By Jim Fryar
The Joplin Globe
—
The time a football team normally makes its greatest improvement is between the first and second games of the season.
That would be perfect timing for the Joplin offense to take a step forward, coach Doug Buckmaster said Thursday night.
The Eagles will play a second straight home game today, meeting West Plains at 7 p.m. at Junge Field.
The Joplin offense performed well under duress in an opening 17-14 victory over Glendale. But overall, the Eagles’ attack sputtered and stuttered before the final drive for a 25-yard, game-winning field goal by Keegan Tinney with 6.6 seconds remaining.
“Offensively, we just need to be more consistent all the way around,” Buckmaster said. “We need to eliminate the penalties (two personal fouls and some holding calls) and we need to sustain our drives and get the ball into the end zone.”
Otherwise, the Eagles received high marks for their first-game performance.
New West Plains coach Jack Randolph did not see that type of an opening performance. The Zizzers started the season with a 49-6 loss to Lebanon. And it wasn’t that close. The Yellowjackets took advantage of early turnovers to lead 42-0 by halftime.
Randolph, longtime coach at Marshfield, replaced Greg Simpkins. The Zizzers have 14 returning starters among 30 available lettermen, but are implementing new offensive and defensive systems.
“They did a couple of good things early (against Lebanon),” Buckmaster said after watching the game film. “They had a couple of big plays called back by penalties. ... From what I understand, they were going to make some personnel changes, move some kids around.”
West Plains also changed its defensive set between its jamboree, at league rival Waynesville, and its opening game.
The Zizzers’ lone points came in the fourth quarter against Lebanon, on a pass from junior veteran quarterback Sam Womack to Quintin Wade.
The Joplin staff was pleased with the debut of its two-platoon system against Glendale. The only negative was the loss of senior defensive tackle Larinzo Hackett with a broken fibia which has probably ended his season.
“We played very well,” Buckmaster said. “We need to be able to defend the option game (against West Plains).
Special-teams play was another highlight for the Eagles.
“The kids did a nice job in punt protection and Cameron (Rector, a junior) really kicked well,” Buckmaster said. Rector averaged 41.7 yards on three punts.
“Our kickoff coverage, the one that was in play, the kids did a tremendous job of covering,” Buckmaster said. “Our PAT and field goal teams did a nice job.”
Junor quarterback Aaron Frost, in his first varsity start, finished strong against Glendale and completed 20 of 38 passes for 178 yards. Junior Dayton Whitehead had 12 receptions for 106 yards. Sophomore running back Chris Payton-Barba had 26 carries for 107 yards.
The Eagles hit the road the next two weeks for Ozark Conference games at Hillcrest and Parkview.
