Fox senior Bob Neibert doesn’t look the part of a school’s career rushing leader.
He was a tight end his freshman year. His dad, assistant coach Scott Neibert, pointed at Bob and said, "Give me that kid" for running back and the rest is school history. He endured a "miserable and terrible" ankle injury his sophomore year.
"I never thought of getting to the school record until the end of last year," Neibert said. "I finally got it. it's awesome.
"It's hard to get me down. I keep my feet going. I'm like Thomas the choo choo train coming through."
After the dominating performance against the best Seckman team in school history, it's all-aboard for a Fox district championship.
The stocky running back carved out a lot of 3- and 4-yard runs up the gut the last few seasons to reach 2,672 yards to pass Micah Marino’s 2,605. Neibert broke the record against intra-district and Suburban West Conference National Division rival Seckman in Imperial on Friday night with 105 yards rushing and three touchdowns to help the Warriors beat the Jaguars 49-0.
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Fox (7-1) led just 14-0 at halftime as Seckman (6-2) owned the time of possession in the first half but played the second half without quarterback Seth Lounsbury, who injured his right knee on the final play of the half as he was tackled near the Fox goal line. With Lounsbury on crutches in the second half he was replaced by junior Joe Stuckmeyer.
After Neibert gave the Warriors a 7-0 lead (kicker Jack Weis was 7 for 7 on extra points) with 4:18 left in the first quarter, senior running back Cole Elwood rumbled 68 yards to make it 14-0 with 10:02 left in the second. Elwood only carried the ball six times for 100 yards. Senior quarterback Gavin McGinness (7-120) was the other Fox rusher with 100 yards.
Without Lounsbury, Stuckmeyer had trouble several times with a wet ball in the QB-center exchange. The Jaguars turned the ball over on downs four times in the first half. On fourth-and-2 from the Fox 21-yard line in the second quarter, McGinness tackled Lounsbury for a 5-yard loss. On fourth-and-goal from the Warriors' 3 later in the quarter, Blake Fritz fumbled but Lounsbury recoverd.
After that turnover on downs, the Jaguars held Fox to fourth-and-1 from the Warrior 15 and head coach Brent Tinker gambled and went for it. McGinness moved a herd of blockers and tacklers 10 yards for a first down. Later in the drive, still within the shadow of their own goal post, the Warriors faked a punt on fourth down, but the Jaguars intercepted the ruse.
Fox outscored Seckman 28-0 in the third to start the running clock under the mercy rule. Neibert (17-yard run), Luke Joggerst (fumbled recovery in end zone), Cade Thomas (47-yard pass from McGinness) and McGinness (61-yard run) accounted for the Fox TDs.
With wins over Seckman and Oakville, the Warriors are 2-0 against potential Class 5 District 1 opponents. Fox hosts Northwest (5-3), a Class 6 team, in its final regular season game next Friday before the districts commence in two weeks. The Jaguars have the unenviable task of playing Week 9 against Eureka, which lost 13-12 to Marquette on Friday to fall to 7-1.
For this complete story, and Northwest's win against Oakville, read Thursday's Leader.
Other county scores from Friday night: St. Pius X 46, Crystal City 8; St. Francis Borgia 50, Festus 7; Jackson 56, Hillsboro 0; Jefferson 56, Chaffee 6; Windsor 36, Cuba 24; Northwest 27, Oakville 14; Valle Catholic 47, Herculaneum 0; Ste. Genevieve 14, De Soto 0