By Ryan Atkinson

ratkinson@joplinglobe.com

A roller coaster of a high school football season-opener ended with the Joplin Eagles letting out a sigh of relief.

The Eagles watched their comfortable halftime advantage evaporate before junior quarterback Devin St. Clair plunged into the end zone from a yard out with less that two minutes left to give Joplin a 35-28 win over the Glendale Falcons on Friday at Junge Field.

“I’m proud of our kids,” Joplin coach Doug Buckmaster said. “We were definitely facing a little bit of adversity and they stepped up and got the job done.”

Especially in the final minutes.

Glendale scored the last of its 21 unanswered points when quarterback Kevin Redmon found the end zone from a yard out to tie the game at 28 with just 4:10 remaining.

But St. Clair, making his first varsity start, led Joplin on a seven-play, 82-yard drive that was highlighted by his 45-yard pass to Dane Kolkmeyer that gave the Eagles a first down at the Falcon 10.

Kolkmeyer, who finished the night with six receptions for 98 yards, ran an impressive route to get past a pair of Glendale defenders before hauling in St. Clair’s long pass.

“The corner didn’t start back pedaling,” Kolkmeyer said. “He kind of slow-played it ... and the safety did the same. They kind of stepped in a little bit for that fake and I was able to get over the top.”

Four plays later, St. Clair snuck into the end zone from just inches out to give the Eagles the lead with 1:40 to play.

“ The game was on the line and we had to put the ball in the end zone,” Buckmaster said. “Our kids have confidence in moving the football ... and it was very important that we go score there in that situation because with the offense Glendale has, they can move the ball in a hurry.”

Glendale moved the ball to midfield with 35 seconds left, but a reverse pass went awry and Larinzo Hackett jumped on a loose ball to seal the win.

“I felt like we were running out of time at midfield, so we had a little reverse pass and we thought we’d run it and see if we could get a big chunk of yardage,” Glendale coach Joel Heman said. “The exchange was missed and that’s one of those first-game things ... you’re tired, you’re fatigued and you’re not quite executing the way you wanted to.”

The Falcon offense, after scoring just once in the first half, came alive in the second half and erased Joplin’s 21-point cushion