Top 20 MO high school teams in the past decade.
- Thread starter TheRealJoey
- Start date
How could they leave out Valle?
I know they stumbled the last 5 years but when they could pick on class 1 teams they did pretty well.
Only one of the top 20 but down here in central MO we have several questions to be answered.
With regards to Blair Oaks, this is the first time in many years that there won't be a Hair at QB running LePage's RPO offense. Do they have another stellar athlete in the pipeline to fill that void? Camdenton begins its first season in decades without someone named Shore at head coach. What can we expect from the new staff at this storied program?
The program at Versailles, one of the three county seat towns in the Tri-County conference and an original founding member, has left the conference as they have been unable to keep up with the growing school populations of the other conference schools. How will they compete in their new conference?
The usual seasonal questions at lots of other programs and why this time of year is so interesting to me.
This one has become an annual opening event: Blair Oaks will again travel to UCM (Warrensburg) to face Maryville. Camdenton AND Webb City, the two most storied medium enrollment schools in MO history, both having brand new HCs will be beyond interesting to follow. Is Joplin the favorite to win their league and would you say Lebanon should repeat or is West Plains the favorite in the Ozarks?
I'm pretty interested to see what the media outlooks say for the COC teams this year and what insight they have that I don't. Based on the little I know Joplin is my favorite but who knows. Nixa should be right there too. After those two I think WC will be pretty good and Republic too. Part of me sees Carthage no better than 5-4 but who knows. Their Fr and JV teams both did well last year but that doesn't necessarily mean much.
Regardless of what WC does this coming year I think things look good for them.
Regardless of what WC does this coming year I think things look good for them.
Nixa seems pretty excited about this season and wouldn't be surprised if they dominate for the next couple of years. Republic has a really good QB and RB returning so I see them making an impact as well. Not sure about WC or Carthage but I bet they will be better than most people think. Joplin will have one heck of an offense.
Joplin is pretty stacked on offense. Nixa just always has a ridiculous amount of athletes and since perry stepped in they actually play football now instead of other sports . Republic returns alot and should be really solid . Webb has a big coaching shake up not with just roderique but bailey and weimers left too but they have a good staff that will meet the challenges . I think webb will be better on offense this year than they were last year but have no clue on the defense mainly because I don't remember who all they have coming back . Carthage lost all 11 defensive starters and like 8 or 9 on offense . Don't think they will be bad but if they finish higher than any of the teams I already mentioned I would be very surprised
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Yea, Nixa is talented, their RB is the VanGilder (Joplin) twin's half brother. He is very talented and should step into shoes Green's nicely. Republic will be a force in 5A and will challenge Joplin, Nixa and Webb City.
Class 6 is expanding bigly next month. I am not gonna even hazard guesses about where several schools will end up.
Good programs like Carthage will need most if not all the regular season to get it all figured out. Smithville will be a great NWMO/KC Metro example. May be relatively "easy money" first 3-4 weeks but dangerous come November.
Carthage starts tough with a road trip to Republic and two weeks later goes to Nixa. So it's very conceivable they start 1-2.
Webb City is even tougher, they open at Nixa and have Republic and Joplin in the first 4 weeks so some pretty choppy water for coach Mac to sail through in his first few weeks at the helm. A 1-3 start isn't out of the picture and if that happens hopefully the WC crowd will recognize the exceptional schedule challenge and a new coaching staff before making regrettable posts on social media. On the other hand it's an opportunity to come out swinging.
Great info thanks! Up here in this area I am beyond excited (again) to see Utz, Ambroson and Minnick all duke it out on Hwy 92. Keep wishing Excelsior will join the fray but don't see it yet.
Smithville really, really caught my eye last November. It wasn't the turbo over Kearney or shutting down a very good Center offense that did it but the loss to St. Mary's. The coaching is so aggressive and they didn't miss one beat vs. the Dragons just simply ran out of gas late. They lost literally every key player so will totally reload this fall. Game to watch is them hosting Kearney who returns a LOT September 8 at Smithville. Their slate is nowhere near Webb's but I could see the Warriors going circa 6-3 in the regular season then being real dangerous, as previously mentioned, come November. The HC's kid is a great starting point what a RB he will be.
I guess for many schools it is the 64K question but will Lebanon stay Class 5 or move to 6?
Surprised if they move up. Think they are far enough under the number not to worry
One thing I do know is that (assuming they aren't affected by classification changes) whoever wins the WC, Repmo, Carthage district will be battle tested.
Maybe unlikely but if by chance Carthage and Republic were to get bumped we'd probably end up with those two plus Nixa, Joplin et al in a real tough district. That would be a nice gift to Webb City, somewhat clearing the way to a district trophy even if regular season is rough.
You know, Lebanon has quietly built a really solid program where one never existed before. I have been really impressed with their lines (both sides) and their tough hard nosed approach to the game. Speaks well of their coaching staff.
