REPUBLIC, Mo. — Carthage and Republic had met on the gridiron 15 times ahead of the 2023 campaign, and on all occasions, Carthage came away victorious.
Republic flipped the script on Friday night as it defeated Carthage 20-14 in the 2023 season and conference opener.
Republic also avenged its most recent loss, which came at the hands of Carthage to end its promising 2022 campaign in the district championship round.
Carthage, the Central Ozark Conference co-champ which went 11-2 and fell in the Class 5 semifinals last year, struggled to muster much offense with five returning starters on the offensive side of the ball.
“I thought we played hard and just well enough to win a game,” Carthage coach Jon Guidie said. “We couldn’t get out of our own way with field position, penalties and turnovers. Just a lot of mistakes that kept us from finishing drives and scoring. That can happen sometimes with inexperience.”
Even without returning starters, the visiting Tigers’ defense enjoyed a strong first half, in which Carthage enjoyed a 7-0 halftime lead.
But following the narrow deficit at the half, Republic rattled off 20 unanswered points in the second half to take a 20-7 lead, thanks in large part to James Rexroat, a Memphis commit, and Kanon Kroll, who tallied two touchdown runs and a strong second half.
“Our kids showed some great character in staying in the fight and giving ourselves an opportunity to win at the end,” Guidie said. “I’m proud of their effort.”
Carthage was yards away from knotting the score or winning the contest in the final minute of the contest. Quarterback Brady Carlton with receivers was unable to connect on third and fourth down from the 5-yard line as the waning seconds ticked off the clock.
Carlton scored on a 7-yard run to cut Republic’s lead to 20-14 with less than seven minutes in the fourth quarter. Also scoring for Carthage was Landyn Collins to break a scoreless deadlock on a short touchdown run on fourth and goal—30 seconds ahead of halftime to cap a four-play, 92-yard drive.
Republic’s Kroll scored his first touchdown from 15 yards out to make it 7-7 early in the third Then Daniel Phillips ripped a 35-yard run on a reverse to give Republic a touchdown lead with less than a minute left in the third.
Carthage has its home opener against Branson next Friday. Joplin beat Branson 35-14 in the opener.
