My general thoughts on the season and moving into post season…
Joplin - I wasn’t sure about them. Losing a lot of starters I halfway expected them to fall a bit short of the sky high expectations even though they returned key talent. But they haven’t missed a beat. I like their chances but it’s always tough to predict how they will do vs Class 6 schools from other parts of the state that play Class 6 schedule all season. Last year Joplin proved they could hang so we’ll see about this year.
Webb City - They started the season looking to me like a team that could beat most of the COC but maybe not a state caliber team. But their defense has been astounding and they are playing well. Having said that their path to the final is tough. A potential district vs WP is far from a gimme and the road beyond there gets even worse. But if they make it to the final, I like their chances vs anyone on the other side of the bracket.
Carthage - Based on the returning talent and things I heard, I expected reverse roles from what we've seen with Carthage and Joplin - with Carthage turbo clocking nearly ever opponent and Joplin winning most of their games but looking really clunky here and there along the way. But this team has not been the same since Webb City. Injuries have been a factor since then but penalties, and ‘minor’ mistakes have been a factor since game 1. Passing has been problematic to fall back on when in a tight spot offensively. But still, for the most part they’ve done what needed to be done to win games. In my mind Carthage is a solid team that still isn’t quite playing to full potential. Their quadrant of the bracket looks by far the weakest in C5 so that may give them a few weeks work out some kinks and injuries.
After that we’ve got CJ, Ozark, Nixa, and Willard all with just 4 wins, then Repmo, Neosho and Branson rounding out the bottom. None of them seem likely to do much other than beat each other in early rounds. I think it's a long shot but it’s conceivable Carthage could be upset in their district, perhaps by Nixa.
Overall the COC was as expected with 3 good teams and then everyone else. I’d really like to see some of these schools, specifically Nixa, Ozark, Branson get back to where they’ve been in the recent past and force a more challenging league. Really there is not a single school in this conference that doesn’t have the potential be good in my opinion. Willard always seems to be on the cusp of turning a corner. Neosho always has big athletic kids but coaching turnover among other things has been an issue there. If Republic had defense they might have won a lot of games.
Joplin - I wasn’t sure about them. Losing a lot of starters I halfway expected them to fall a bit short of the sky high expectations even though they returned key talent. But they haven’t missed a beat. I like their chances but it’s always tough to predict how they will do vs Class 6 schools from other parts of the state that play Class 6 schedule all season. Last year Joplin proved they could hang so we’ll see about this year.
Webb City - They started the season looking to me like a team that could beat most of the COC but maybe not a state caliber team. But their defense has been astounding and they are playing well. Having said that their path to the final is tough. A potential district vs WP is far from a gimme and the road beyond there gets even worse. But if they make it to the final, I like their chances vs anyone on the other side of the bracket.
Carthage - Based on the returning talent and things I heard, I expected reverse roles from what we've seen with Carthage and Joplin - with Carthage turbo clocking nearly ever opponent and Joplin winning most of their games but looking really clunky here and there along the way. But this team has not been the same since Webb City. Injuries have been a factor since then but penalties, and ‘minor’ mistakes have been a factor since game 1. Passing has been problematic to fall back on when in a tight spot offensively. But still, for the most part they’ve done what needed to be done to win games. In my mind Carthage is a solid team that still isn’t quite playing to full potential. Their quadrant of the bracket looks by far the weakest in C5 so that may give them a few weeks work out some kinks and injuries.
After that we’ve got CJ, Ozark, Nixa, and Willard all with just 4 wins, then Repmo, Neosho and Branson rounding out the bottom. None of them seem likely to do much other than beat each other in early rounds. I think it's a long shot but it’s conceivable Carthage could be upset in their district, perhaps by Nixa.
Overall the COC was as expected with 3 good teams and then everyone else. I’d really like to see some of these schools, specifically Nixa, Ozark, Branson get back to where they’ve been in the recent past and force a more challenging league. Really there is not a single school in this conference that doesn’t have the potential be good in my opinion. Willard always seems to be on the cusp of turning a corner. Neosho always has big athletic kids but coaching turnover among other things has been an issue there. If Republic had defense they might have won a lot of games.
