The Nixa High School football program enters the 2025 season with momentum built on a near‑perfect streak that has seen the team win 28 consecutive regular‑season games since October 14, 2022. Although the 2024 campaign ended in a heartbreaking 41‑37 loss to Lee’s Summit in the Class 6 state championship, the program’s culture of resilience remains intact.
Coaching Philosophy
Coach John Perry has emphasized that adversity is a necessary ingredient for testing that culture, insisting that the team must confront challenges early in the schedule to forge the toughness needed for a deep playoff run.
Senior quarterback Adam McKnight returns as the offensive anchor after a 2024 season in which he threw for 1,819 yards and 23 touchdowns while tossing only three interceptions. His leadership has been described by teammates and staff as a ‘level five leader,’ a player who consistently takes responsibility for the unit’s performance.
Offensive Weaponry
Running back Jax Adams, who amassed 699 yards and 11 touchdowns in a backup role last year, is slated to inherit the workload left by a two‑time 2,000‑yard rusher, while senior offensive linemen Jamison Truitt and Jaxon Stewart bring postseason experience to the line. At wide receiver, Carter Mabe is back after missing most of 2024 with a injury, having posted 457 yards and six scores in eight games, providing a reliable target for McKnight.
Defensively, the team will lean on first‑team all‑conference end Max Gredell, who recorded 49 tackles, four tackles for loss and two sacks in 2024, as well as senior linebacker Weston Weldon, who led the squad with 112 tackles and six tackles for loss. Safety Reed Wilson set a school tackle record with 169 stops and also excels as an elite wrestler, adding a versatile playmaker to the secondary.
The defensive line will welcome Elijah Broshar, a junior transfer from Florida projected by Coach Perry to become the best defensive lineman in southwest Missouri by the time he graduates. Additional contributors such as junior cornerbacks Cohen Pennington and Greyson Bertholdi, sophomore Owen Clay, and punter/kicker Jonah Fields — regarded as one of the state’s top kickers — add depth to a roster that blends experience with promising youth.
The 2025 slate opens on August 28 at home against Carthage, the Class 5 state runner‑up, before a preseason jamboree on August 21 that will feature matchups with Ozark and Kickapoo.