Republic’s bid for an upset at Joplin swung on a few big plays, and unfortunately for the Tigers, Joplin had more playmakers Friday night. The Eagles held off a Republic challenge for a 42-28 in on their home turf, despite being out-gained by the Tigers by more than 100 yards.
From the start, Republic showed it was not intimidated by Class 6 #6 Joplin. The Republic defense played an aggressive style that disrupted Joplin quarterback Hobbs Gooch and led to two Joplin punts. But Republic’s offense couldn’t sustain a scoring drive in the first quarter either, and the teams started the second quarter in a scoreless tie.
Joplin finally got into the end zone midway through the second quarter, after Republic threatened to tie the score but had a drive stall out in Joplin territory. The Eagles drove 78 yards and scored on a 28-yard run by Terrance Gibson to go up 7-0. After another failed Republic drive, Joplin blocked a punt and took over on Republic’s 15 yard line. Three plays later, Gooch threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Quinton Renfro, and a missed extra-point left the score 13-0.
“We put them in some bad situations,” coach Ryan Cornelsen said of his defense. “We put them on a short field a couple of times, and we misaligned on one of the touchdowns, but I felt like our defense for the most part did a really good job of battling and making plays. We were 300 pounds on both tackles for them against our 150-pounders, so every now and then, they’re gonna get a play.”
Republic broke onto the scoreboard on its next drive. The Tigers marched 84 yards with time winding down in the second quarter. Facing a fourth down on the five-yard line, Republic snapped the ball with one second remaining on the clock. Wyatt Woods scrambled out of trouble and fired a laser to James Rexroat in the back-right corner of the end zone. Gavyn Beckner’s extra point made the halftime score 13-7.
Besides the long scoring drive, Republic moved the ball occasionally but not consistently in the first half.
“Offensively, we didn’t run our base plan as well as we’d hoped. We felt like we could get movement, but we didn’t establish drives the way I wanted and we’ve been doing that all year,” Cornelsen said. “We had a couple of big plays, which is good, but we haven’t been able to sustain the chain-moving drives like what our offense should be able to do.”
Joplin scored on its opening possession of the second half when Renfro rushed in from 29 yards out to make the score 20-7, but Republic immediately responded. The Tigers drove 74 yards over the next two minutes, finishing with a 12-yard run by Woods. That cut the score to 20-14.
Joplin scored again in response, driving the length of the field and scoring on a one-yard run by Drew Van Gilder with 6:23 left in the third quarter. That put Joplin ahead 27-14. But again Republic answered with a long scoring drive of its own. Republic began on its own ten yard line and took nearly six minutes to put the ball in the end zone. Woods rushed it in from the seven yard line, and Republic trailed 27-21 with less than a minute left in the third.
Early in the fourth quarter, Joplin finally got some separation on the scoreboard. A one-yard TD run by Renfro and a two-point conversion put the Eagles ahead 35-21. The Eagles caught a break on that drive when officials waved off a near-fumble and ruled the Joplin runner was down. It was the second time Joplin had avoided a turnover when coughing up the ball at the end of a play. Republic had jumped on the loose ball, but the Eagles retained possession and scored not long after that.
With time getting short in the fourth quarter, Republic decided to try for a fourth-down conversion in its own territory. Wyatt Woods scrambled and fired a strike to Ezekiel Meads beyond the first-down marker — but officials called a penalty against Republic that negated the yardage and gave Joplin the ball back. The Eagles scored on the very next play to go ahead 42-21.
Republic put together one more scoring drive, finishing with an eight-yard touchdown run by Daniel Phillips with :58 left. That made the score 42-28, where it ended.
Kanon Krol handled the bulk of the rushing attack for Republic, which was playing without an injured Connor Sandridge. Krol carried the ball 18 times for 66 yards. Every one of his carries picked up between two and five yards. He gained exactly four yards on nine of his 18 carries.
Wyatt Woods rushed for 52 yards and threw for 159. He accounted for three of Republic’s four touchdowns, rushing for two and throwing for one to Rexroat. Daniel Phillips also rushed for a TD. Gunner Ellison rushed for 33 yards and had 30 yards in receptions, all in the first half. Meads rushed for 30.
Joplin improves to 5-1. Republic falls to 3-3. The Tigers are home (for homecoming) Friday against Branson.
