Respect? Earned.

Worth County gained a huge step towards earning the respect they had been seeking as they beat the Mound City Panthers 22-20 in Mound City Friday. All year, the Tigers had taken exception to what they saw as a lack of respect as the News-Press kept the Tigers out of the rankings and KQ2's pundits were saying that nobody would come close to touching Mound City after their impressive 34-0 drubbing of St. Joseph Christian on opening night. But the Tigers had one factor going in their favor -- they had won three times in Mound City in the last few years. Former coach and current principal Chris Sharp said that he hoped the Lord would keep the rain out -- that statement turned out to be prophetic as the game was played in driving rain all night. It took away the athletic ability of the Panthers and played right into the hands of the Tigers, who thrive on power football and superior conditioning. However, the Tigers will have plenty of reasons to have a chip on their shoulder; for example, the KQ2 pundits, while admitting that Worth County belonged in the picture along with Mound City and North Andrew, predicted that North Andrew's team speed would be too much in districts for "the power teams of the 275." Worth County will play North Andrew on their Homecoming in two weeks.

Coach Chuck Borey said that he wasn't surprised at the outcome since the Tigers had a good week of football practice. "We were practicing all week for this game," he said. "It just goes to show you that hard work pays off." Worth County got the ball on the opening kickoff; although they didn't score, they took a giant step towards proving to themselves that they could compete with the Panthers as they moved the ball. Disaster nearly struck as Eli Mullock stepped out of bounds while fielding the kickoff, putting the Tigers at their own 5. But he atoned for that miscue by taking a 13-yard burst up the middle to the 18 for a first down. A pair of encroachment penalties moved it to the 28 and then Eli Mullock's 11-yard sweep aided by a Barrett Baker block moved it to midfield. A holding penalty helped kill the drive, but the Tigers had proven to themselves that they could move the ball against Mound City.

Mound City tried to establish Gage Rosier on the ground, but the Tigers, using some good gang-tackling, stopped him for no gain all three times and they were forced to punt. Starting at their own 23, Alex Harmening caught a pass over the middle for a gain of 23 to the Panther 27. Worth County had a pair of holding penalties, one of which wiped out a score, but Mullock's third down run gave them first down on the Mound City 17. Eli Mullock then used a Brian Hall block to pick up eight yards down to the 9; two plays later, Zach Harmening took a keeper into the end zone from 6 yards out with 4:04 left to make it 6-0.

Worth County stopped Rosier cold on two more plays, but then nobody guarded Dan Montgomery, whose 31-yard pass play put the ball on the Tiger 18. On their very next play, Rosier finally got open as he took an 18 yard sweep to the house with 2:43 left. Quarterback Lucas Schawang ran in the extra points to make it 8-6.

The Tigers went three and out on their next series, but a booming punt by Alex Harmening put the Panthers in bad field position on their own 10. The Panthers tried to follow Worth County's lead from two years ago when the Tigers gave Kyler Hiatt the ball 44 times as they continued to pound Rosier through the line and Ryan Crowley got a couple of carries as well. But they only got to their own 29 before Dylan Kinsella shot through and disrupted a second and two run, holding Rosier to a gain of one. Barrett Baker then got a sack and the Panthers were forced to punt.

On the ensuing punt, Eli Mullock ran the ball all the way back to the Panther 23. That set up Worth County's second score; just like 2007, special teams were critical in the outcome. In the 2007 playoff game, Drew Yarmer's long punt return set up the Tiger's win in the last seconds. Barrett Baker took a sweep 5 yards to the 18 and then Zach Harmening, all 130 pounds of him, drove a pile down to the Panther 15. An offsides penalty made it first and goal at the 10. A false start set the Tigers back second and long, but then Barrett Baker took a sweep down the left side, cut back towards the middle, and then drove a host of would-be tacklers to the 1. On the next play, Zach Harmening took a sneak, waited for a moment, and then dove through a hole that opened up for the score with 6:45 left in the first half. Alex Harmening's pass made it 14-8.

Seeing that their running game was not working, Mound City switched to their passing game and got the game tied up. Miles Jumps caught a third down pass for a first down at the Tiger 38 and then Rosier caught an eight-yard pass down to the 30. James Schoonover caught an 11-yarder down to the 19 and then the Panthers aired it out to Rosier for the game-tying touchdown pass. Jumps caught the all-important go-ahead extra point pass, but the officials ruled he had caught it out of bounds and the score remained tied at 14 with 5:04 left.

