Republic’s defense throttled one of the top offenses in southwest Missouri Friday night, and linebacker Ethan Montiel was right in the middle of it.
Montiel and the Tigers held Neosho — averaging nearly 500 yards per game before Friday — to just three first downs. Montiel and the rest of the defense were applying constant pressure to the Neosho backfield.
There were other standouts, including Kaleb Norman, who had seven tackles, but Montiel’s defensive plays were the definition of high-leverage outcomes. Montiel made three tackles, all of them in the backfield to saddle the Neosho offense with a loss. In all, the Tigers made eight tackles for loss in the game, forcing Neosho to punt the ball away more often than not…