks it was so hard to watch. I was there for my teammates but not being out there for my teammates, it was painful. Coming back feels so good. Not coming off bumps and bruises and feeling refreshed, I felt like a new player tonight.”
The shootout was more of the same for Ozark. The Tigers have allowed 40 points or more in five games and over the past three weeks have yielded 167 points.
The Tigers’ offensive players, many of whom are also their defensive players, didn’t take much consolation in putting up 42 points.
Dodd and running back Gage Depee both had a pair of touchdown runs, running back Jacon Kronebusch had a touchdown run and Dodd and wideout Ethan Sutherland teamed up for a 20-yard touchdown pass.
“Our offense did what we could. Our defense we did what we could,” Sutherland said. “There’s a lot of improvement we can make.”
“Wins are the big thing,” Dodd said. “We can sit here and say that we want to keep improving every week and we’re putting up good numbers on offense, but we’re 1-6 now. There is some soul searching that needs to be done as a team.”
