Carthage is 9-1 against Republic since October of 2016, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Carthage Tigers will challenge the Republic Tigers at 7:00 p.m. The two teams each escaped (but just barely!) with wins against their previous opponents.
Carthage will head into Friday's matchup hoping to keep the good times rolling: they proved they can win big two weeks ago (they won by 35) but on Friday they proved they can win the close ones too. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the squad sidled past Joplin 23-20.
Meanwhile, Republic had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 26 points) and they went ahead and made it five on Friday. They had just enough and edged the Cardinals out 15-13.
It was another big night for Preston Mccracken, who rushed for 124 yards and a touchdown on only 15 carries. His rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his fourth straight game with at least 103 rushing yards dating back to last season. Republic also got a significant boost from Izaiah Hull, who ran away from the competition to the tune of 83 yards.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Republic was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 378 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 176 rushing yards in six consecutive matches.
Carthage's win bumped their record up to 5-1. As for Republic, their victory was their fifth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 5-1.
Carthage came up short against Republic in their previous matchup back in August of 2023, falling 20-14. Thankfully for Carthage, Kanon Krol (who rushed for 122 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 7.6 yards per carry) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
