Joplin entered their game against Republic on Friday without any home losses, but there's a first time for everything. The Joplin Eagles took a 49-38 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Republic Tigers. The Eagles haven't had much luck with the Tigers recently, as the team's come up short the last two times they've met.
Joplin lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Layne Royle, who picked up 127 receiving yards and two touchdowns. The team also got some help courtesy of Daniel Rose, who threw for 249 yards and two touchdowns.
Preston McCracken was his usual excellent self, rushing for 327 yards and six touchdowns while picking up 9.9 yards per carry for Republic. The dominant performance gave McCracken a new career-high in rushing yards. Owen Klier was another key player, rushing for 81 yards and a touchdown on only ten carries.
Joplin's loss dropped their record down to 3-2. As for Republic, the win was the fourth in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 4-1.
The teams didn't have to wait long for a rematch: Republic beat Joplin by a score of 49-38 later that day.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
