SPRINGFIELD — A surge by Ozark’s offense at the end of the Tigers' regular season carried over to the start of their post-season.
Matter of fact, Ozark kicked off Class 4 District 5 play Wednesday by ripping Republic 4-1, the same the score coach Zack Owens’ team beat Waynesville to close regular-season play a week ago.
Just as he did against Waynesville, Micah Thrasher netted a pair of goals opposite Republic.
A year after Caleb Lepant posted a school-record 37 goals, Thrasher became the first Ozark player Wednesday to reach double figures in goals this season. However, his scoring and his teammates’ scoring is on an upward trend.
Ozark has averaged 2.8 goals a night over its last 12 matches, after its norm was 2.3 in its first 14 matches.
“Earlier in the season, it was the defense that was leading us,” Thrasher said. “Our offense wasn't excelling like it was supposed to. Now, the defense is doing what it needs to do and the offense is putting it in the back of the net.”
Trey Burton and Brady Schupp joined Thrasher in the scoring column against Republic.
“We've struggled a little bit finding the ball in the back of the net. But as we've gone along, we've been finding corners,” Schupp said. “Tonight, guys stayed composed in front of the net and got the job done.”
“We haven't been scoring much, but we've been putting it in the net when it matters at the end of the season,” Burton said “We’re doing a much better job finishing.”
Ozark was seemingly in constant attack mode while scoring all of its goals against Republic in the first half.
“We haven't been the biggest scoring team this year, but we've got kids who can score,” Owens said. “We put some focus into our attack and it showed tonight. We knew we were going to have to get the ball off our feet quick, hence why we worked on our attack so much. We wanted to have an idea what we were going to do with the ball before it even comes to our feet.
“I'm proud of the boys,” he added. “We played a phenomenal first half and entire game.”
“We put it to them on the first whistle,” Thrasher said. “That’s what we need to do. Most of the time, we've been a second-half team.”
"We were pushing, pushing, pushing. Our attack showed up tonight,” Schupp added. “Our spacing and ball movement, everything's coming together.”
Indeed, the overwhelming feeling in Ozark’s camp is the Tigers are peaking at the most opportune time.
“This is the perfect time to peak,” said Burton, who has nine goals. “You want to be playing your worst soccer at the beginning of the year and your best soccer at the end of the year.”
"We're playing our best soccer,” Thrasher said.
Owens was pleased how his players responded to a week’s rest.
"We prepared and I feel our results showed how prepared we were,” he said. “We enjoyed a little bit of rest and stayed hungry. Our minds were in it and we were ready to go.”
“Usually, we're go-go-go with practices and matches,” Schupp said. “After working on the things we knew we needed to work on, it felt refreshing getting out here tonight and getting the job done.”
"We were all kind of banged up, so the rest was really nice and much needed,” Burton said. “It showed up. You could see we were all eager to get out here, win and dominate.”
Ozark (18-8) moves on to the semifinal round against Nixa at 7 p.m. under Friday night lights.
