CARL JUNCTION, Mo. — On a night where they didn’t have their best stuff on offense, the Carl Junction Bulldogs managed to stave off a push from the Republic Tigers with ball control and stingy defense to hang on for a 28-21 win.
Carl Junction (3-4) struggled moving the ball from the beginning, punting on its first two drives and squandering a scoring chance on its third. A false start penalty on third-and-goal from the Republic (2-5) 1-yard line forced the Bulldogs to try a 23-yard field goal, but the attempt was stuffed by Avery Moody, junior defensive back, who blocked the kick to keep the game scoreless.
The Bulldog defense, though, kept the Tigers at bay long enough to keep the team in control of the game. Carl Junction allowed only two scores on defense, and both were preceded by strong plays undone by circumstance. Republic needed a defensive pass interference call on a 50-50 ball on a third-and-12 from midfield to set up its first touchdown, a 16-yard screen pass from Moody to Ezekiel Meads.
Carl Junction wide receiver Cole Stewart looks for the end zone in the Bulldogs’ win over Republic on Friday. Photo by Peter Edwards.
Republic’s next — and last — offensive touchdown was a result of a Carl Junction goal-line stand and ensuing short punt that allowed the Tigers to start at the Bulldog 23-yard line. Republic’s only other score came on a kickoff return that was first fumbled, but picked back up by Meads and promptly marched 70 yards untouched to the end zone.
Carl Junction coach Doug Buckmaster praised his team for scratching out a win, despite what he said appeared to be inadequate preparation on offense for the matchup.
“Myself as head football coach and my staff, evidently, well, it’s not evident, we definitely didn’t do a very good job of coaching this past week because we didn’t bring anything to the table offensively tonight at all,” he said. “We may have moved the ball at times, but we couldn’t finish anything, we didn’t have much of an idea what we needed to do, I guess. So I take all the blame for that, I’m the guy that makes the offensive play calls … We’ll see if we can’t get better as coaches and help our guys out a little bit.”
Just as CJ’s defense allowed only two touchdowns, the Bulldog offense managed only three itself: Senior quarterback Alex Baker threw for three scores, one each to Noah Southern, Brady Sims and Cole Stewart, compared to the unit’s five punts and three turnovers. Carl Junction’s other TD came on the opening kickoff of the second half when Brendan Jewell pried the ball free from the Republic returner and Arlen Wakefield managed a scoop-and-score fumble recovery to make it 14-7.
Baker finished 13-of-28 through the air for 211 yards, while Sims largely carried the offense, churning up first downs and keeping the Republic offense off the field. He finished with 178 yards rushing on 32 carries.
Carl Junction running back Brady Sims looks for running room against Republic on Friday. Photo by Peter Edwards.
“Brady did an awesome job,” Buckmaster said. We needed something and the one thing we got a little bit of (was Sims). We’ve been better in the run game the last few weeks, but, you know, we did some nice things and Brady ran hard and we needed those yards to win the football game and he did an outstanding job there.”
The Joplin Eagles got back to playing their style of football and it showed up on the scoreboard with a 41-14 win over Republic on Friday at Junge Field.
Joplin (3-3) built a two-score lead in the first half and dictated the pace of play for the remainder of the contest, with the defense pitching a shutout in the second half against the Tigers (2-4).
“We did a good job this week of setting the tone and the pace of playing our style of football,” Joplin coach Curtis Jasper said. “We did a good job of slowing things down in the fourth quarter to take time off the clock and sealing the victory.”
Joplin’s defense allowed a score on the Tigers’ opening possession and another near the two-minute mark of the first half. In the second half, the Eagles forced a fumble by Jayden Holt, added an interception by Dominic Simmons and forced the Tigers into several punts and turnover-on-downs on the way to hanging a zero on the scoreboard.
“I am super excited with the defense and the way they gelled as the game went on,” Jasper said. “I thought we tackled much better. We did a good job of getting a lot of people flying to the ball and gang tackling, which were all things we worked really hard on this week in practice. You could see they built their confidence as the game went on.”
“It was mostly just the physicality and doing things right that we had to fix,” defensive end Jacob Prosser said. “(Shutting them out in the second half) was probably one of the biggest things we have done this year. At practice we preach about doing the little things right, that showed up tonight.”
Joplin’s Marcelino Puente (48) sacks Republic quarterback Gavyn Beckner, with Jacob Prosser (40) applying pressure, in the Eagles’ win over the Tigers on Friday at Junge Field. Photo by Shawn Fowler.
Joplin’s offense wasted no time finding the scoreboard to open the game, as the Eagles started on offense and drove 58 yards on eight plays, with quarterback Always Wright faking a screen pass before finding wideout Keaton Renfro streaking up the sideline for a 29-yard touchdown.
Republic answered back on their first possession, converting on three third-down plays during an 11-play drive that culminated in a 21-yard passing score from quarterback Gavyn Beckner to Landon Porter on third down to tie the game at 7-7 with 4:01 left in the opening quarter.
