On Dec. 1, the Republic Tigers took on Cardinal Ritter in the Class 5 State Championship game.
Republic football coach Ryan Cornelsen has been leading the Tigers for roughly three years and has had a substantial impact on the team. He had spent the season preparing his team for any challenges.
“[The game] was a tough experience because we had been on a roll on winning but then we had some penalties and got behind,” Cornelsen said. “They were a tough team so I thought it was good for our kids to go through that experience even though no one wants to. Just to try to be better people and understand that it doesn’t always go your way even on the biggest games. To go through that was tough but you go through it with your teammates and coaches and hopefully, you’re better because of it.”
Throughout the game, Cardinal Ritter showed unsportsmanlike conduct. Correspondingly, once the game was over the conduct shown to the Republic team declined even more.
“I didn’t think they had very good sportsmanship, especially when the game was over,” Cornelsen said. “Again, it’s not really for me to say how they [should] act. We’re more concerned with our character and I thought our kids did a really good job of handling their emotions when things didn’t go our way and controlled our emotions after the game while [Cardinal Ritter] were doing snow angels in the middle of the field. … They knew there was a lot of people from Republic there and we wanted to represent our community the right way whether [Cardinal Ritter] was showing good sportsmanship or not.”
Cardinal Ritter’s athletics director as well as their head coach was unresponsive and therefore had no comment on the story.
Junior Keegan Hunt is a Republic football player and believes the behavior shown by Cardinal Ritter was unacceptable.
“Cardinal Ritter’s sportsmanship was terrible,” Hunt said. “I get they won the game and that’s something to celebrate but they took it to a whole other level. It started with them waiting until after the National Anthem to take the field all the way to the end of the game. I think maybe two players stayed to shake our hands. It felt like they were disrespecting our program.”
Although the Tigers were not treated with respect, they were still able to remember the morals that had been taught by their coaches throughout the season. To many, having good sportsmanship is something that only takes place in athletics. However, it can be implemented into every aspect of a person’s life.
“I think that [sportsmanship is] something that happens every day,” Cornelsen said. “We talk a lot about our culture and our culture is something we have to work on every day. It’s not something you just set and it’s there. So demanding those expectations of ‘We are going to be good teammates,’ ‘We are going to treat people right,’ ‘We’re going to show character and class on the field.’ We do that every day in practice and every day in the summer and when a situation like that happens and your emotions are extremely high I think you can control those emotions and you can act the way you’re supposed to because you do it every day.”
While many football teams and players have been competitive in the past, the Republic team felt Cardinal Ritter took the competition to a new, disrespectful level.
“Republic has never been the type of team to disrespect another team,” Hunt said. “Don’t get me wrong, we aren’t perfect and there are moments where we get cocky and celebrate, but it doesn’t come anywhere close to the way Cardinal Ritter acted. I get it that’s a big game and we would’ve celebrated too but we still would’ve shown respect. It takes me back to the [overtime] OT game against Nixa. We got the two-point conversion to win the game and we stormed the field. After that, we all made sure to shake hands with the whole Nixa team and coaches to tell them ‘good game’ and wish them luck.”
When an undefeated team gets conquered, fans, coaches and players tend to develop bad blood for the other side. Nixa High School Students attended Republic High School’s game against Cardinal Ritter despite the feuding between Nixa and Republic.
Some students from NHS are familiar with students from Republic. Both teams being in the same division pushes more support for Republic from Nixa than Cardinal Ritter
Thus, showing reinforcement from a rival team can say a lot about the respect the teams have for each other.
“The Cardinal Ritter and Republic game was the state game and just was a big deal because Republic had never gone to state.” NHS Senior Kaitlynn O’Neill said. “The stakes were higher than just regular season. I knew of a decent amount of Nixa fans cheering on Republic.”
With the way the fans on Republic’s side were being treated by the opposite team, especially with posts made on social media antagonizing Republic’s players, Nixa backers wanted to prop up and show good sportsmanship off the field.
“From the beginning, a lot of people that had previously played them said their sportsmanship was lacking and it was very obvious throughout the game,” O’Neill said. “Sure, they’re a good football team but it was just gross to see the way they would rub everything into people’s faces after plays.”
Teasing and taunting were heavily directed at Republic’s team from the supporters and players of Cardinal Ritter.
“They celebrated afterwards instead of lining up and shaking hands,” O’Neill said. “When they finally did line up, the players from Cardinal Ritter were waving and mocking Republic fans. The head coach from Cardinal Ritter followed his players in their manners and did the same thing but was blowing [kisses to] Republic fans and waving, [he] even went as far as to flipping the fans off.”
Playing respectfully, fair and honorably is an important part of having good sportsmanship. Whether it’s on or off the field, there is an impact on how a game is played.
“It shows a lot about who the players are individually,” O’Neill said. “… Good sportsmanship just shows a lot about character and it’s important to keep it even in a rough situation. I thought it was a good game, even if the outcome wasn’t what we all wanted. I know that the boys were still proud of themselves for making it to state.”
While the negative behavior was not ideal for Republic’s team, the community as a whole was able to grow through it together. The Central Ozark Conference (COC) had the opportunity to band together in support of Republic.
“I think it shows a lot of respect for our area, whether it’s football or any other sport, the kids in this area work really hard to be successful … I think it doesn’t really matter what school you’re at,” Cornelsen said. “You can realize that the other schools are working just as hard. I had several coaches from the area that reached out and wished me good luck. I just think it showed a lot of respect for not only us but our whole area and all of the schools in our conference. That shows a lot of character on the coaches, but also on the students that came to support.”