Worth County gave the ball up on downs after a busted play and fumbled pitch in the driving rain, giving the Panthers a perfect opportunity to take the lead. But this time, the Tiger defense stiffened. Rosier slipped and fell on the slick field after a gain of 1. The Panthers went back to their passing game, but Eli Mullock broke up a long pass and then Dylan Kinsella flushed Schawang out of the pocket and forced an incompletion.

The Tigers started off at their own 15 with time winding down and Eli Mullock's eight yard sweep got a first down to the 27. Mullock got a cutback run to the 40 and a roughing the passer call moved the ball to the Panther 28 where the Tigers had an untimed down. But the pass was incomplete and the game remained tied at halftime.

Mound City started off on its own 29 to open the second half and were seemingly stopped on third down as Eli Mullock batted down a third down pass to set up fourth and four at their own 35. But this time, the Panthers elected to go for it and Jumps' six-yarder kept the drive alive. But the drive stalled there as Brian Hall, Dallas Greenland, and Alex Harmening ganged up on Crowley and threw him for a loss of one and Eli Mullock got a sack to force the Panthers to punt. But Worth County could not take advantage as a pair of false starts meant that Zach Harmening's 16-yarder on a spread draw was short of the first down and the Tigers were forced to punt.

The Tigers continued to beat the Mound City line off the ball and set up third and 12, but a facemask gave the Panthers new life after they had been backed up third and 12. But they tried to air it out from the Tiger 36 and Alex Harmening intercepted it on the Tiger 10 to kill the threat. The penalty bug continued to bite the Tigers as a pair of false starts forced a three and out. Gage Rosier had a long runback to give the Panthers a golden opportunity to score from the Tiger 22. Three consecutive carries by Rosier moved the ball to the 10, but then Eli Mullock ran down Schawang from behind on a pass play for a sack and a fumble made it third and goal at the 15. Schawang scrambled all the way down to the Tiger 3 to set up fourth and goal, but then his fourth down pass went out of the end zone and the Tigers had held.

That led to a series of plays in which both teams had a chance to score but couldn't. Eli Mullock ran eight yards for the first down to the 15, but then back to back fumbles and a false start made it third and 14 at the 11. But Barrett Baker caught a 23-yard pass to dig the Tigers out of the hole and give them good field position. Worth County nearly overcame a false start on their next series of downs as Mullock moved a pile 11 yards to the 40. But Mullock was stopped for no gain and Harmening slipped and fell in the rain on the next play, forcing the Tigers to punt.

Rosier finally found some daylight as he ripped off a 27-yarder up to the Tiger 38, but on their next play from scrimmage, Barrett Baker pounced on a fumble and the Tigers took up. But they could go nowhere thanks to a block in the back penalty and the Panthers took over on downs at their own 37. Two plays later, Rosier took off for a gain of 29 yards and ran it into the end zone for a touchdown with 4:26 left in the game to make it 20-14. Eli Mullock broke up the extra point pass to keep it there.

Things were not looking too good for the Tigers as they started off on their own 22. On their first play from scrimmage, Eli Mullock took a pitch and ran down the right side of the field, got a block from Dylan Kinsella, and had a apparent 5 or 10-yard gain as there were four Panthers who were closing in on him to either make the tackle or push him out of bounds. But Mullock, who said he was thinking touchdown all the way, burst through the four Panthers as though they were not there and was gone for a 58-yard touchdown run with 4:09 left that tied it right back up at 20. On the extra point pass, Zach Harmening rolled out to his right and threw a ball that was tipped at the line of scrimmage. But Cody Green, who had slipped and fallen in the end zone, caught the loose carom while lying on his back for the two points to put Worth County up 22-20.

Mound City got a penalty on the ensuing kickoff and had to start on their own 15. Two plays later, J.J. Mullock pounced on a fumble to give the Tigers the ball. Mound City, knowing the Tigers were going to run to eat time off the clock, sent everyone they had and threw Barrett Baker for a loss of 3 and Eli Mullock for a loss of 2. Barrett Baker's 14-yard run was one yard short of the first down, but the Tigers had run two minutes off the clock and forced Mound City to move the ball 75 yards for the game-winning score. A pass interference penalty moved the ball up to the 20 and gave the Panthers a first down, but a pass short-hopped James Schoonover and then another Panther fumble rolled all the way back to the 5 before they were able to recover it. Yet another fumbled snap rolled all the way back to the 1 to set up fourth and 29, and on the final play from scrimmage, the Tigers were able to flush Schawang from the pocket and force him to hurry his throw. The throw was too far for Gage Rosier to catch up with and the Tigers had pulled it off.