CARTHAGE, Mo. — Separated by less than 18 minutes of clock time, Republic threw two passes into the Carthage end zone that, if caught, would’ve changed the course of the game immeasurably.
With less than a minute left in the first half, a would-be game-tying touchdown fell to the ground, and the Tigers were flagged for offensive pass interference to boot.
Then, with just under seven minutes in the game, a Republic receiver failed to track down a throw that would’ve brought them within a touchdown at 28-21.
Both fourth-down plays, they instead became turnovers on downs, preserving leads for Carthage.
Those close calls and a consistent, if incomplete, rushing attack from Republic had Jon Guidie feeling like his 150th career win as Carthage coach had been a much closer game than the 35-14 margin displayed on the scoreboard when the clock hit all zeroes.
“We knew that going in … they’re a much improved football team,” he said. “And they played great tonight, it’s a hard offense to defend. I thought our kids in the second half bowed up a little bit and got a couple key stops for us, and that’s what we wanted at halftime; ‘Guys, come out and get a stop and we can put this thing out of reach.’”
The first drive that ended in a turnover on downs had been a 15-play slog with 13 of those going for 5 yards or less when Republic quarterback Avery Moody’s heave hit the turf.
A few plays later, Guidie and his Tigers faced their own fourth-down dilemma from the red zone.
At the Republic 11, quarterback Caden Kabance pitched to running back Luke Gall to the right side, then, with the attention squarely on Gall, swung out wide down the left sideline, where the junior running back gave up his full head of steam and instead threw Kabance a dart to the end zone.
“We said at halftime, ‘That was a 14-point swing right there,’” Guidie said. “We were able to get the ball, put a little drive together ourselves, went for it on fourth down, little trick play to Caden and, yeah, I think that might have been the play of the game there, that fourth down stop.”
Guidie said he and his staff had been “itching to call it” after putting the halfback pass in the gameplan on Wednesday.
Despite the incomplete passes, Moody carried the load for Republic on offense, carrying the ball 32 times, totaling 162 yards. The slow-but-effective, marching style to Republic’s offense meant it was on the field for 64 snaps, exactly half of them Mooney runs.
Though Republic seemed to nearly figure out the Carthage defense, Gall and Kabance did what they’ve done on the other side of the ball all season: Republic managed to stop the attack only once on the night, ironically forcing a three-and-out on a drive the Tigers began at the 50-yard line thanks to an onside kick attempt that went out of bounds.
Gall and Kabance combined for 380 total yards — of course, sharing 11 of them on the former’s pass to the latter. Gall finished with 218 yards rushing to Kabance’s 122.
“That one-two punch of (Kabance) and Luke has been pretty special this year,” Guidie said.
Friday night’s win sends Carthage into the final week of the regular season undefeated at 8-0.
The Tigers will face the Nixa Eagles, 7-1, whose only loss came at the hands of Joplin, 28-25 in Week 2.
With a win, Carthage will have its first outright Central Ozark Conference championship since 2016.
“I think it would mean a lot to these guys,” Guidie said. “They deserve it, they put the work in, they put the time in, they show up every single day with great attitudes. We had some goals at the beginning of the season and that certainly was one of them.”
CARTHAGE 35, REPUBLIC 14
Republic 7 0 7 0—14
Carthage 7 14 7 7—35
SCORING SUMMARY
CAR: Luke Gall 47 run ( Chris Mejia kick)
REP: Avery Moody 4 run (Marco Donjuan kick)
CAR: Caden Kabance 2 run (Mejia kick)
CAR: Kabance 11 pass from Gall (Mejia kick)
CAR: Gall 53 run (Mejia kick)
REP: Moody 1 run (Donjuan kick)
CAR: Gall 55 run (Mejia kick)
