CARTHAGE, Mo. — The Carthage Tigers football team will host Republic at 7 p.m. Friday for the Class 5 District 6 championship game, looking for their first title since 2021.
This will be the second time the two teams have faced each other in the last six district championships. The Carthage Tigers have played in all six of those games. Better yet, they’ve played in the last 12 in a row.
“We’re very happy to be in this spot. We’ve been battle-tested the last five or six weeks,” Carthage head coach Jon Guidie said.
And that won’t change.
“They’re a very good team, make no mistake. Their offense is difficult to defend. They’re probably the most physical team up front that we play all year long,” Guidie noted. “Defensively, they’ve got playmakers all over the place. They have two Division I players just on the defensive side. They blitz more than anyone we play.”
Carthage won six district plaques in a row but has dropped four of the last five to Webb City. The one they got to take home with them in 2022 saw them defeat Republic.
“I’m super excited and now I want to get my hands on a plaque,” Carthage senior defensive end Landon Bland said. “We just need to be super physical, control the line of scrimmage and whoever does that Friday night is going to walk away with it.”
“It will all fall on our o-line and they do a good job,” Carthage senior quarterback Zane Browning said. “I can rely on them to do their job and not think about that and go through my reads.”
On a late drive, trailing 28-27, Carthage got into field goal range and kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired to beat Republic in the regular season.
But, the Tigers believed they could’ve played better in that game.
“We know they’re a very good team but we have to come out faster than we did against them the first time,” Browning said.
Guidie agreed with his floor general as he admitted he thought his team took too long to get adjusted to the speed and physicality of Republic in the regular season.
“We can’t wait until its 21-0 to get adjusted and be able to respond,” he said.
Republic’s rushing attack is led by senior quarterback Preston McCracken. It also has various running backs like Izaiah Hull, Owen Klier and Keiran Govan.
No matter who’s running it, Bland said the goal is to get “helmets on knees” and “tackle the ballcarrier.”
“He’s obviously very talented. I mean, he’s really good,” Guidie said of McCracken. “And he plays really good in big games. … If you don’t stop him, it could be a long night.”
Carthage has had its sights set on another opportunity in this game since it fell to Webb City last fall.
“These guys have been talking about this forever. Last year, that game put a bad taste in all their mouths. They’ve got newspaper clippings in their lockers. What a great group of kids that this could happen to,” Guidie said.
The last four teams in the Class 5 District 6 tournament were all Central Ozark Conference teams. Five of the seven teams in the district are in the COC.
So, Carthage will reach the district championship having played all COC teams this season.
“Not a huge fan, to be honest, having to play these guys twice. They’re so good, so talented and so well-coached. You put everything into that one game and if you win, you look back and say what do we do differently?” Guidie asked. “I’d much rather play someone out of the area.”
Regardless, he feels like his team is at the healthiest its been in a while and he saw productive and physical practices that helped them get prepared for a rematch with Republic.
