Howerton had just 57 yards passing in the first half, but finished 23-of-42 for 252 yards and a score.

“When you run a spread offense, I believe rhythm is extremely important,” Lebanon coach Will Christian said. “In the first half Joplin was doing a lot of good, quality things to take us out of that rhythm; first with pressure and secondly with being aggressive on our receivers.”

While Joplin’s final drive was dominated by the run, the Eagles came up big though the air in key situations. Facing a 2nd-and-20 from the Joplin 39, St. Clair found Dane Kolkmeyer for an 11-yard gain and then hit Nguyen on a perfect comeback route to grab the first down by a yard.

“It’s usually to me and it was one-on-one, so we basically called it to my side,” Nguyen said. “I knew how to get that first down and that’s what I did. It was a big first down for us, so I had to make sure I got it.”

Joplin was impressive in its 24-point second quarter.

Jonathan Warden booted a 22-yard field goal for the game’s first points early in the second. After the Eagle defense held Lebanon on a 4th-and-five, St. Clair found Kolkmeyer on consecutive plays for a 22-yard gain and a 61-yard touchdown strike.

King scored from three yards out before St. Clair and Kolkmeyer hooked up again — this time from four yards out — to make it 24-0 with just 56 seconds to play in the half.

Kolkmeyer had another impressive night, catching 12 passes for 176 yards and two scores. Nguyen caught six passes for 70 yards while Cory Macy had 86 yards on five receptions.

Archer had five catches for 120 yards for Lebanon while Howerton complimented his 252 passing yards with 76 on the ground.

The two teams combined for 885 yards of offense — 453 from Joplin and 432 from Lebanon.