Worth County's 'Lil Tiger Senior Squad stood out from the rest of the teams playing Saturday afternoon. Most of the other teams struggled in the cold and it showed on the field as there were a ton of fumbles in the first game. But the Senior Squad thrived in the bitterly cold weather, routing Albany 42-0 in their most complete game of the year. Both teams were smarting from losses to I-35 last week; however, Coach Richard Baker gave credit to his assistants for working on the defense and getting them ready for Saturday's game. The juniors were routed 34-0; however, the seniors, after giving up 20 points in the first half against a squad that Coach Baker said was one of the most fundamentally sound he had ever seen, played up to I-35's level in the second half, losing 20-6.
The improvement was obvious across the board. Truman Moore was all over the field on defense with some major tackles for losses; Wade Rush (4 carries, 59 yards) was running as hard as he had all year; Brevyn Ross (17 carries, 237 yards) was running hard as well. Tristan Miller and Trayton Breit came up with some solid defensive plays, as did Jacob Hardy.
Albany went nowhere on three plays and Worth County took over on their own 32. Brevyn Ross got into Albany territory as he ripped off gains of 10 and 13 yards and then Nathan Pointer took the ball three yards to the 37. On the next play, Brevyn Ross did what his coaches had been exhorting him all year to do as he stiffarmed a defender to spring himself loose for 23 yards down to the 14. Two plays later, Wade Rush was in the end zone for Worth County's first score of the game with 8:31 left.
The Warriors once again could go nowhere as Trayton Breit dropped Maverick Hall for a loss of five and then a double reverse resulted in a loss of eight more yards, forcing the Warriors to punt. Ross took a sweep 34 yards to the Albany 20 but then the Tigers fumbled it right back to Albany. Colton Fountain caught a pass for 12 yards to the 33 for a first down for Albany, their first of the game. The Warriors botched up a fake reverse play for a loss of 6 and then Tristan Miller dropped quarterback Seth Cline for a loss of 2 to set up third and 18. But a pass interference penalty gave the Warriors a first down at the 42 and then Tyler Osmon picked up a first down to the 49. But then Truman Moore pounced on a fumble to give the Tigers the ball back at their own 49.
Brevyn Ross continued his lights-out running, picking up nine yards to the 42. Then he bounced outside and delivered two hits to would-be tacklers on his way for another 16-yard gain to the 26. Rush then ran for nine yards, but then Albany's scorekeeper gave Worth County only three downs as it was third down instead of second. A fumbled snap meant that Worth County would only have three plays to get first down thanks to the error, but Ross made sure that didn't matter, blowing past three defenders into the clear for a touchdown with 9:31 left. Ben Badell caught the extra point pass to make it 14-0.
Albany gave the ball to Tyler Osmon, whose first down run was good for 14 yards to the 49. But two plays later, a botched quick count resulted in a fumble and Worth County recovered the ball. Worth County tried some razzle dazzle as Ross tried a halfback pass, but Albany picked it off. But the defense had his back as Nathan Pointer delivered a big hit on Maverick Hall and then Hall lost nine yards on a fumbled reverse. Brevyn Ross then atoned for his miscue by intercepting the next pass to give the Tigers the ball on the Warrior 28.
Time was running out at that point and the Warrior defense stiffened, holding Ross to five yards on two carries. But then Ross got a block from Wade Rush for 18 yards down to the 5 with 1:06 left. Rush then picked up two yards with 9.7 seconds down to the three. A false start moved it back to the 8, but on the final play of the half, Brevyn Ross took a sweep down the left side and cut it in for the score. Ben Badell caught the extra point pass to make it 22-0.
Worth County only needed two plays to get into the end zone to start the second half. After Nathan Pointer's 15-yard reverse moved the ball to midfield, Brevyn Ross bounced to the outside and outran everyone for another score to make it 28-0 with 14 minutes left in the third quarter. Ross then shot through on defense, dropping Maverick Hall for a loss of one on the next series as Albany went three and out.
Wade Rush got his chance, getting a carry for 15 yards to the 40. After a fumbled snap, Nathan Pointer (6 carries, 62 yards) got his longest run of the year, a 36-yarder to the 23. A fumble made it second and 11 but then quarterback Ben Badell (4 carries, 37 yards) picked up a fumble and reversed his field on his way for a touchdown to make it 34-0 with 5:12 left in the third.
Albany finally got some daylight as Tyler Osmon proved to be tough for the Tigers to bring down, carrying the Warriors into Tiger territory at the 43. But then for some reason, Albany went to the double reverse and fumbled it to kill their momentum. Jacob Hardy then dropped Osmon for a loss and then Truman Moore sacked Maverick Hall as the Warriors tried a reverse pass that fooled nobody and they were forced to punt.
Brevyn Ross picked up 16 to the Warrior 36 and then Wade Rush dragged five would-be tacklers the last 10 yards as he picked up 21 on the play to the Warrior 41. Ben Badell picked up five, Brevyn Ross picked up six more as Rush leveled a defender on the play, and Badell picked up seven. Pointer's cutback run and Jacob Wimer's carry moved it to the 10, but the Tigers fumbled it there. But the Warriors fumbled it right back and Jacob Hardy shot through to pounce on it at the 2. The Tigers needed all four cracks at the goal line to get in but Ben Badell's second touchdown, where he dragged a defender into the end zone, was all effort with 3:54 left in the game. Nathan Pointer ran in the extra points to make it 42-0.
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