BRANSON, Mo. -- Rogers High and Harrison may have finished the day in the consolation bracket at the 24-team Border Battle 7-on-7 tournament, but both coaches walked away pleased with their team's efforts.
The Mounties edged Mountain Home 25-22 and the Goblins held off Bentonville High's junior varsity 21-15 to finish Thursday's action with victories at Branson High School.
Rogers first-year coach Chad Harbison turned the play-calling duties over to quarterback Noah Goodshield during the latter part of the day and the Mounties won their last four in a row.
"That way it forced him into a situation where he had to know instead of having to process what I'm sending in to him," Harbison said. "To be honest with you it helped all our kids because they looked at him a leader on the field instead of looking for our coaching staff, which is what we really needed.
"I thought he did an outstanding job with that and then we got better doing that. He kept it simple and stuck with stuff he knows. And the kids understood and we executed a lot better without coaches in there over-complicating things for them."
Goodshield started at wide receiver as a junior for the Mounties and served as the backup to former quarterback Chris Francisco, but Harbison definitely liked the progress he and the team made at Branson.
"Game two down there when we didn't play very well, now he's a whole different kid and we needed that," Harbison said.
Harrison was missing several front-line guys after winning the Border Battle 7-on-7 last week in Siloam Springs, but the Goblins still were able to come up with big plays and finish 5-1 on the day.
The Goblins trailed 12-7 early in the final game against the Bentonville JV, but turned the tide as quarterback Logan Plumlee threw a pair of touchdown passes and the Harrison defense got a big interception.
"Our guys, they battle," Harrison coach Joel Wells said. "They've won a lot of games over the years and they feel like they're gonna be in all of them and they're gonna fight to the finish.
"It's about making plays. The young guys have to learn to make plays in traffic, throw into tight windows and catch it when they're physical with you. They got a lot better."
The Goblins' lone loss of the day came to Liberty (Mo.) North, which gave Wells some feelings of nostalgia.
"Their defensive coordinator was on my staff when I was at Liberty and their receivers coach played for me," Wells said. "It was good to see those guys. They've got a great team and they're gonna go deep.
Bentonville coach Jody Grant wasn't unhappy with the way his JV performed either, despite losing the final game to finish the day 4-2.
He rotated freshmen Trevor Grant and Christian Battles all day at quarterback and they each had their moments, he said.
"We threw a pick or two there," Grant said. "Harrison's got some good athletes back there. Our kids are learning. We have to look at the day's performance and we went 4-2 against six varsity opponents. And we had a chance to win in those two we lost, we just didn't get it done.
"But we left pleased the performance of our young quarterbacks. Even with four minutes left when we threw the interceptions, the guy was wide open. The safety just came over and made a nice play. We were pleased with the way the kids competed as a whole."