REPUBLIC — Carthage and its emerging star quarterback Patrick Carlton had a flair for the dramatic on Friday night.
Behind another standout effort from the sophomore signal-caller, the Tigers scored on fourth down four times as Carthage downed Republic 42-26 in Central Ozark Conference action at Republic High School.
Not even Carlton could explain the success on fourth down.
"Very rare. We haven't been able to do that as well this year, but tonight we were just spot on," said Carlton, who rushed for 204 yards on 27 carries and was 10-of-14 passing for 149 yards.
"It was big, wasn't it?" Carthage coach Jon Guidie said of the fourth-down execution. "It was big for us offensively in the first half."
Carlton, 6-foot-2, 215 pounds, led the Carthage offense to 406 total yards with three passing touchdowns and two rushing scores.
"He threw the ball really well," Guidie said. "Overall he was pretty poised back there. He converted some big third-and-shorts for us and he didn't turn the ball over, and that was the big thing."
Carlton led Carthage (7-1) to scoring drives on each possession, scoring 14 points apiece in the first three quarters, until CHS turned it over on downs midway through the fourth quarter.
"That's what we wanted to do. We definitely wanted to come out and run the football," Guidie said. "That first drive we did a good job of that."
Carthage's first successful fourth-down touchdown broke a 7-7 tie.
Carlton, who scored on a short run to cap the game-opening drive, connected with Tucker Downing on fourth-and-18 for a 33-yard touchdown.
"We hit a big pass play. We protected it really well and Patrick stepped up and threw a beautiful ball to Tuck," Guidie said. "That got things started. That was huge."
On Carthage's next possession, Carlton hooked up with Jayden Morgan on fourth-and-10 for a 20-yard touchdown to put the visitors ahead 21-7 with 9:08 left until intermission.
After Republic made it a one-score possession on Lucas Hayes' 4-yard scamper, Carthage turned in a clock-draining, 11-play scoring drive for a 28-13 lead with 45 seconds left in the half. Morgan capped the drive on a 7-yard wide receiver reverse run on fourth-and-3 for the third consecutive touchdown on fourth down.
Carthage continued its success on fourth down on its first possession of the second half. It was Carlton once again on the score, a 1-yard scamper to push the lead to 35-13.
Carlton and Morgan connected from 43 yards out for Carthage's final score, which pushed the lead to 42-13 with 11:27 remaining. Morgan finished with six catches for 92 yards and two touchdowns.
"He's put back-to-back big games together," Guidie said of Morgan. "It's good to have him with some production. Lately we've had to rely on him a bit, and he's been really good."
Republic made a fourth-quarter push when Hayes scored on a pair of touchdown runs sandwiched between an onside kick recovery. A fumble that was recovered by Carthage with 5:26 left all but sealed the deal.
Louis Wallace led Republic in rushing with 105 yards and a first-quarter touchdown. Hayes rushed for 74 yards, while completing 4-of-13 passes for 38 yards.
"We had our changes," Republic coach Dustin Baldwin said, "but we could not get off the field on third and fourth down. We made a lot of mistakes defensively in the first half.
"I'm proud of our guys. We have to stay after it, and I don't know ... hopefully we can earn a shot at those guys again."

-Adam Burns, Joplin Globe Sports

Carthage Tigers 42, Republic 26
Carthage   14    14    14     0 -  42
Republic     7      6      0    13 -  26

Scoring
C - Patrick Carlton 1 yard run (Marcus Huntley kick)
R - Louis Wallace 5 yard run (Andrew Flippin kick)
C - Tucker Downing 33 yard pass from Carlton (Huntley kick)
C - Jayden Morgan 20 yard pass from Carlton (Huntley kick)
R - Lucas Hayes 4 yard run (kick blocked)
C - Morgan 7 yard run (Huntley kick)
C - Carlton 1 yard run (Huntley kick)
C - Morgan 43 yard pass from Carlton (Huntley kick)
R - Hayes 9 yard run (Flippin kick)
R - Hayes 1 yard run (kick failed)