Sep. 17—First-year Neosho football head coach Brandon Taute has watched his team steadily improve over the course of the season and he’s happy with what he has seen so far.
“We’re getting better every day,” Taute said. “We aren’t focused on the outcome or what’s on the scoreboard, and all of the players have bought into that. We obviously want to win but we’re focused on improving.”
Neosho (0-3) travels to Branson (1-2), which comes off of a 33-7 loss against Carl Junction, on Friday night. Kickoff is slated for 7.
The Pirates come into play having only scored more than seven points in one game thus far — a 23-21 triumph over Ozark in Week 2.
Branson has seen its struggles on the offensive side of the ball this season. Neosho will be tasked with keeping the offense at bay again this week; something the Wildcats have struggled with themselves after facing two tough offenses in back-to-back weeks against Webb City and Carthage.
“I would like to see the defense play confident, and to just fly around and have fun,” Taute said. “I’d like to see them be more physical … put pressure on their offense to make it tough for them to score.”
The Wildcats, on the other hand, have managed to put the ball in the end zone at least twice in each contest. They tallied 20 points in their Week 2 battle with Webb City.
Last week in their 71-14 loss to Carthage, both of the Wildcats’ touchdowns came from Jared Siler, who ran for 102 yards.
Despite coming out on the wrong end in their first three games, coach Taute has seen improvements from Week 1 to now.
“I think we’re more technically sound,” Taute said. “We’ve gotten better at the technical things. … The guys are starting to understand what their role is. They aren’t just doing their job, now they understand why they’re doing what they’re doing.”
While the offense has reached paydirt on more than one occasion in each game, Taute hopes to see more execution from that unit in Friday’s bout with Branson.
“Just execute our offense,” Taute said. I want to see everyone do their individual job. I don’t want them to worry about someone else’s job. I want them to keep their head up and do their job.”
“If we can be crisp in the little things then we should be fine, and good things will come.”