Republic's football season ends vs. top-ranked Carthage

Republic fell into an early hole against Missouri's top-ranked team in Class 5, and wasn't able to dig its way out in a 28-14 loss at Carthage. The loss ended Republic's season in the district championship game with an 8-4 record — its best record in 15 years.
First-half mistakes like penalties and mental errors helped Carthage jump ahead 14-0 on a cold night with a freezing wind blowing out of the north end zone.
"They pinned us deep a couple times with that wind, and it was stronger than what we wanted. It has hard to throw into it," said coach Ryan Cornelsen. "I felt like in the first quarter, we got pinned deep and obviously they were able to score."
Cornelsen knew his team would have to pass the ball effectively against Carthage's defense to have a chance, and they were able to do that in the second and third quarters, with the wind at their back. After Carthage scored two first-quarter touchdowns, Republic got on the board midway through the second quarter on a touchdown pass from Wyatt Woods to James Rexroat. Republic missed the extra point because of a high snap, and that left the score 14-6. Carthage scored once more before halftime to take a 21-6 lead.
But penalties cost Republic as much as the strong wind, pushing the Tigers backward several times and putting them in long passing situations more than they wanted.
"We haven't had penalties like that in a long time. I don't know how many yards and penalties we had, but it was drastic compared to what it's been the previous five weeks," said Cornelsen.
A touchdown run by Luke Gall gave Carthage a 28-6 lead early in the third quarter, but Republic didn't quit.
"I thought our defense played really well. That's a good offense. I thought we were really physical, we just couldn't get anything going offensively," said Cornelsen.
Republic scored again on a 13-play, 79-yard drive, finishing with another touchdown pass from Woods to Rexroat. The two connected on a pass on the two-point conversion to get Republic within 14 points at 28-14.
After a defensive stop, Republic had another opportunity to close the gap, but with the wind in its face in the fourth quarter, the drive stalled out. Carthage got the ball and ran out the clock.
"You can't fault their effort," Cornelsen said of his players. "They played hard and we were trying to find something. We could find it when the wind was at our back, but it was pretty tough when the wind was in our face to find some of those passes."
Republic finished with 196 total yards to Carthage's 345. Republic rushed for 110 yards and passed for 86.
Wyatt Woods connected on five of 14 passes for 86 yards and two touchdowns. He finished the year with more than 1,000 passing yards. He also rushed for 42 yards Friday.
Conner Sandridge finished with 60 yards on 15 carries. That pushed him past 1,000 yards for the season.
James Rexroat caught three passes for 37 yards and two touchdowns.
Carthage advances to the state quarterfinals against Lebanon. Republic ends its season at 8-4. It's the best record for a Republic team since 2007. After winning 13 games combined in the five seasons before 2021, Republic has won 14 games in the last two season since Cornelsen arrived.