By Levi Payton

sports@joplinglobe.com

The Kickapoo Chiefs came to Joplin High School Wednesday and proved why they are the No. 1 ranked team in Southwest Missouri.

Armed with a strong-footed scoring attack and a defense that swarms the ball, the Chiefs put up two quick goals and never looked back as they thumped the Eagles 5-1 in the Ozark Conference game.

Kickapoo scored twice within the first 10 minutes of the game on goals from senior captain Heath Melugin. His first goal came on a penalty kick after a tripping call. Before the Eagles knew it Melugin was sinking the ball in the back of the net once again to make it 2-0.

“I think after the PK our team let down a little bit,” Eagles coach Ed Miller said. “Up until that point I thought we were playing even with them, but they scored again real quick and I think our team had a bit of a let down at that point.”

Melugin scored again in the second half to give him the hat trick.

Joplin finally rebounded in the second period, but it was too little too late as the Eagles already trailed 4-1 at the break.

“We kind of had our eye on this game for a couple weeks,” Chiefs coach Dave Shmitz said.

Offensively, the Chiefs managed to string passes together that got them deep in JHS territory and allowed them to get several nice looks at the net.

Had Eagles keeper John McDermid not been on his toes all night, the score could have been much worse.

“I thought their keeper did a pretty good job,” Shmitz said. “We were able