Nixa coach Rich Rehagen was a whisker away from kicking a field goal late in the first half. Quarterback Jack Sanders made him glad he changed his mind.

Sanders' threw a touchdown pass on the final play of the first half Sept. 8 to get the Eagles offense untracked in a 31-26 win over Republic at Eagle Stadium.

"We almost kicked a field goal. It was that close," Rehagen said of his decision to go for it on 1^st-and-goal from the 7 in the final seconds of the first half. "We decided to go see if we could get (a touchdown), and we did, and we walked into halftime with some momentum instead of being down."

That 7-yard pass from Sanders to Mason Simmons only made it 7-all at the halftime break, but it helped jumpstart a Nixa offense that had been struggling to get a spark in the first half. The Eagles went 3-and-out on their first series of the night and crossed midfield just once before that touchdown drive.