Tigers clinch COC West championship

Republic scored touchdowns on its first six possessions and won 42-15 at Willard on Friday to claim its first outright conference championship since 1990.
 
The Tigers went 5-0 in the Central Ozark Conference West, their first unbeaten conference season since coach Eddie Miller's 1990 team went 7-0 in the COC. Republic finished the regular season 8-1 and is the top seed in the Class 5 District 6 tournament.
 
Republic ran 56 times for 399 yards, 14 players carried the ball, and the Tigers led 35-0 at halftime.
 
"I felt like our kids did a good job not trying to do extra stuff. Just play like we're supposed to," coach Ryan Cornelsen said. "It was tough to have the same energy that we normally do, and I knew that would be an issue. But I felt like overall we played somewhat disciplined."
 
Lincoln Caldwell, who sat out the win over Carthage a week earlier, opened the game with a 16-yard run, and Hayes Porter finished the 85-yard drive with a 21-yard touchdown run. On the next possession, Kordel Riley scored from 20 yards out on fourth-and-five for a 14-0 lead.
 
Willard's best drive of the half reached the Republic 14, helped by a 53-yard pass from Carlos Begay to Jonah Vescio, but Republic stopped it on downs.
 
Nolan Lashley followed with a 42-yard run and scored later in the drive on a four-yard run. Porter added his second touchdown on another four-yard run, and Cooper Cornelsen threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Baelor Cutbirth with 1:19 left in the half.
 
Caldwell scored on a 15-yard run early in the third quarter, and Ethan Blades kicked his sixth extra point of the night for a 42-0 lead.
 
Willard scored on a 70-yard pass from Begay to Vescio and on a 48-yard run by Michael Hallman on the last play of the game.
 
Lashley ran nine times for 88 yards, and Caldwell ran nine times for 84. Porter had 59 yards on six carries, and Riley had 41 on three. Willard finished with four first downs and 36 rushing yards.
 
Republic has a first-round bye and will play the winner of the Carthage-Webb City game. Cornelsen said it is the first bye week of his 24 years in coaching.
 
"I'm such a schedule guy, so we'll keep things as consistent to our schedule as what it's been," Cornelsen said.