Webb City scored 28 first-quarter points on the way to a 49-6 win at Republic Friday.
The Cardinals scored their first four touchdowns in just 15 plays, taking advantage of great field position set up by their suffocating defense. Webb City held Republic’s high-scoring attack to just 87 total yards and caused the Tigers to go three-and-out on three of their first four possessions. The other possession ended with an interception after a deflected pass.
Republic had been averaging more than 30 points a game before Friday, but didn’t cross into Webb City territory until the second quarter. The Tigers’ only touchdown came with 4:07 left in the second quarter. The Tigers trailed 28-0 when they got the ball after a fumble recovery by Micah Erickson on the Republic 30 yard line. Republic got their offense going for one of their longest drives of the year. The Tigers marched 70 yards in 16 plays over the course of 7:13. The drive included a 16-yard pass from Lucas Hayes to Landon Porter and a 17-yard run by Riley Sigman that put the ball inside the five yard line. On fourth-and-goal from the one, Lucas Hayes punched the ball into the end zone for Republic’s only score of the night, making the score 28-6.
“That’s the best defense we’re going to face all year. They just don’t make mistakes, and they’re aggressive, and they get after you, and they tackle when they get there,” Baldwin said. “And we didn’t execute some things. We had a few guys open we missed, and had a chance there right before half to make it 28-13 and didn’t do it.”
Despite the final score, Baldwin saw some positives from his defense, which did not play well at Ozark last week.
“I saw some good things tonight. We actually tackled better than we’ve tackled maybe all year,” Baldwin said. “They’ve got a really good offensive line and two backs that are 200-pound men. They’re awesome backs. We missed two or three that led to big plays, but we tackled better as a team and that was encouraging.”
The Cardinals racked up 403 total yards and held Republic’s high-scoring attack to just 87 and one touchdown. For the Tigers, Riley Sigman carried the ball 11 times for 41 yards. Lucas Hayes had 27 yards rushing and 14 yards passing on six completions in 17 attempts. Landon Porter caught one pass for 16 yards. Chase Buford had three receptions.
Kade Hicks rushed for 103 yards and a touchdown to lead Webb City. Devrin Weathers had 88 rushing yards and two TDs. Terrell Kabala rushed the ball four times for 49 yards and two touchdowns. Cale McCalister had two touchdown receptions.
After the game, Baldwin talked to his players about leaving this week behind and focusing on the stretch run of the season.
“It’s all dependent on our effort in practice. How we handle it moving forward is how we’re going to play down the stretch here,” he said. “How we prepare is going to determine how we’re going to play next week and the weekend after that and the weekend after that. So we can’t have a bad attitude. We’re going to try to bounce back.”