- By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
CARTHAGE - The celebration started early at Haffner Stadium in Carthage on Friday night.
Landon West scored his third touchdown of the game with 33 seconds remaining to give the host Tigers a 17-point lead, and with Jerry Reed's "East Bound and Down" blaring over the public address system, an impromptu fireworks show erupted in a field south of the stadium. And then came the smoke billowing over the field, while Carthage's student section waved dozens of phone lights in the air.
A few moments later, Carthage put the finishing touches on a 31-14 win over Republic in the Class 5 District 6 championship game that featured two top-five teams in the state.
"I'm just so flipping happy for these guys," Carthage coach Jon Guidie said. "They're such a good group of kids. They believed all along they were going to get to this game and get past it. We had some big-time efforts tonight by a lot of kids. I'm just so blessed to be able to coach these dudes."
Top-seeded Carthage, now 10-1 and ranked second in the final regular season rankings, advances to play at Capital City next Saturday in the quarterfinal round, while second-seeded Republic's hopes of a third-straight district title were dashed.
There was no need for a last-second field goal on Friday, like the Tigers needed to earn a 30-28 win over Republic (Class 5 No. 5) in the regular season. But just like that October meeting, Carthage did most of its damage in the second half.
Republic (9-3) led 7-6 after two quarters but then saw Carthage score two touchdowns in the first 4:10 of the third and add a 22-yard field goal later in the period to build a commanding 24-7 lead.
West scored on an 11-yard run to cap the first drive of the third and Landon Bland caught a pass for the conversion to make it 14-7. And then the host Tigers recovered the ball at the Republic 14 after the visitors couldn't corral the ensuing kickoff.
That led to a 3-yard score by West to make it 21-7.
"They just lined up and beat us," Republic coach Ryan Cornelsen said. "They were the better team tonight, they beat us in all phases. We had that turnaround there, I think a 14-point swing coming out of the half and we just couldn't recover. We couldn't move the ball, our plan wasn't very good, I guess. We just couldn't get consistent moving the ball. Credit to them, they played really hard and they just outplayed us."
After falling behind 24-7 on Malachi Dougless' 22-yard field goal, Republic did mount its longest drive of the night, covering 79 yards in 19 plays (converting twice on fourth down) and cut the deficit to 24-14 on a 1-yard plunge by Matthew Pelfrey with 6:47 left in the game.
Carthage recovered the ensuing onside kick and threatened to score again before Republic's Keiran Govan intercepted a pass in the end zone with three minutes remaining. But the visitors threw incomplete on four straight downs and gave the ball back at their own 15.
That set up West's final score and the fireworks.
Carthage led 6-0 on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Zane Browning to Bland but couldn't get much else going offensively in the first half. Neither could Republic, which punted on its first two possessions and then fumbled into the Carthage end zone (Jordan Brunnert recovery) on the third. Republic took a 7-6 lead on its fourth possession, with 2:35 left in the first half after Pelfrey's 2-yard score.
The 14 points scored was the lowest total for Republic in 18 games dating back to last season; the visiting Tigers entered Friday averaging 45 per game this season and had outscored their first two district opponents by a combined 103-38.
"Even in the first half we just kept putting (our defense) in bad positions," Guidie said. "We didn't convert, had two three-and-outs there in the first half and our defense had to get right back on the field and defend that, just over and over. Big time effort on their part. Offensively we made some adjustments at halftime and we were able to come out and put some stuff together which was fantastic but that gave our defense a little bit of breathing time and they definitely needed that."
Carthage totaled 291 yards to Republic's 236. Browning completed 4 of 6 passes for 51 yards and a score and West rushed 22 times for 177 yards and three touchdowns. Tate Nichols added 44 yards on 7 carries. Jett Dalton was the leading receiver with a 30-yard catch.
Preston McCracken completed 6 of 16 passes for 43 yards for Republic, and he added 17 carries for 61 yards. Izaiah Hull and Pelfrey each totaled 43 yards and Owen Klier rushed for 40 and had 3 catches for 22.
While Republic was making its fourth-straight district title appearance, Carthage played in its 12th in a row and won for the eighth time in that span.
"Never gets old," Guidie said. "Just seeing the excitement on these kids' faces and for this community, man, it never gets old and it's a really special thing."
 

Scoring Plays 
– Carthage Tigers (Q1): Pass from Zane Browning to Landon Bland for 4 yards – TOUCHDOWN (Q1, 06:11)
– Republic Tigers (Q2): run by Matthew Pelfrey for 2 yards – TOUCHDOWN (Q2, 02:35)
– Carthage Tigers (Q3): run by Landon West for 11 yards – TOUCHDOWN (Q3, 09:11)
– Carthage Tigers (Q3): run by Landon West for 4 yards – TOUCHDOWN (Q3, 07:50)
– Carthage Tigers (Q3): 23-yard field goal GOOD (Q3, 01:48)
– Republic Tigers (Q4): run by Matthew Pelfrey for 1 yards – TOUCHDOWN (Q4, 06:47)
– Carthage Tigers (Q4): run by Landon West for 6 yards – TOUCHDOWN (Q4, 00:33)

Individual Statistics

Carthage
#2 Landon West: 22 rush, 177 yds, TD 3
#4 Brody Jackson: 1 rush, 6 yds, TD 0
#8 Tate Nichols: 7 rush, 44 yds, TD 0 | 1 rec, 13 yds, TD 0
#16 Zane Browning: 9 rush, 14 yds, TD 0 | 4/6 pass, 51 yds, TD 1, INT 1
#20 Landon Bland: 1 rec, 4 yds, TD 1
#21 Jett Dalton: 1 rec, 30 yds, TD 0
#41 Jarred Stramel: 1 rec, 4 yds, TD 0

Republic
#4 Keiran Govan: 1 rush, 6 yds, TD 0 | 2 rec, 13 yds, TD 0
#5 Owen Klier: 6 rush, 40 yds, TD 0 | 3 rec, 22 yds, TD 0
#7 Matthew Pelfrey: 12 rush, 43 yds, TD 2
#12 Preston McCracken: 17 rush, 61 yds, TD 0 | 6/16 pass, 43 yds, TD 0, INT 0
#15 Izaiah Hull: 11 rush, 43 yds, TD 0
#40 Braxton Lundberg: 1 rec, 8 yds, TD 0

-Statistics from republictigerssports.com