Zero losses, outscoring opponents 423-77 for the whole season, and for the second year in a row going undefeated. All these achievements set the Nixa Eagles football team to be one of the top-ranked teams in the state. The team averaged 47 points per game and only allowed its opponents to score 8.33 PPG, a change from the team’s last season where it only outscored opponents by a total of 346-131. Last season, the Eagles scored an average of 38.44 PPG and allowed 14.56 PPG.
With names like sophomore Adam McKnight, senior Dylan Rebura and junior Jackson Cantwell, the team has seen more success than in previous years. Something that has separated this team from others is a sibling duo that played both sides of the ball: the Flint brothers, senior and wide receiver Keivon Flint, and junior cornerback Randy Flint.
“It’s just a great experience being able to play with your [brother],” Keivon Flint said. “… To be playing varsity together too, it’s just a great experience.”
Keivon Flint said that going undefeated for back-to-back years has become the norm for the team.
“It’s pretty much just the standard now, just what Coach [John] Perry expects from us, it’s what we work to do all season,” Keivon Flint said. “But we’re not focused on that. we’re focused on winning the Class 6 State Championship.”
After the team’s loss against Rockhurst High School last year, Keivon Flint said that the team has reflected and now understands what it takes to make it to the state championships.
“Since last year a bunch of us have played Rockhurst and we saw what it took,” Kevion Flint said. “So I think we’re going to come a lot harder this year than we did last year and be prepared.”
Keivon Flint said that winning state would be about celebrating more than just the sport of football.
“[Winning state] would mean a lot to our community, to our people here at school, to our football team and to Coach Perry,” he said. “It’s just what we strive here to do … We’ve been working to do [this] for the four years that I’ve been in high school.”
Nixa has a couple skilled wide receivers including seniors Keivon Flint, Wyatt Vincent and Robert Johnson.
“They all three work really hard,” Nixa’s wide receiver position coach Sean Tesar said. “… They’re not the biggest dudes but they understand their role on this team. They understand that every four to six seconds they have a job to do, like the lineman, and they take pride in doing that.”
Junior cornerback Randy Flint said that seeing the team win district champs two years in a row means a lot to him.
“It just gives us a lot of confidence, me especially, and with new coaches and everybody showing me love I feel like my confidence raises” Randy Flint said.
Randy Flint said the team has been more prepared this year incase they hit a wall.
“Even the coaches and us are more prepared,” Randy Flint said. “We just have better game plans for when that does happen and we do run into that brick wall, and see if we can get through it.”
Nixa’s new Defensive Back Coach Donte King said that the safeties and cornerbacks on the team have been great to work with, especially Parker Mann being moved back to safety.
“They are great kids,” King said. “They are amazing athletes and amazing players. They’ve done tremendous this year, they’ve locked down every receiver that they’ve had. Our secondary has had a big boost this year, especially with Parker [Mann] dropping back to safety, so I’d say they’ve done amazing this year.”
Aside from offensive and defensive players, there are also key players, like senior long snapper, Champ Porter. Without him, kicking would be a challenge for the team.
“It’s very difficult to go out there and get it in the same spot every time snapping,” Porter said. “People look past it a lot, but it doesn’t bother me. I just go out there and snap it to the same spot.”
Porter said he was facing more pressure and expectations going into this season since he was filling the shoes of the previous long snapper and linebacker, Eli Frazier.
“It’s very pleasing because Eli was a great mentor to me and I’d work, over and over again with him,” Porter said. “To be able to come back after that and have pretty decent snaps this year is amazing.”
Coach John Perry said the team hasn’t really looked at its undefeated season much, and instead is focused on making it to state.
“I mean we haven’t thought about it a whole lot,” Perry said. “We’re always focusing on what’s next and what’s next is to try and get this win … The focus is not on the next [game] or the next day, but to focus on today, and how can we be the best today.“
Perry said last year Nixa went undefeated and won districts but lost the first game of the state playoffs to Rockhurst High School.
“In playoff football, you gotta be able to win the line of scrimmage on offense and defense, and I feel like the Rockhurst game, we did not win the line of scrimmage,” Perry said. “They controlled it, they ran the ball, they stopped the run. So since that time, we’ve tried to figure out how we are going to win that battle this year.”
Perry said that he wouldn’t be able to find as much success in coaching the team if it weren’t for the players. “It’s great that we have talent because talent gives you the opportunity to be a good coach,” Perry said. “… without talent, you can’t really coach.”
