Republic Tigers lose offensive shootout at Carl Junction; fall below .500

On a night of big plays and big performances, Carl Junction made one more big play than Republic. The result was a 55-48 Bulldogs win, despite a huge night for Republic quarterback Lucas Hayes. Hayes racked up 482 total yards in one of the biggest single-game performances in Republic history.
Neither defense had any consistent answer for the opposing offense. Both teams tallied more than 530 total yards. Carl Junc- tion quarterback Drew Patterson, making his first start, completed 15 of 21 passes for 294 yards and six touchdowns. Republic coach Dustin Baldwin cited a com- bination of factors in the Tigers’ defensive downfall.
“They have certain schemes that they’ve run for a long time that we just didn’t do a very good job of either game planning or executing. It was a little bit
of both,” said Baldwin. “We didn’t tackle. We had obvi- ous tackles in space that we missed and then they’d go for extra yardage.”
The teams traded touch- downs throughout the first half. Republic scored first on a two-yard touchdown run by Hayes, and after a Carl Junction score, the Tigers struck again, scoring on a 56-yard touchdown pass from Hayes to Claye White. Carl Junction answered again to tie the score at 14 apiece.
After Carl Junction forced the first punt of the game, Carl Junction took a 21-14 lead, then intercepted one of Hayes’ passes. But Re- public’s Claye White picked off a pass shortly after that and ran it back for a touch- down, tying the game at 21. Each team scored once more before halftime to put the score at 28-28 at the midway point.
The pace didn’t slow
down much in the second half, but Carl Junction took advantage of a Hayes fumble to score twice in a row, making the score 42-28. Republic scored on another touchdown pass from Hayes to Gavin Walker, but missed the extra point. Another Carl Junction touchdown made the score 49-34, but Repub- lic answered with a scoring drive of its own, capped by a three-yard touchdown run by Hayes, making the score 49-41.
The Republic defense finally forced a punt on Carl Junction’s next possession, but couldn’t capitalize. An interception ended Repub- lic’s drive, and the teams traded touchdowns one more time to arrive at the final score of 55-48.
“I was proud of our kids in terms of their effort. Obvi- ously, we never quit,” said Baldwin. “Even the defense never quit. They never quit playing hard. We just did
not do things right funda- mentally, between tackling and giving up leverage and taking the wrong path to the football. It’s got to come down to your pursuit angles and making tackles when you get there.”
Hayes finished with 246 rushing yards on 30 carries and 236 passing yards. He ran for four touchdowns and threw for two more. He fumbled once and threw two interceptions.
Claye White caught five passes for over 100 yards, including the touchdown reception and the intercep- tion return for a touchdown. Riley Sigman caught three passes for 59 yards, and he also rushed the ball 14 times for 57 yards. Josh Sterling had four receptions for 62 yards.
The Tigers fall to 1-2 this season, and they will host unbeaten Joplin this week. Carl Junction is also 1-2.