ADVERTISEMENT

COC Week #3

Eagles_Ball

Well-Known Member
Dec 19, 2003
12,554
3,441
113
Week 2 saw at least one minor to major surprise, depending on your viewpoint. Branson downs Carthage by a couple of TDs. Is Branson that improved? Is Carthage that bad? Little bit of both? And depending on your view of the transitive property, Joplin beats Willard by just that same couple TD margin, granted one was basically as time expired on Joplin's JV. Is Joplin just uninspired? Is Renfro being out that big of an issue. Is Willard competitive? REPMO flexed on Ozark a bit. Looked more like what others thought REPMO might look like in week #1 as well. Webb and Nixa did what most (if not all) thought they'd do in week 2.

Week 3 Matchups
  • Webb @ REPMO
  • Nixa @ Carthage
  • Ozark @ Joplin
  • Branson @ Willard
  • Neosho @ CJ
My thoughts...which aren't worth much
  • REPMO wins a close one in what I think is the game of the week. Webb's D giving up four scores to an extremely run heavy CJ last week seems worrisome. REPMO can run at will, dare I say on another level than CJ. And their passing attack is more than capable. O/U on this one could be about 87.5, and that might be conservative.
  • Nixa does what Nixa does and goes to Carthage and wins by 2+ scores.
  • Joplin's D is just too good to allow a young and inexperienced Ozark offense to get much done. Talent and athleticism will win out in this one.
  • This one will tell us a little on how much either team has improved. I think Branson wins by a couple scores.
  • Interesting matchup. Neosho's run D isn't great. CJ's pass D (or run D) isn't great. Neosho can pitch it around. CJ has a capable ground attack. Lots of points in this one too. Gimmie Neosho in a close one.
Some, at least on the surface, interesting matchups in week #3. The potential exists to have three or four closely contested games.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Craig Hull
Week 2 saw at least one minor to major surprise, depending on your viewpoint. Branson downs Carthage by a couple of TDs. Is Branson that improved? Is Carthage that bad? Little bit of both? And depending on your view of the transitive property, Joplin beats Willard by just that same couple TD margin, granted one was basically as time expired on Joplin's JV. Is Joplin just uninspired? Is Renfro being out that big of an issue. Is Willard competitive? REPMO flexed on Ozark a bit. Looked more like what others thought REPMO might look like in week #1 as well. Webb and Nixa did what most (if not all) thought they'd do in week 2.

Week 3 Matchups
  • Webb @ REPMO
  • Nixa @ Carthage
  • Ozark @ Joplin
  • Branson @ Willard
  • Neosho @ CJ
My thoughts...which aren't worth much
  • REPMO wins a close one in what I think is the game of the week. Webb's D giving up four scores to an extremely run heavy CJ last week seems worrisome. REPMO can run at will, dare I say on another level than CJ. And their passing attack is more than capable. O/U on this one could be about 87.5, and that might be conservative.
  • Nixa does what Nixa does and goes to Carthage and wins by 2+ scores.
  • Joplin's D is just too good to allow a young and inexperienced Ozark offense to get much done. Talent and athleticism will win out in this one.
  • This one will tell us a little on how much either team has improved. I think Branson wins by a couple scores.
  • Interesting matchup. Neosho's run D isn't great. CJ's pass D (or run D) isn't great. Neosho can pitch it around. CJ has a capable ground attack. Lots of points in this one too. Gimmie Neosho in a close one.
Some, at least on the surface, interesting matchups in week #3. The potential exists to have three or four closely contested games.
Neosho lost their starting defensive tackles before and during the 1st quarter of the first game , the backups are young and small . Their d line might average 210-215 pounds . I’ll take any team that has a power running game over them
 
Watched the CJ at Webb game on TV live, the next morning rewatched video of the game so I could slow down a couple of plays and see it things a little better. CJ had 69 offensive snaps ... 45 carries for 187 rush, 13 of 24 for 171 pass. 18/13 was the first down totals. CJ did exactly what Hafner's offense is supposed to do in regards to possess the ball and shorten the game. Webb City averaged 10 yards a carry (23 carries, 230 yards) and added 116 pass on 6 of 9 passing between the two quarterbacks. 69 to 32 advantage on offensive snaps.

CJ had three turnovers, an interception on the third play of the game, an interception on the first play of the second quarter and an interception on the last play of the game ... those three takeaways turned into seven points.

Webb City returned a kickoff for a touchdown and should have had a fourth takeaway on special teams before halftime but an inadvertent whistle while the ball was loose resulted in a rekick. I guess you could add it up like this: Special teams was +7, defense with three takeaways one resulting in a score four plays later was +7 and the offense was +7, add it all up it's a three score victory.

