Nolan Lashley carried the ball 38 times for 368 yards and six touchdowns Friday, one of the best rushing nights in Republic history, and the Tigers beat Neosho 47-35 at home. Republic led 47-21 with less than three minutes to play before Neosho scored twice in the final 2:13 to make the score closer than the game was.
Lashley now has 18 touchdowns this season. His six Friday came from one, 77, two, 52, 70 and seven yards out, and he did much of the damage on the same kind of inside run.
“I knew dive could be really good,” Lashley said. “They stacked that line. They kept stacking them real tight, and if we got anything through that first line, it was a good play. We could get five yards at least. So we talked about it, and we knew we could gash them on dive.”
Ryan Cornelsen said the credit starts up front. “Obviously, when he’s going that well, our offensive line’s playing well,” Cornelsen said. “It’s a pretty simplistic game plan. Get it to him in different gaps and let him go. The offensive line was getting the push, especially late.”
Keiran Govan intercepted Blayne Patterson on Neosho’s first possession, and Lashley scored from a yard out to finish an 11-play drive. Patterson answered with a 21-yard touchdown run, and Lashley broke a 77-yard run on the next Republic possession to make it 14-7. Lashley scored again from two yards out in the second quarter, and Patterson ran one in from 11 yards to make it 20-14 at the half.
Lashley scored on a 52-yard run to open the third quarter. Neosho answered with a 22-yard touchdown pass from Patterson to Lincoln Howard on fourth-and-seven, and Neosho had all the momentum as they cut the lead to five, 26-21.
Game page →One of the biggest plays of the game followed immediately. Lashley went 70 yards on the very next play from scrimmage to make it 33-21. On the ensuing Neosho possession, Cayden Pacheco intercepted Patterson at the Republic 40 late in the third, and Republic put together a 17-play drive that took 8:16 off the clock and ended with Lashley’s seven-yard touchdown run.
Republic then recovered an onside kick for the second week in a row.
“We really just felt like if we got this back, we could put another long drive together and run the clock out,” Cornelsen said. “You saw at the end what they’re capable of doing with the spread, so I was trying to prevent that.”
Lincoln Caldwell scored on a 19-yard run seven plays later to make it 47-21 with 2:40 left. Patterson hit Mason Spiva for a 21-yard touchdown and a two-point conversion, Republic fumbled on its next play, and Patterson scored from nine yards out with 1:05 to go.
Cornelsen said the defense played well in the first half other than penalties. Republic was flagged for more than 100 yards in penalties.
Republic ran for 519 yards on 69 carries and had 25 first downs to Neosho’s 18. Caldwell added 56 yards on 10 carries and Hayes Porter had 51 on nine. Patterson ran for 81 yards and three touchdowns and completed seven of 17 passes for 141 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Republic improves to 4-1. Neosho is also 4-1. Republic travels to Joplin next week.
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