Nixa’s defense blew up the Republic backfield all night, as the Eagles dominated on their home field in a 35-7 win. Republic’s offense managed just 100 total yards and failed to score. The Tigers’ only touchdown came on an interception return for a touchdown by Cooper Lander in the third quarter.
Nixa scored three of its touchdowns without having to work very hard. The first didn’t require any work at all. After both defenses dominated the first quarter, Republic found itself pinned at the two yard line after a Nixa punt. On the first play of the drive, the Tigers fumbled the ball on a read option and the ball bounced right into the hands of an Eagle who was already standing in the end zone. The extra point made the score 7-0.
On Nixa’s next drive, they went 60 yards on nine plays and scored on a 25-yard run by Ramone Green to make the score 14-0. A 43-yard drive on the Eagles’ next possession made it 21-0.
In the third quarter, Nixa scored two more easy touchdowns. One was set up by a fumbled punt that gave Nixa the ball on the Republic 24 yard line. It took just three plays for Nixa to score on a 19-yard pass from Austin McCracken to Smith Wheeler. The next Nixa score came after a blocked punt. The Eagles needed just 13 yards to get into the end zone that time, making the score 35-0.
Republic’s only blip on the scoreboard came late in the third quarter on Lander’s pick six. He stepped in front of a pass at the Nixa 40 yard line and ran the ball to the end zone for Republic’s score.
The Tigers allowed 35 points, but coach Dustin Baldwin still began his post-game comments with praise for the defense.
“I thought the defense played pretty good tonight. They gave up two plays in the first half. Other than that, they played really good,” he said. “Obviously, they scored our only touchdown. I thought the defense gave a lot of great effort, They were put in bad position after bad position.”
Those bad positions were the result of Republic’s inability to move the ball against Nixa’s aggressive defense. The Eagles blitzed and got into the Republic backfield most of the night – often before Republic had begun to let its play develop.
“I didn’t do a very good job coaching offense this week,” Baldwin said. “Obviously some things were not good at all, so we’ve just got to fix those things and try to get better. It was just a lot of mistakes. Maybe we did try to do too much offensively.”
Republic threw for just 12 yards, when accounting for five Nixa sacks. Gavyn Beckner completed three of 11 passes for 27 yards, but was sacked five times for -15 yards. Ezekiel Meads rushed the ball seven times for 47 yards and Josh Sterling had six carries for 22 yards. Republic had 88 yards rushing.
Nixa passed for 101 yards and rushed for 172, as the Eagles improved to 4-0. Republic falls to 2-2. The Tigers host Ozark next week.