I think the Webb City defense is better than advertised. Nixa scored 14 at home in week 1? If I'm a defensive coordinator and I keep a team like Nixa to two touchdowns on its own field, that's a W in my book.
Not worried about Webb City at this point. A part of me is starting to think the Joplin/Webb game in week 4 is going to be a lot of fun to watch, defintely worth buying a ticket ... but hey, since KSN is going to broadcast that game locally, can stay home and watch it too.

A part of me thinks since this season has seen some unusual twists, we're headed for a split championship in the COC. Assume for a minute Webb defeats Joplin, Joplin then finds a way to win over Nixa at home ... three-way split? Or what if Republic decides they want a say and find a way to upset one of those three handing one of them a second loss? It could get crazy down the stretch, but something tells me after this week, with 1/3 of the season complete, I believe we will all have a better feel for where each team stands.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: mosofan
Watched the CJ at Webb game on TV live, the next morning rewatched video of the game so I could slow down a couple of plays and see it things a little better. CJ had 69 offensive snaps ... 45 carries for 187 rush, 13 of 24 for 171 pass. 18/13 was the first down totals. CJ did exactly what Hafner's offense is supposed to do in regards to possess the ball and shorten the game. Webb City averaged 10 yards a carry (23 carries, 230 yards) and added 116 pass on 6 of 9 passing between the two quarterbacks. 69 to 32 advantage on offensive snaps.

CJ had three turnovers, an interception on the third play of the game, an interception on the first play of the second quarter and an interception on the last play of the game ... those three takeaways turned into seven points.

Webb City returned a kickoff for a touchdown and should have had a fourth takeaway on special teams before halftime but an inadvertent whistle while the ball was loose resulted in a rekick. I guess you could add it up like this: Special teams was +7, defense with three takeaways one resulting in a score four plays later was +7 and the offense was +7, add it all up it's a three score victory.

I think the Webb City defense is better than advertised. Nixa scored 14 at home in week 1? If I'm a defensive coordinator and I keep a team like Nixa to two touchdowns on its own field, that's W in my book.
Not worried about Webb City at this point. A part of me is starting to think the Joplin/Webb game in week 4 is going to be a lot of fun to watch, defintely worth buying a ticket ... but hey, since KSN is going to broadcast that game locally, can stay home and watch it too.

A part of me thinks since this season has seen some unusual twists, we're headed for a split championship in the COC. Assume for a minute Webb defeats Joplin, Joplin then finds a way to win over Nixa at home ... three-way split? Or what if Republic decides they want a say and find away to upset one of those three handing one of them a second loss? It could get crazy down the stretch, but something tells me after this week, with 1/3 of the season complete, I believe we will all have a better feel for where each team stands.
Thought The same thing about Webb City defense. Holding Nixa to 14 is an accomplishment. They looked great on first and second downs, but not so much on 3rd against CJ. It will be a different story this week though Republic by 14.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Craig Hull
Hey now , I’m 76 and only have one eye , what’s up with CJ junior varsity , Neosho jv looking for a game next monday
Word on the street in CJ was the JV schedule was dropped last Wednesday. My phone started blowing up with A LOT of upset parents/fans. Have not heard a reason yet, don’t know if any media outlet has done a story. Pure speculation is either injuries, lack of numbers or both.
Varsity has 13 seniors, 17 juniors and 19 sophomores. That’s 49 upperclassmen. Five freshmen are listed among the V/JV roster posted online.
Freshmen team has 28.
 
WC time of possession was key to that low score. WC just had trouble turning their drives into points.
For sure.

Nixa averaged over 9 yards a play (301 yards on 32 plays) but only scored 2 touchdowns. They had a couple holding calls that killed drives.
 
A big problem with not having a JV season is that the sophomore QB who I assume will be the starter next year won't get any reps. The only thing I can think of is they are actually going to start the 8th grade QB who will be a freshman next year. I just doubt they will start a freshman.
 
Word on the street in CJ was the JV schedule was dropped last Wednesday. My phone started blowing up with A LOT of upset parents/fans. Have not heard a reason yet, don’t know if any media outlet has done a story. Pure speculation is either injuries, lack of numbers or both.
Varsity has 13 seniors, 17 juniors and 19 sophomores. That’s 49 upperclassmen. Five freshmen are listed among the V/JV roster posted online.
Freshmen team has 28.
Neosho has 14 seniors 16 juniors 26 sophomores , 56 total , just a few more than CJ . They do have 42 freshmen
 
Word on the street in CJ was the JV schedule was dropped last Wednesday. My phone started blowing up with A LOT of upset parents/fans. Have not heard a reason yet, don’t know if any media outlet has done a story. Pure speculation is either injuries, lack of numbers or both.
Varsity has 13 seniors, 17 juniors and 19 sophomores. That’s 49 upperclassmen. Five freshmen are listed among the V/JV roster posted online.
Freshmen team has 28.
CJ dropping schedule, low numbers in Neosho, Carthage is scratching to find capable players for various roles. Sort of unrelated but also heard Carthage had to drop some JV softball games because they don't have enough pitchers between FR, JV and V.

