For the second straight week, Republic had an opportunity to win the game in the fourth quarter, but for the second straight week, the Tigers fell short, this time in a 17-13 loss at Nixa.
Republic’s offense had the ball deep in Nixa territory with just over two minutes remaining, after Nolan White intercepted a pass and returned it to the Nixa 15 yard line. The Tigers’ offense drove the ball down to the seven yard line on its first two plays, but the Nixa defense held on third down, and Republic bobbled the snap on fourth down to snuff out the final scoring opportunity.
What ended as a defensive battle started as an offensive shootout. The teams combined for three scores on their first three possessions. Nixa scored first, driving 34 yards after a long kickoff return, and scoring on an eight-yard touchdown run by Sean Sample to take a 7-0 lead.
The Tigers responded with a nine-play, 43-yard drive after a 53-yard kickoff return by Cam Flood. Louis Wallace ran the ball in from eight yards out to make it 7-7.
On the Eagles’ next possession, they drove 77 yards in six plays. Sample ran it in from 21 yards out to give the Eagles a 14-7 lead. That was the score at halftime.
In the second half, Republic pulled to within a point on a 40-yard touchdown pass from Lucas Hayes to Cam Flood. The pass was set up by three straight runs by Wallace, who rushed for more than 100 yards in his first varsity game as a Tiger.
Nixa kicked a field goal on its next possession to make the lead 17-13, and neither team scored the rest of the way. The Eagles had two touchdowns called back because of penalties, and racked up penalties for most of the night. On two different series, the Eagles faced a third-and-50 and a third-and-36.
Wallace led Republic with 108 rushing yards on 25 carries.
‘He gives us a bigger, thicker back who can run through tackles. We took Louis out and Riley made a few good runs, as well. We know Jaden’s fully capable also,” Baldwin says.
Riley Sigman ran 34 yards on seven carries. Lucas Hayes was six-of-13 passing for 74 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. He also rushed for 19 yards on six carries.
Cam Flood had one catch for 40 yards. Republic gained 237 total yards. Nixa gained 227. It was the second straight game that Republic out-gained its opponent in a losing cause.
“I can’t say enough about the defense. They showed a lot of guts tonight. I’m proud of them, and the whole team,” he says. “We got better this week.
We’ve got to make plays. If you don’t make big plays, you don’t win close games. We didn’t make enough of those big ones, especially on offense. The defense made big plays…but we’re going to stick together and keep working, and hopefully give a game next week.”