Scouting Ozark’s Class 6 District 5 first-round game at Waynesville on Friday:
Waynesville is Ozark’s fourth opponent this season with the nickname Tigers. …
Waynesville (2-7) and Ozark (1-8) haven’t met since 2017, when Ozark beat Waynesville 43-17 in a first-round Class 5 District 4 game. …
Ozark linebacker Parker Elliott went over the 100-tackle mark on the season last week at Nixa and upped his tackles total as a junior to 108. He was in on 10 tackles, including three solo stops, against the Eagles. Fellow 'Sharks' linebacker Charles Lawson has 68 tackles. ...
Ozark's passing game has dipped from an average of 135.3 yards a game through seven weeks to an average of 96.5 yards a night the last two weeks. Quarterback Peyton Russell was 12-of-16 passing for 90 yards last week against Nixa. ...
Ozark wide receiver Sam Clark is up to 51 catches for 633 yards and four touchdowns. He had five receptions for 33 yards at Nixa. ...
Ozark running back Kyle Fitzpatrick rushed four times for 39 yards and a touchdown against Nixa. ...
Waynesville has had only one winning season over the past 13 years. Waynesville hasn’t won more than three games the past four seasons and from 2015-2018 endured a 24-game losing streak. …
Waynesville is scoring an average of 22 points a game and giving up an average of 33.6. …
Kyle Barkley is in his second season as Waynesville’s head coach. He is a Conway Springs, Kansas, native and previously was a head coach for five seasons at Lexington and an assistant at Odessa and William Chrisman. …
Waynesville junior running back Michael Kelsey rushed for 1,075 yards as a sophomore. He’s listed as a 5-foot-10 160-pounder and has been timed at 4.53 seconds in the 40-yard dash. …
Kelsey has five siblings. Their father, Mike Kelsey, is an assistant coach at Waynesville.
Waynesville’s wins are against Parkview (0-9) and Hillcrest (1-8). All of Waynesville’s losses have been by at least two touchdowns. …
Waynesville won its District opener a year ago by blanking Springfield Central 18-0. …
Last week, Wayensville trailed 35-7 at halftime to West Plains en route to a 49-21 defeat. …
Waynesville had a new synthetic turf installed on its home field in 2022. …
Ozark’s school media team will be streaming the game live. …
The Ozark-Waynesville winner will meet No. 1 seed Nixa (9-0) in a semifinal game next week at Nixa.