Meanwhile the people in Webb City are debating who to play where because they have more qualified players than available positions. I was talking to a friend over the weekend who said they were having a hard time identifying starters for a certain position on their team because they needed 2 and had 5 or 6 that were good. I think it was one of the jr high teams maybe?
 
Week 2 saw at least one minor to major surprise, depending on your viewpoint. Branson downs Carthage by a couple of TDs. Is Branson that improved? Is Carthage that bad? Little bit of both? And depending on your view of the transitive property, Joplin beats Willard by just that same couple TD margin, granted one was basically as time expired on Joplin's JV. Is Joplin just uninspired? Is Renfro being out that big of an issue. Is Willard competitive? REPMO flexed on Ozark a bit. Looked more like what others thought REPMO might look like in week #1 as well. Webb and Nixa did what most (if not all) thought they'd do in week 2.

Week 3 Matchups
  • Webb @ REPMO
  • Nixa @ Carthage
  • Ozark @ Joplin
  • Branson @ Willard
  • Neosho @ CJ
My thoughts...which aren't worth much
  • REPMO wins a close one in what I think is the game of the week. Webb's D giving up four scores to an extremely run heavy CJ last week seems worrisome. REPMO can run at will, dare I say on another level than CJ. And their passing attack is more than capable. O/U on this one could be about 87.5, and that might be conservative.
  • Nixa does what Nixa does and goes to Carthage and wins by 2+ scores.
  • Joplin's D is just too good to allow a young and inexperienced Ozark offense to get much done. Talent and athleticism will win out in this one.
  • This one will tell us a little on how much either team has improved. I think Branson wins by a couple scores.
  • Interesting matchup. Neosho's run D isn't great. CJ's pass D (or run D) isn't great. Neosho can pitch it around. CJ has a capable ground attack. Lots of points in this one too. Gimmie Neosho in a close one.
Some, at least on the surface, interesting matchups in week #3. The potential exists to have three or four closely contested games.
Webb and Republic could be interesting but I think WC gets it by 2 scores. Republic had essentially no passing game vs Carthage but were pretty good on the ground with the QB and the Krohl kid.

Carthage is actually playing AT Nixa. Not that it matters, I think this could be ugly. My concern for Carthage right now is the kids may start to play demoralized a bit after losing to a team that has arguably been the least competitive of any coc team over the last 20 years.

Joplin probably wins by a lot. I watched them play Willard and it didn't give me good feels about Joplin's post season prospects but I do think they will handle Ozark.

I have no idea on Branson/Willard. I watched Branson at Carthage and Willard at Joplin. To me Willard maybe looked a bit better overall? Willard didn't score much but they looked capable, just outmatched by Joplin D. Branson scored 28 but they weren't conventional scores...opened the game with a big play and after that I believe all their scores came from Carthage turnovers.

Carl Junction gets Neosho. Might be a pretty good came but I'll take the bulldogs. CJ has no depth but that won't be as much of a lopsided problem when playing Neosho instead of Webb City.


I am also of the opinion we could have a multi-way tie for COC this year by the end of the season. I could see Joplin losing to Nixa and beating Republic while Republic beats Nixa. Or the other way around. I could see Webb City winning the rest of their games including Joplin. So a lot of different possibilities.
 
I am also of the opinion we could have a multi-way tie for COC this year by the end of the season. I could see Joplin losing to Nixa and beating Republic while Republic beats Nixa. Or the other way around. I could see Webb City winning the rest of their games including Joplin. So a lot of different possibilities.
Agreed. It's almost like there's only two groups this year. The haves (Joplin, Nixa, Webb, REPMO) and the have nots (the other six). IDK if there's really a middle group. The more I watch, the more I think those four at the top could be interchangeable. I still think Nixa and Joplin are better than everyone else, but haven't had the opportunity to see either very much.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Craig Hull
Heck CJ girls basketball didn't have enough girls for a freshman team a few years ago even with all of their success.
 
  • REPMO
  • Nixa
  • Joplin
  • Branson
  • Neosho
Staying with my preseason pick of Republic to finish ahead of WC.
 
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT