Worth County's 'Lil Tigers Junior Squad overcame a rash of fumbles Saturday afternoon and beat the Albany Warriors 18-0 when they scored all three of their touchdowns in the second half. The Tigers took the opening drive of the game, but then fumbled it away for the first time just past midfield. But Albany could do nothing with it as they had fumble problems of their own, fumbling a snap for a loss of 9. Drake Kinsella snuffed out an option to force the Warriors to punt.
The Tigers started on their own 31 and Tevin Cameron (20 carries, 218 yards) got a first down just past the 41, but then a pair of fumbles in the cold weather set them back to the 35 and they were forced to punt. Albany started off on their own 21 but fumbled the ball away, giving the Tigers the ball on the Albany 19 with a golden opportunity to score. But they did not take advantage as Ryan McClellan was run down from behind on a reverse, Cameron was thrown for a loss of one, and another snap was fumbled.
The rash of fumbles continued as Albany only ran three plays before they fumbled it to the Tigers on the Warrior 26. But again they could not convert. Two carries by Cameron and one by Michael Burch made it fourth and one on the 17, but a fumbled snap gave the Warriors the ball back on the 16 on downs.
This time, Albany found some daylight as Brett Curtis took an option to the 31. The Warriors were able to rescue a third and eight as it was Curtis again, this time for 12 yards to the 45. From there, Albany mounted their most promising drive of the game as Miles Wildon rescued a third and six with an 11-yard run to the Tiger 40; Curtis would then get 20 yards to the 21. An option run by Curtis for seven, a three-yarder by Wildon, and a one-yard run by Austin Salsman gave the Warriors first and goal at the 11 just before the half. But then the Tigers showed some of the same mental toughness that characterized their first two wins of the season as Wildon was stopped for no gain on first and goal. Cameron then defended an option perfectly as he fought off a block and threw Curtis for a loss of two. Wildon could only get one yard on third and goal and then Albany fumbled on a botched reverse play and Worth County took over on downs to end the scoreless first half.
At that point, it looked like the game would be decided by overtime or a single score. Worth County started off with the ball, but fumbled it again right off the bat. There was a lot of confusion on the field as first the officials signaled that Worth County had recovered it and then signaled that Albany had recovered it. But finally, they ruled that the whistle had blown before the Warriors recovered and that the Tigers should get the ball back. Given the new life, the Tigers finally started clicking as Tevin Cameron took a pitchout seven yards to the 41 and then shot through the middle on the next play and bounced to the outside for 27 yards down to the Warrior 32. Cameron then took a sweep to the Warrior 19 for a 13-yarder. Disaster almost struck again as the Tigers fumbled the ball away to the Warriors, but Albany fumbled the ball right back to the Tigers on their first play. Consecutive fumbles by the Tigers and a false start made it second and 18 at the 25, which looked like an eternity at that point.
But then quarterback Michael Burch (5 carries, 37 yards) came up with the same kind of play that CFX used on the Tigers when Kevin Dodson picked up a fumble and ran it a long ways for a touchdown to make a game of it in last year's high school game before Worth County righted themselves in the second half to win it. Burch did the same thing as he had more trouble with the center-quarterback exchange but then the Albany defenders overran him and he was able to get a first down run to the Albany 6. Burch then took a keeper down to the 2 and then his sneak got the Tigers into the end zone with 7:35 left in the third to make it 6-0.
Tevin Cameron then dropped Curtis for a loss of seven on first down to force a three and out. Three plays later, on third and five from the Tiger 40, Cameron took a handoff on a long-developing play that fooled everyone as he burst past the initial line and into the clear. He outran everyone into the end zone for the 60-yard score to make it 12-0 with 1:17 left in the third.
Albany could get nowhere on their next series as Will Engel had a big hit on Wildon for a loss of one. The Tigers took over on their own 28 and then Tevin Cameron, finding more daylight as the game progressed, took a sweep 20 yards to the 48. The next play was a busted play but Michael Burch, with a defender about to drop him for a big loss, managed to pitch it off to Cameron who ran it for 10 yards to the Albany 42. On the next play, Cameron's 22 yarder took it to the 20. A fumbled handoff made it second and 13 but then Cameron got carries of 7 and 12 down to the Albany 4. A block in the back pushed it back to the 14, but runs by Cameron of 4 and 10 made up the distance and Worth County led 18-0 with 5:15 left in the game for the final score.
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