Republic fumbled the ball away on two of its first three plays from scrimmage, and it didn’t get much better from there. The Tigers made the kinds of mistakes they have avoided over the past year and a half, falling to Webb City in a highly anticipated matchup of state-ranked teams, 42-21. Republic lost four fumbles, threw an interception, and had a punt blocked during a frustrating night on its home field.
“Anytime the whole team plays that bad, there’s only one way to point that finger, and that’s at me,” said coach Ryan Cornselsen. “I don’t know exactly why, it just felt like mistake after mistake — and not little mistakes, big mistakes. And just weird stuff that shouldn’t happen, and when it does, that’s on me.”
Despite the mistakes, Republic stayed in the game throughout the first half. The defense spent the half with its back against its own goal line, and still kept the score close. Webb City scored on its first possession on a 20-yard drive. The Cardinals got the ball after another fumble, but had to punt the ball away. But Webb City scored again after blocking a Republic punt and recovering the ball on the three-yard line. That made the score 14-0 with 7:48 left in the first quarter.
The Republic offense failed to move the ball on its next drive, but the defense came up with a big play. Zion Allen picked up a fumble and ran it 36 yards to the end zone, and Mason Cole’s extra point made it 14-7.
The teams traded touchdowns on the next two possessions, with Webb City going up 21-7, but Republic answering with its only sustained drive of the evening. The Tigers moved 79 yards on 13 plays, scoring on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Wyatt Woods to James Rexroat. That cut the lead to 21-14 and gave Republic a very brief shot of momentum.
But on the ensuing kickoff, Webb City’s Joseph DeGraffenreid ran the ball 74 yards, all the way back to the 13 yard line. That set up another Webb City touchdown on a short field, and the score was 28-14 at halftime.
The second half was all Webb City. The Cardinals scored on the opening drive of the half and controlled the game from there. The lone highlight for Republic after halftime was a 58-yard touchdown run by Caide White.
“I told the kids, ‘This isn’t our first butt-kicking together. We’ve been here before,'” Cornelsen said. “It’s not something we want to have happen, but they know we’re going to come together. We’re going to spin this thing into making us better. We’ve done it before — we did it last year, we did it the first year.”
Webb City out-gained Republic, 312 yards to 193. The Tigers had 188 yards on the ground, and only five passing yards. White led Republic with 64 yards and a touchdown on two carries. Daniel Phillips had 47 yards on ten rushes. Kanon Krol carried the ball ten times for 41 yards. Woods had 14 carries for 28 yards.
Both teams are 2-1. Republic travels to Neosho next week and will try to recover.
“You never want to take one, but when we take one, we take it together, and we’re going to get better for it. I think we’ll see a different team coming out in the next few weeks.”