For some teams a bye week comes at a bad time, for others they use it to their advantage, for Willard it was the latter, as the Tiger squad ran all over the Waynesville Tigers in the Class 5, District 5 playoffs in Willard on Nov. 2.
The Class 4 District 11 soccer tournament was supposed to end with a showdown between top-seeded Republic and #2 seed Carthage. Instead, Joplin knocked off Springfield Central for the district title, after those two teams pulled big upsets in the semifinal round.
Three weeks made a huge difference for the Republic football team in its rematch with Carthage. After staying in the game against state-ranked Carthage at home during Week 8, Republic fell behind and never seriously challenged in a 49-10 loss in the district semifinals.
Two Republic softball players earned spots on the all-state team as selected by Missouri’s high school softball coaches. Kaitlyn Ragsdale is an infielder on the first team, and Julia Higgins is a catcher on the second team.
The Lady Tigers traveled to Clever on Oct. 22, to take part in the Class 2, District 10 tournament. Ash Grove entered the tournament as the fourth seed but lost to fifth seeded New Covenant Academy in straight sets, 19-25 and 18-25. Strafford ending up winning the district tournament.
The 2018 fall sports season have come to an end for the Ash Grove volleyball and football teams after losses in their respective district tournaments.
In football, Ash Grove traveled to Skyline, but saw their season come to an end after a 62-12 loss on Oct. 26.
What a difference nine weeks make. Republic avenged a season-opening loss to Branson in its first-round district game, pulling away in the second half for a 34–9 victory. Branson had spoiled opening night at Republic’s new stadium with a late touchdown to win 19–13.
Republic’s soccer team jumped on top of Webb City and cruised to an easy win on Senior Night, winning 8–0. Senior Austin Beck had the biggest night of all, scoring five goals. Three of those goals came in the first six minutes of the game.
A difficult season for Republic’s volleyball program came to an end with a district quarterfinal loss to Nixa, 25–8, 25–7. Nixa’s Ciera Reyes led both teams with seven kills, and Kenzie Hines and Lauren Weber added five each.
