Here were southwest Missouri's top high school football performers of Week 8

Here were our top performers from the eighth week of the 2022 high school football season.

The best way to get nominated in these weekly articles is by tweeting your stats at sports reporter Wyatt Wheeler at @WyattWheeler_NL or by emailing him at wwheeler@news-leader.com on the night of the game or before 11 a.m. on Saturdays. We will update this as more come along.

Kickapoo's secondary

We're not just going to settle with one player in this secondary. The whole unit deserves some love for what it has been able to accomplish this season and it's phenomenal what they did on Friday night in a 22-2 win over Glendale.

The Chiefs have yet to allow a passing touchdown this season and that continued to be true after the Week 8 game against the best passing attack in the Ozarks. For the second time this season, the Falcons have been shut out offensively and that is no small feat.

More:Southwest Missouri high school football takeaways and scores from Oct. 14

Glendale was limited to 64.4% passing for 229 yards with just 7.9 yards per completion and just five yards per attempt.

Bear Shore, Camdenton

You need your best player to show up when you're playing in a conference championship game against your rival. Shore did just that while leading the Lakers to an Ozark Conference title on Friday.

Shore rushed for four touchdowns and 130 yards in the win. He also connected with Kam Durnin for a 46-yard score to come away with a 45-28 win over Lebanon for the OC crown. Shore's growth this season has been phenomenal.

Connor Sandridge, Republic

The Tigers rushed for nearly 350 yards against the Eagles on Friday night. Sandridge finished with 134 of them along with a touchdown to come away with one of the more thrilling wins Republic has seen in a long, long time.

Republic's ground game features a plethora of backs but Sandridge is among the toughest. He isn't the biggest but he'll run through defenders and showcase a bit of speed. It can be anyone's night running the ball for the Tigers but it happened to be Sandridge's in the thrilling win.

Caden Wiest, Reeds Spring

There's not a player in the Ozarks who influences the game more on every single play like Wiest and he showed it again on Friday night in the Wolves' 28-14 win over Logan-Rogersville.

Wiest had a 21-yard touchdown reception and was a monster in the trenches. Offensively, he probably should have had another 75-yard touchdown reception as he took a pass on a screen, stiff-armed a Wildcat to the ground and then outran the defense the rest of the way.

Defensively, he was consistently in the backfield coming up with tackles even when the Wildcats tried running in the opposite direction. He was also lined up at different spots in the defense, including middle linebacker, to make sure the Wildcats had to deal with him even when they didn't want to.

Tae'Sean McShane, Central

Central's big-time running back had another big-time performance for the Bulldogs while rushing for 130 yards and two touchdowns in a dominant 40-14 win over Buffalo.

The Bulldogs are now 6-2 this season which gives them their most wins since 2002. It's the second time the Bulldogs have had six wins since 1986. They are now third in Class 5, District 5 while passing Glendale on the night. The Bulldogs could be in line to host Waynesville (2-6) if the standings hold after next week.

The Wyatt Woods to Gunner Ellison connection, Republic

Republic's two-point conversion to beat Nixa was years in the making. The pass from Wyatt Woods to his cousin Gunner Ellison with the game on the line created one of the most memorable plays in Republic football history.

With Woods under center, he faked the handoff to his fullback and rolled out to his right. A flip to a wide-open Ellison ended with the Tigers storming the field while knocking off previously-undefeated Nixa.

Hudson Moore and Mason Frisinger, Carthage

The two combined for one of the biggest plays of the night. Moore, with his 6-foot-6 frame, jumped up and blocked Joplin's attempt at a game-winning field goal. Frisinger then picked it up and went 83 yards to the house to give Carthage the walk-off touchdown to beat Joplin in a battle of one-loss Central Ozark Conference teams.

Tracen Cobb, Reeds Spring

There hasn't been a better shutdown corner in the Ozarks this season than Cobb as he came away with another interception to add to his southwest Missouri lead. On four passes thrown his way, he knocked down two of them and intercepted one. He's very athletic and he'll get his head around to box out the receiver and come away with picks. He's been great all year.

More:How Reeds Spring turned into one of the most complete (and best) football teams in the Ozarks

Samias Pickett, Kickapoo

Pickett is one of the lockdown corners in the secondary but that's not the only reason why he deserves special recognition. His play on offense got the Chiefs their win over their arch-rivals.

Pickett scored on an 81-yard touchdown in the second quarter to give the Chiefs a lead they didn't give back. He led the game with 124 total yards on the ground as the great playmaker helped Kickapoo finally get its win over the Falcons.

More:Samias Pickett was a two-way force in Kickapoo football's win over rival Glendale

Kam Durnin, Camdenton

Durnin also stepped up and proved to be the great playmaker everyone in the Ozarks knows him to be. The Wichita State baseball commit had 206 total yards of offense with both a receiving and a rushing touchdown.

The Shore-Durnin combo has been one of the best in the Ozarks in recent seasons. It proved to be championship-worthy in their win over Lebanon.

Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or Twitter at @WyattWheeler_NL. He's also the co-host of Sports Talk on Jock Radio weekdays from 4-6 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Southwest Missouri high school football Week 8 performers