Republic takes on Liberty Christian

It’s the newbie against the seasoned team when Republic takes on Liberty Christian in a State 1B football semifinal today.

The Tigers (11-1) travel to Pasco to face the No. 1-ranked Patriots (11-0) at Edgar Brown Stadium. Kickoff is at 4.

“I think we’ll surprise Liberty Christian,” Republic coach Chris Burch said. “The kids are excited for the challenge.”

It’ll be a power team (Republic) against a finesse team (Liberty Christian).

Supplying much of the power for the Tigers have been the Rivera twins, Angelo and Alex.

They’ve combined for 2,478 yards plus 42 touchdowns split evenly. Quarterback Aaron Fritts has rushed for another 830 yards and 16 TDs and thrown for 1,445 yards and 25 TDs.

“We knew this year with the twins we were going to be a pretty good team,” Burch said. “We like to run the ball and play smash-mouth. It’ll come down to who takes care of the ball and gets a lucky bounce here and there.”

Like Republic, the Patriots have pummeled most of the teams they’ve played.

In the game to decide their division title, the Tigers topped Cusick 33-30. In the rematch last week, Republic ran over Cusick 68-13.

“We knew we could blow their doors off,” Burch said. “What I like about my team is how far they’ve come the last three years.

“Republic hadn’t won a game in over four years when I got the job three years ago. These seniors, when they were freshmen, took a beating every game.”

Now Republic is a win away from advancing to its first state championship game.