A Carthage offense that was already surging in the late season may have just gotten more lethal.
Quarterback Zeke Sappington has returned from injury and is cleared to play in tonight's Class 5 District 6 semifinal matchup against Republic. Kickoff is slated for 7 at David Haffner Stadium.
The senior started all of last season and then the first four games of this season before he suffered a broken hand in mid-September at Neosho. He amassed 645 yards of total offense and seven touchdowns through Week 4.
On Thursday, Carthage coach Jon Guidie wasn't willing to elaborate much on Sappington's role now that Patrick Carlton has emerged as valuable playmaker at QB. Since taking the offensive reins, Carlton has accounted for more than 1,200 yards of total offense and 11 touchdowns.
"We have them both ready to go, so we'll have to wait and see what happens," Guidie said. "They're certainly both very capable of running our offense. They're two great kids and two great quarterbacks."
Carthage (8-1), ranked No. 1 in Class 5, takes a scoring average of 40.7 points per game into tonight's clash with Republic (3-7).
A regular-season meeting between the two teams resulted in a 42-26 Carthage win on Oct. 12. CHS scored on its first six offensive drives and was led by Carlton, who registered 353 yards –– 204 rushing and 149 passing –– and scored five touchdowns.
Republic, led by running back Louis Wallace and quarterback Lucas Hayes, finished with the highest scoring total of any Carthage opponent this season.
"We'd like to play a little better on the defensive side," Guidie said. "They did get an onside kick and scored a late touchdown to make the score seem a little closer. But I didn't feel like we particularly played well on that side. Offensively, though, we did a lot of good things."
Carthage, coming off a first-round district bye, picked up a 56-6 win over Ozark in its most recent outing on Oct. 19.
"We got off to a good start and the defense played extremely well," Guidie said. "We wanted to get back to that because I thought that was what made us click early in the season. Our front seven did a really good job of defending the run and made things tough on that offense. I thought those guys got they're swagger back, and hopefully we see more of that this week."
Since 2010, Carthage holds a 9-0 series advantage over Republic.
Republic snapped a three-game skid with a 34-9 district quarterfinals win over Branson last Friday.

-Jared Porter, Joplin Globe Sports