I was just thinking that as well. They haven't really got a ton of attention maybe in part because they haven't been able to get super deep in playoffs....frequently run into Webb City or Carthage first game out of district.
But they have been putting out some solid seasons with consistency as of late.
Lebanon has a Jr rb that has started since he was a freshman that's pretty darn good . Musica was their best player last year and he graduated but like other people have said their line play is always really solid and they are super disciplined. Some years their defense isn't up to par against the elite teams but their offense gives almost everyone problems
I know he started as RB in a few games after Green's injury in week 2 against Joplin a few years ago so I wouldn't be surprised. He is one hell of an athlete.
Up front has been where Lebanon has looked good to me. I know a D1 dude will do that for you, but it has been more than just him.
Ward spelled green last year and was just as good imo . He was also probably their best defensive player so there is that . I think his brother had power 5 offers . Don't recall where he went to . Looking at their roster tonight they have a Green Jr so that's in the pipeline too. Nixa and Joplin both have never had a shortage of talent walking the halls ....they both got really good coaches and that talent plays for them now . That's all that has changed . Nixa has always been really good in basketball and baseball .....Joplin has been honestly average in everything And idk why but the last few years since Perry and Jasper were hired ...they have milked out what should have happened for the last decade for both these schools . Ozark has the same potential but hasn't harnessed it yet. Same with republic but they are definitely on a huge upswing
I think I've now watched last December's Class 2 Championship Game a dozen times. What a show! As long as Beshore is there yes Lamar is gonna be a strong contender. Will they stay C2 or move up?
They are small class 2 . Lamar won't move up probably ever . Higher chance of them dropping down bc all the factories there closed down . Only farmers and retail jobs in Lamar
Sorry to dominate this thread . My wifi went out and I'm a total streaming household so I'm real bored because it's just this thread and a pile of laundry at my disposal
Please dominate. The SWMO info is extremely valuable to me. I think we are all a bit bored and ready for the 2023 season to arrive!
I don't know if you saw my post awhile back that compared each coc school's performance across all sports, but Nixa is good at EVERY sport now that Perry has football going again. He was a great hire and that district is a sports machine, more than I realized.
Personally I think Joplin's turnaround is much more impressive than Nixas but either way they both now have good coaches getting all the kids out to play.
I remember reading about Coach Jasper's hire and the AD made some statement about how he turned whatever school he came from into a top team in their classification and he believed Jasper would do the same with Joplin, I almost laughed out loud because the idea of Joplin showing up top on 10 polls, even once, seemed unthinkable but here we are.
I remember reading that too. Jasper's first 2 seasons looked like typical Joplin. Then Joplin last Season in the OC was the turnaround. Leading a very young Joplin team to a Conference Championship. I must admit that when Joplin joined the COC and started with a 1-2 season I had my doubts. I was at the game when Joplin won their first district game against Kickapoo, 56 - 0 in the first Quarter seemed Unreal. The season that year ended with CBC in the semifinals but some of us knew 2019 was Joplin’s year to go to state. Amazing coach.
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I remember laughing at that too, especially since he was coming from a class 1 school. I was thinking there is a huge difference coaching a class 1 school and a class 6 school. But he has been very successful.
Running, blocking and tackling don't require a class size just guys with heavos and are coachable
Jasper and the rest of his staff were leading one heck of a group of athletes. Westmoreland, Davis and their class were very impressive. Sometimes a school just needs one really good class to get the rest of the school and community to buy in and believe. Proven in Joplin, the Nixa community now is bought in with football and not just basketball, and I think we are seeing it build in Republic. All three of those schools will probably be a force for a while.
C2. They are about 10 spots roughly speaking from being on that line still. Could be off a little. It’s class 2 for sure. This year.
Joplin with a pretty good run:
2022 #15 7-3
2021 #5 10-2
2020 #13 6-5
2019 #2 13-1
2018 #7 10-3
Joplin was on the ropes late vs the Poo then a turnover turned the game around with a couple TDs tacked on for good measure. That game appeared to catapult the program with a new found confidence they'd been lacking. Could be an over simplification but thats the way i remember it.
I remember that game in 2017, Kickapoo was leading at Halftime 17 - 10. Joplin shut the Poo down in the 2nd half with a safety and 1 touchdown to win 18 - 17.
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That exactly how I remember it. I was checking some games on scorestream and saw that final and said 'hey guys check this out, Joplin just beat Kickapoo'. At the time I thought Kickapoo was pretty good (later learned they were not) so saw it as a big win. And they just kept on going.
I did feel like that game was a turning point because in my opinion there is a significant difference in Joplin football before that gave vs after.
Since Moving to Class 6.
How impressive for Nixa:
2022 10-2 #5
2021 8-3 #7
2020 9-3 #7
How impressive for Nixa:
2022 10-2 #5
2021 8-3 #7
2020 9-3 #7
