Hunter Daniels can't help but smile with pride and laugh a bit at the irony of his strength being described as a strength of his overall game.

The 5-foot-9, 130-pound Daniels was a mighty mite Tuesday, recording a hat trick in Nixa's 5-0 blanking of Webb City.

Per usual, when Daniels had possession of the ball, he made good use of it and wasn't about to let a defender muscle in and knock it away from him. Never mind his diminutive frame.

"He's so strong on the ball," Eagles coach Evan Palmer said. "It's very tough to dis-posses the ball from him. Teams foul him all the time and he doesn't get a lot of calls. But he plays through it. His motor just goes. He gets around people and makes things happen."

Positioning is everything for Daniels.

"I try to be smart with my body because I'm not the biggest kid on the field," Daniels said. "I try to get my body in front of the defender and in between him and the ball.

"It's the most important thing for me, I think, because I cannot body anybody."

Daniels netted his first goal less than two minutes into the contest and added his second with less than a minute left in the first half. 

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