Worth County's Tigers shared a Highway 275 Championship with Stanberry and Rock Port following their 62-16 win over Tarkio last Friday. They were able to use a short field, big plays, and solid defense in picking up the win. The Tigers will have 10 days to rest before a likely meeting with Tarkio in the second round of districts. The Tigers, by placing second behind Rock Port, clinched a bye in the districts in the new playoff formula this year which will give them a good chance to rest and to heal before a rematch with the Indians.
The Indians have had an up and down year; they threw a scare into Nodaway-Holt and took them to overtime before losing and they also went the distance against Rock Port, losing 32-0. But they did not do a good job filling the holes on defense against the Tigers and they did not cover the pass effectively as Worth County was able to score on the deep ball against them. On the offensive side of the ball, Tarkio was the best ball-faking team in the area besides Mound City, employing a lot of deception in the backfield to throw off defenses and gash other teams for big gains. The challenge for the Tigers was to stick to their assignments and not allow breakaway threat Brice Lambert to beat them with a long run. Lambert, a kickoff return specialist who hurt the Tigers for a kickoff return for a touchdown last year, had to be contained on kickoffs as well. But Worth County was up to these challenges, putting up 46 points on the board by halftime; Tarkio's lone two tallies came after the game was already decided. Another goal for the Tigers was to get off to a fast start; Tarkio has gotten off to slow starts in many of their games this year and they have gotten better as games progressed; for instance, they fell well behind Mound City earlier in the year in the first quarter and played them evenly in the second quarter before the Panthers pulled away in the second half.
The trouble for Tarkio started right off the bat; Worth County kicked off, but Tarkio fumbled the ball away on the opening kickoff and Dallas Greenland (11 carries, 160 yards) pounced on the ball at the 34, setting up the short field for the Tigers. Worth County has benefited from a lot of short fields this year and they capitalized as Dallas Greenland scored from 15 yards out. Tarkio, like Stanberry, has a blitzing defense; however, that meant that they would get burned for big plays if they guessed wrong, like on Dallas' initial score. Cole Parman went in motion and took an option pitch from Bryce Ross (6 for 7, 134 yards) and hurdled into the end zone for the extra points to make it 8-0 with 10:55 left in the first quarter.
Tarkio went three and out on their next possession as Kevin Stoll and Lane Craven blew up a sweep play and Tarkio got a false start penalty in the series. But once again, Worth County had a short field to work with as Aaron Patton got a long runback to put the Tigers in Indian territory at the 35. This time, Worth County would only need one play to score as Dallas Greenland got a cutback run, Tarkio did not fill the hole in a timely fashion, and Dallas was off to the races. Dallas shot up the middle for the extra points to make it 16-0 with 9:20 left.
Tarkio could go nowhere on their next possession as Andrew Mullock broke up a pass on third down and they were forced to punt. Worth County was backed up to their own 15 this time, but Dallas Greenland got a block from Kevin Stoll for 12 yards on a sweep and Worth County went on a sweep the other way for 12 more to the 39. Then, Worth County threw a strike to Aaron Patton and The General (4 catches, 96 yards) took it 31 yards down to the four. Two plays later, The General took a bubble screen into the end zone from one yard out to make it 22-0 with 5:29 left in the first.
Once again, Tarkio could get nowhere as Lane Craven got a sack on third down and Tarkio fumbled the ball, which rolled all the way back to the 19 for fourth and 26. Tarkio's special teams woes continued as Andrew Mullock returned the punt to the Tarkio 30. The Tigers only needed two two plays to score as Andrew Mullock shot up the middle and got a block from Dallas Greenland and scored from 21 yards out with 3:50 left. Worth County faked the option that they had run before and Dallas Greenland took the handoff and scored the extra points to make it 30-0.
Dallas Greenland and Tyler Schmitz blew up a handoff to force a long yardage situation. Tarkio came back to set up a fourth and one at 40, but they were stopped on fourth and one and Worth County was given a short field to work with again. They only needed one play to score following an offsides penalty as Aaron Patton caught a 35-yarder to score. Cole Parman ran in the extra points to make it 38-0.
This time, Tarkio finally got going as Brice Lambert's 40 yard run set up first and goal at the six. But then Dallas Greenland blew up a play and dropped Jordan Riley for a loss of four. On fourth and goal at the 8, Tarkio tried a swing pass to Jacob Masonbrink, but he was stopped at the three with a one on one open field tackle by Andrew Mullock and Tarkio gave up the ball on downs.
Worth County, buried on their own three, went three and out and was forced to punt. Tarkio had another opportunity to score as they got the ball back in excellent field position at the Tiger 28. They converted a fourth and inches at the Tiger 17, but then they fumbled the ball away and Tyler Schmitz recovered at the 16.
Wyatt Rush carried the ball 14 yards to the 31 and then Dallas shot up the middle and bounced his way outside for 17 more to the Tarkio 35. Andrew Mullock picked up 11 more to the 20 and then Aaron Patton caught an 18-yarder for a touchdown as his defender unsuccessfully sought to pick off the pass. Bryce took a sweep down the right side on the extra points and Tarkio guessed wrong on the play, selling out to stop the dive and nobody was within 10 yards of Bryce as he trotted into the end zone to make it 46-0.
For some reason, Tarkio elected to play on even though they were down by 46 and Worth County took the opening drive and scored again. Wyatt Rush caught a 40-yard pass to set up the score and then Bryce Ross scrambled out of trouble and weaved his way into the end zone from 10 yards out. Lane Craven caught an extra point pass to make it 54-0 with 9:27 left in the third.
Tarkio drove down the field as Worth County began filtering in their JV. As they got down to the 10, Worth County put back their starters in; however, on fourth down, Aaron Patton tipped a pass on defense that caromed right into the hands of J.D. Wilcox for Tarkio's first score of the evening. Jordan Riley ran in the extra points to make it 54-8 with 2:12 left in the third.
Worth County countered with their final score of the evening as Dallas took a handoff up the middle and bounced his way to the outside for a 46-yard score with 2:12 left in the third. Andrew Mullock's cutback run made it 62-8. Tarkio scored a meaningless touchdown with 4:10 left in the fourth quarter against Worth County's second string to make it 62-16.
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