By Ryan Atkinson

ratkinson@joplinglobe.com

Joplin senior Dane Kolkmeyer was back with the team on Saturday after suffering a frightening injury in Joplin’s 63-48 win over West Plains on Friday night.

Joplin coach Doug Buckmaster said Kolkmeyer was released from the hospital after a few tests and was with the team during Saturday morning’s film session.

“Dane is doing good,” Buckmaster said. “We don’t know if he will return this week or not, but so far he’s fine.”

Kolkmeyer — who had already racked up a full game’s worth of offense — was injured when he caught his third touchdown of the night with 15 seconds left in the second quarter.

He was motionless in the end zone for a few minutes before regaining consciousness and all movement. He was then taken to a local hospital for tests.

“They still need to check couple things out, but he’s doing well,” Buckmaster said.

Kolkmeyer returned the opening kickoff 85 yards for a score and then caught nine passes for 107 yards and three more scores in the first half.

“Dane had a heck of a night in those two quarters,” Buckmaster said. “That is one heck of a half of football.”

Potent offense

The Joplin offense was nearly unstoppable, scoring touchdowns on nine of its 11 possessions.

“We have plenty of room to improve, but we played pretty well on offense,” Buckmaster said. “We executed better than we did in the first week and we had fewer mistakes.”

Joplin quarterback Devin St. Clair was 25-of-33 with 297 yards and six touchdowns. He threw a pair of interceptions, marking the only drives in which Joplin did not score.

Running game success