Webb City made Republic look like a very different team from the one that dominated its first three games of the season. Webb City looked like — Webb City. The Cardinals controlled the line of scrimmage and methodically rolled to a 49-14 win over the Tigers in Republic Friday night.
Republic’s offense, which had used big plays to strike quickly in three previous games, managed only one big scoring play Friday. That was in the first quarter, when Jerney Jones got to the outside and took the ball 63 yards for a touchdown, answering Webb City’s first score to make the game 7-7.
But on the very next play, Kiante Hardin turned in one of the most important plays of the game when he took the kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown, giving Webb City a lead it would never relinquish.
After another Webb City score, Republic had its most sustained drive of the game, but came up empty. The Tigers marched more than 60 yards on 15 plays and had the ball inside the Webb City 10-yard line. But an illegal procedure penalty against the Tigers — on a play when Blake Fanning appeared to have a path to the end zone — caused the drive to stall out. Republic rushed the field goal unit onto the field as the clock wound down, but Mitchell Heinzler’s hurried kick was wide left and the teams went to halftime with Webb City leading 21-7.
If we defend that kick and get that touchdown, it’s potentially 14-14 at half,” says coach Wes Beachler. “We talked about we’ve got to play really well and get it into the 4th quarter, and we had the opportunity to do that and we just didn’t. We’re not there yet.
“We’re going to continue work hard, and I think Republic football’s got a bright future. But this is my 14th game here, and I think we’ve still got some growing pains, but we’re going to continue to get better.”
Yocum Automotive Drive of the Game
For the first time, our Yocum Automotive Drive of the Game was not a scoring drive for the Tigers. It happened in the final minutes of the 2nd half, when Republic marched all the way down the field on Webb City’s defense, taking 15 plays to move inside the Webb City 10 yard line. A false start penalty snuffed out the drive, and the Tigers’ failure to get points from that possession helped Webb City maintain its momentum going into halftime.
Republic got the ball to start the 3rd quarter, but Webb City’s defense held and the Cardinals offense put the game away, scoring on their next four possessions. In all, Webb City gained 456 yards.
Jerney Jones had 85 rushing yards on 13 carries for the Tigers. Jace DuVall carried the ball 12 times for 82 yards. Jake Smith had 43 yards on 11 carries, as the Tigers amassed 233 yards on the ground.
The passing game was a net negative for the Tigers, with only one completion offset by several sacks.
Webb City had three backs with more than 100 yards rushing. Quarterback Tyson Roderique had 137 rushing yards on 12 carries and also passed for 25 yards. Keaton Burroughs had 11 carries for 134 yards, and Tyler Davison had 102 yards on 11 carries.
After the game, Beachler told his players he was proud of their effort.
“The biggest hurdle when you go up against Webb City is can you match up with them physically, and we did that. We just didn’t play mistake-free football, which we pretty much needed to do.”
Beachler says competing with a program like Webb City will take continued improvement from every player on the field.
“I’m encouraged by the majority of the young men, the way they played. I’m discouraged by the way some, I felt like, didn’t rise to the occasion. And we’re never going to be where we need to be until we get 11 guys on both sides of the ball approaching a game like this with the desire to go out and conquer rather than survive,” Beachler says. “We’ll get there. This program’s going to get to a point where we’re going to have more than 11 guys who are ready to go out there and get after it.
“In a few spots we had some breakdowns. I’m not giving up on them. They’re just got to learn to rise to the occasion like their teammates have.”
Republic has a chance to rebound next week on the road at Branson. The Tigers fall to 3-1 this season.
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