Wright and Renfro hooked up again on the next Joplin possession on a 3-yard completion for a touchdown with 2:15 left in the opening quarter to put the Eagles back on top 13-7.
“He did great,” Wright said of Renfro. “I love that kid. He is a reliable guy for me, and I can always depend on him to come through.”
After the Joplin defense forced Republic into a punt, the Eagles found paydirt five plays into their ensuing drive when Wright found a wide-open Nathan Glades over the middle for a 66-yard touchdown to give Joplin a 20-7 advantage with 11:20 to play in the first half.
Both teams traded possessions before Republic put on a 13-play drive that went for 78 yards and ended with quarterback Avery Moody finding the end zone from 2 yards out with 2:12 left in the half to trim the lead to 20-14.
Taking possession with 2:09 remaining at their own 35-yard line, the Eagles orchestrated an 11-play drive that ended with Wright passing for his fourth touchdown of the first half, a 1-yard completion to Terrance Gibson, to make the score 27-14 with 13.2 ticks left on the clock, sending the Eagles into the intermission with a two-score lead.
Joplin’s Always Wright completes a pass in the Eagles’ win over Republic on Friday at Junge Field. Photo by Shawn Fowler.
Joplin forced Republic into a fumble to open the second half, with Prosser falling on it, but the Eagles turned the ball right back over with a fumble by Glades.
Joplin’s defense forced a three-and-out punt, with the offense taking advantage, using a 66-yard run by Glades to set up a 3-yard touchdown pass from Wright to Gibson to give the Eagles a 34-14 lead with 7:32 left in the third.
Joplin’s final score of the game came late when freshman running back Quinton Renfro scored his second touchdown in as many weeks, ripping off a 59-yard run to the end zone with 1:41 left in regulation to put the Eagles on top 41-14.
“You don’t see that out of freshman running backs, making one cut, sticking and going,” Glades said of Renfro. “I am proud of how he finished off every run he had tonight.”
STATS
Joplin gained 522 yards of offense on 64 plays, while the defense limited Republic to 202 yards of offense on 51 plays.
After finishing last week with three turnovers, Wright bounced back with a strong performance, finishing the game by completing 23-of-25 passes for 262 yards and five touchdowns.
“I think the kid is unflappable,” Jasper said. “He plays several sports at a high level, and no one is going to have perfect nights, but he does a good job of learning, being coachable and continuing to get better.”
Glades, who missed last week with a knee sprain, returned as the starter and carried the ball 22 times for 177 yards and caught five passes for 101 yards and a touchdown.
“Doing my rehab over the last two weeks, I knew I was going to be able to come out and perform,” Glades said. “I didn’t perform how I wanted to, but I am proud of the way my teammates performed around me. We bonded this week and came together as a family instead of focusing on the individual. I saw great effort and constant focus all week. Everyone was keeping each other accountable all week, and I was so proud of that.”
Keaton Renfro caught a team-high 10 passes for 91 yards and two touchdowns, with Quinton Renfro had 11 carries for 74 yards and touchdown.
Beckner completed 8-of-14 passes for 64 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Moody carried nine times for 55 yards and a touchdown.
UP NEXT
Joplin travels to Carthage (5-0) for a 7 p.m. matchup at David Haffner Stadium.
SCORING SUMMARY
Republic 7 7 0 0 — 14
Joplin 13 14 7 7 — 41
FIRST QUARTER
JHS—Keaton Renfro 29 pass from Always Wright (Keaton Huff kick)
RHS—Landon Porter 21 pass from Gavyn Beckner (Marco Donjuan kick)
JHS—Renfro 3 pass from Wright (kick fail)
SECOND QUARTER
JHS—Nathan Glades 66 pass from Wright (Huff kick)
RHS—Avery Moody 2 run (Donjuan kick)
JHS—Terrance Gibson 1 pass from Wright (Huff kick)
THIRD QUARTER
JHS—Gibson 3 pass from Wright (Huff kick) FOURTH QUARTER
LAST WEEK: Willard 32, Joplin 20; Ozark 35, Republic 28
LAST YEAR: Joplin 55-7
OUTLOOK: Joplin is coming off a loss against then-winless Willard. In the defeat, senior running back Nathan Glades did not play with a knee sprain. Quarterback Always Wright completed 17-of-25 passes for 170 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. Freshman running back Quinton Renfro rushed 17 times for 130 yards and a touchdown in his varsity debut. Wideout Trayshawn Thomas caught seven passes for 64 yards and a touchdown, while Keaton Renfro caught five passes for 51 yards.
Republic’s Gavyn Beckner completed 12-of-17 passes for 148 yards and an interception, while Avery Moody carried the ball 19 times for 86 yards and two touchdowns. Josh Sterling picked up 75 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 10 carries.
