By the Numbers – Republic vs. Carthage Edition

Seconds Carthage’s lead lasted on Oct. 16. Tate Nichols’s 15-yard run and a two-point pass put Carthage ahead 22-19 with 8:19 to play, and Alex Johnson returned the next kickoff 95 yards for the touchdown that won the game 26-22. Johnson also intercepted Slade Stiffler on fourth-and-eight earlier in the second half. He is averaging 34.4 yards on five kickoff returns this season.

Straight Carthage wins to open the series. The teams first played on Sept. 24, 2004, a 45-7 Carthage win, and Carthage won every meeting through the 2022 district championship game. Republic has won two of the last four, 20-14 in the 2023 opener and 26-22 last month, both at Republic. Carthage leads the series 24-2.

Points Carthage has scored against Republic in 26 games, an average of 38.9 a game. Republic has scored 472. Carthage has reached 40 points 14 times in the series and held Republic to a touchdown or less eight times, including the largest margin, 49-7 at Republic in 2010. Republic’s only points that night came on Jerry Brown’s 48-yard fumble return.

Seasons the teams have met twice. Carthage won both games in 2018, 2022 and 2025, and the second game each year was a district playoff game at Carthage that ended Republic’s season: 49-10, 28-14 and 31-14. Friday is the first rematch Republic enters having won the first game, and the first district playoff game between the two at Republic.

Carthage on fourth down at Republic on Oct. 16. Landon West was stopped for no gain on fourth-and-three at midfield, Johnson intercepted on fourth-and-eight at the Republic 28, and Stiffler’s pass fell incomplete on fourth-and-12 with 3:25 left after a false start pushed Carthage back from the Republic 10. In the 2018 regular-season game, Carthage scored four touchdowns on fourth down, one of them on fourth-and-17.

Rushing touchdowns for Nolan Lashley, a Republic single-season record. His third touchdown against Carthage, a 10-yard run with three seconds left in the third quarter, was his 27th and broke Jerney Jones’s 2015 record of 26. Lashley ran 31 times for 191 yards that night and has 1,478 yards in nine games. Baelor Cutbirth added 104 yards on 13 carries in his first game at running back after moving over from linebacker.

Years since Republic’s last outright conference championship before this one. The win over Carthage clinched a share of the COC West, and the 42-15 win at Willard a week later made it outright at 5-0, Republic’s first since the 1990 team went 7-0 in the Central Ozark Conference. Republic had shared titles in 1999 and 2004 but had not won one alone since Ed Miller’s 1990 team beat Willard 28-10 without completing a pass.

Games in the series decided by six points or fewer, all since 2013, and Republic has won two of them. Carthage won 40-37 in 2013 by going 5-for-5 on two-point tries and 40-35 in 2014 on the last play of the game. Last year at Carthage, Republic led 21-0 and lost 30-28 on a field goal on the final play. Republic’s 2023 win ended with Brady Lewis breaking up a pass in the end zone on the last snap.

Kickoff returns for touchdowns by Republic against Carthage. Stephen Ford went 96 yards in 2005 for Republic’s only touchdown in a 46-7 loss, and Clayton Norwood went 85 yards in 2006, the same night he scored on an interception, in a 56-35 loss. Johnson’s 95-yard return on Oct. 16 is the only one of the three that came in a Republic win.

Wins for Ryan Cornelsen in six seasons at Republic, third in program history behind Ed Miller’s 122 and Jim Chambers’s 63. Two of the 53 came against Carthage, the only two Republic wins in the series. Friday’s winner plays Neosho or Branson for the district championship on Nov. 13. Kickoff is 7 p.m. at Republic, and the game is on MSHSAA.tv.