Nolan Lashley scored six touchdowns Friday night, and three of them covered more than 50 yards.
The Republic junior carried the ball 38 times for 368 yards in the Tigers’ 47-35 homecoming win over Neosho, which came into the game undefeated. His touchdown runs went for one, 77, two, 52, 70 and seven yards.
Several of his runs came when Republic needed them most. Neosho tied the game 7-7 on a Blayne Patterson touchdown run, and Lashley went 77 yards on Republic’s next possession. Neosho pulled within 26-21 in the third quarter on a second-half touchdown pass, and Lashley went 70 yards on the very next play.
Most of those yards came on the same play, a dive up the middle.
“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.”
Coach Ryan Cornelsen said the night started with the players blocking for him.
Game page →“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.”
Lashley has 18 touchdowns through five games, and he has scored at least four in a game three times. Six touchdowns and 368 yards against an unbeaten team on homecoming night, and Nolan Lashley’s game against Neosho is our Performance of the Week.
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