Some coaches call a game by the book. Some of them call it by their gut. And then there’s whatever coach Ryan Cornelsen is doing on the Republic sidelines.
The book says you punt on fourth-and-one from your own 10 in the first quarter. Most guts would say the same thing. But Cornelsen kept his offense on the field, and Cooper Cornelsen pulled the ball on a read play and ran 18 yards for a first down. Republic didn’t stop until it had gone 99 yards on 20 plays, converting two more fourth downs along the way, and the Tigers beat Webb City 33-14 Friday.
“We ran the read play where Cooper was read. If no one had the gap, he would give it. Coop pulled it, got the first,” Cornelsen said. “It’s a great read. You just gotta have confidence in it.”
Cornelsen said he thought about punting, for a moment.
“You think about it, but then you also think, you know what, let’s go for it. I mean, what are we gonna lose? That’s just who we are,” he said. “Obviously if that goes bad, everybody’s throwing stuff from the stands, and I don’t blame them. That’s not a normal call.”
Republic went for it on fourth down five times Friday and converted all five. The Tigers never punted.
Game page →The night opened with a military flyover, and the crowd and the Republic sideline were electric from the start. Webb City’s first drive reached the Republic 39 before the Cardinals punted, and the kick was downed at the Republic 1. Three plays later, Republic faced the first of its fourth-down calls.
After Cooper Cornelsen’s run, Republic kept handing the ball off. The Tigers ran 20 straight times on the drive, with four different ball carriers, and fought through three holding penalties. Nolan Lashley picked up three yards on fourth-and-two at the Republic 36, Lincoln Caldwell ran 11 yards on second-and-11 after one of the holding calls, and Lashley broke a 12-yard run to the Webb City 12. On fourth-and-four from the 6, Keiran Govan ran it in for the touchdown with 11:55 left in the second quarter. The kick failed, and Republic led 6-0 after a drive that took 8:51.
“Our kids take pride in knowing coach ain’t scared to go for it. He’s got faith we can get that yard, and we can do it multiple ways,” Cornelsen said. “They believe that coach is just crazy enough to call this thing and go for it. I think that shows my trust in them, but it also gets them pumped. They want to go for it. They don’t want to punt.”
Cornelsen said that first drive smoothed the Tigers the rest of the half.
“Once we’d had that first long drive, our kids settled in, they gained some confidence and played well,” he said.
Webb City punted again, and Republic went 80 yards in 14 plays. Cooper Cornelsen ran eight yards on third-and-three, and a personal foul on Webb City added 15 more. Govan ran 14 yards on second-and-13 after a false start, and the Tigers reached first-and-goal at the 7. Three runs got them to the 1, and on fourth-and-goal, Lashley went in from a yard out with 2:46 left in the half. The two-point try failed, and Republic led 12-0.
Webb City tried a fourth-and-one of its own at the Republic 39 just before halftime, and Mason Young was dropped for a four-yard loss. The Cardinals ran 16 plays in the first half. Republic ran 37.
“It didn’t surprise me that there was only 12 points scored, because both teams have got good defenses,” Cornelsen said. “Both teams are gonna run the ball and be physical.”
Lashley opened the second half with runs of 10 and 14 yards, then ran 18 on third-and-three to the Webb City 29. He finished the 78-yard drive with a four-yard touchdown run with 7:13 left in the third quarter, and Republic led 19-0.
Then Cornelsen’s gut spoke up again. Republic tried an onside kick and recovered it at the Webb City 48. Baelor Cutbirth ran seven yards, Govan had runs of 10 and seven yards to get the Tigers to the 1, and Lashley scored from a yard out with 1:52 left in the quarter to make it 26-0.
“That’s a huge momentum swing,” Cornelsen said. “You steal a possession on the onside, and if you don’t give them one back, you won the time of possession and you stole a possession.”
Webb City gave Republic a dose of its own medicine in the fourth quarter. Drake Claborn scored on a one-yard run, the Cardinals recovered an onside kick, and Young threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Malachi Njoroge to cut the lead to 26-14 with 8:17 left.
“We just didn’t finish it,” Cornelsen said. “The onside got us. We’ve got to finish those games and do better in the second half.”
Republic put it away the same way it started, with a long drive and a fourth-down call. A holding penalty on the first play left the Tigers with first-and-20 at their own 44. Hayes Porter ran nine yards on third-and-12, and Webb City jumped offside on fourth-and-three to give Republic a first down. Facing fourth-and-one at the Webb City 28, Lashley ran four yards. Porter ran seven more, and Lashley scored on a four-yard run with 3:17 left to make it 33-14. The drive took 4:55 off the clock.
Webb City’s last drive reached the Republic 16 before time ran out.
Cornelsen said Republic was not physical enough in its loss at Nixa, and the team has been hearing about it since.
“I challenged them. I didn’t feel like early in the year we were physical enough to win big games,” he said. “We’ve been stressing that if we want to win big games, we’ve got to be more physical. And tonight we were.”
Republic ran the ball 68 times for 392 yards and never threw a pass. Lashley finished with 158 yards and four touchdowns on 29 carries and now has 24 touchdowns this season. Govan ran 14 times for 89 yards and a touchdown, Porter had 52 yards on nine carries, Caldwell had 43 yards on eight carries and Cooper Cornelsen had 40 yards on six carries. Republic held the ball for 31:03 and held Webb City to 154 total yards.
Republic improves to 6-1 and hosts Carthage on Senior Night Friday, Oct. 16, at 7 p.m.
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