The run-heavy Republic offense didn’t have a single running back with more than 100 yards rushing Friday. But they still managed 306 rushing yards as a team in a 40-20 win on the road at Marshfield.
Instead of relying heavily on a featured back, the Tigers had four ball carriers with at least 50 yards rushing. Quarterback Jake Smith led the team with 99 rushing yards. Tryston Ellison had 77 yards on nine carries, including three touchdowns. David Feil carried the ball 12 times for 67 yards, and Jerney Jones picked up 50 yards on eight carries.
That’s exactly how coach Wes Beachler wants his offense to work.
“Balance to me is having a lot of backs over 50 yards, over 75 yards,” Beachler says. “That shows our offense is working. When you can mix it up like that — when you have three or four threats coming out of the backfield — that gives defensive coordinators headaches. That’s the way we want to be balanced, is to mix it up and give the ball to a lot of different weapons.”
The Tigers were nearly unstoppable in the first half. After they turned the ball over on their first possession, allowing Marshfield to grab an 8-0 lead with a 37-yard touchdown drive, Republic took control. They went 70 yards on nine plays, culminating in a touchdown run by Ellison, to make the score 8-7.
Yocum Automotive Drive of the Game
This week’s Yocum Automotive Drive of the Game came in the 1st quarter, after a Republic turnover handed Marshfield a short field that led to a touchdown. The Republic offense answered on the very next possession, taking 4 1/2 minutes to march the ball 70 yards in nine plays to take back the momentum. From there, the Tigers’ offense rolled to four consecutive touchdowns and Republic never looked back.
Ellison capped the next scoring drive — this one six plays and 88 yards — with another touchdown to give the Tigers a 14-8 lead. He scored his third of the night on the very next drive, and the Tigers led 21-8.
Marshfield’s offense put together its best drive of the night on the next possession, marching 80 yards to cut the lead to 21-14 with only a few seconds left in the half.
But as time expired on the half, Marshfield was called for an illegal participation penalty for having too many men on the field. The penalty gave Republic one more shot to score with no time left on the clock, and the Tigers took advantage. Jake Smith brook loose from a defender and heaved a pass to the end zone, where it was caught by Jerney Jones. That made the halftime score 28-14.
“That was a pretty crazy play,” Smith says. “It pretty much was all reaction, because I just saw a lineman coming right through the middle, and I stiff-armed him out of the way, and I saw Jerney in the back of the end zone just sitting there, so I threw it as hard as I could and he came down with it. That was a big play for us.”
In the 2nd half, Republic’s defense shut down Marshfield. At one point, the Tiger defense went five consecutive Marshfield possessions without allowing a single first down.
Meanwhile, Republic pushed its lead to 40-14 with a touchdown run by Jerney Jones and another TD pass from Jake Smith to Garrett Gordon. Marshfield added a touchdown late in the 4th quarter to account for the final score.
Republic improves to 2-0 this season, and Marshfield falls to 0-2. The Tigers return home next Friday for a Central Ozark Conference matchup against Ozark. Kickoff is set for 7 pm.