There are winners in the game of life as well as on the athletic field, and Kevin Stoll proved himself to be one as he was named one of two athletes who received the Missouri Eight Man Coaches Association Scholarship for 2013. He earned it through his hard work and dedication both on and off the field. He played hard for the Red team until the end as he was a force on the defensive side of the ball and prevented the Blue team from getting meaningful yardage for much of the night. In eight man football, an end can make or break a position; if the runningback gets by the end, there is frequently nobody home behind him. Eli Mullock made a living off using his speed to beat the other team's end around the edges. But Kevin Stoll saw to it that did not happen Saturday night as he helped the Red team to a 44-20 victory at William Jewell Saturday night in front of 400 fans who made the long trip to Liberty.
The other four Tiger athletes who made the trip, Tyler and Ethan Schmitz, Dallas Greenland, and Aaron Patton, also came to play on the other side of the ball. For them, it was a chance to see how other coaches operated and Mound City coach Brian Messer had plenty to teach them. During one bad stretch for the Blue squad, Messer called the whole defensive squad, including Tyler and Ethan and Aaron, over to talk about life lessons. "It's easy to do the right thing when you're putting 70 points on the board; it's a lot harder to do the right thing when you're behind," he told them. Noting that he hated losing with a passion, he said that nonetheless, how you handle yourself in adversity defines you even more than how you handle yourself in victory.
The opportunity to hear someone else's voice for a change helped; Patton, after a talk with Messer on the sideline about pass coverage, went on to break up two long passes that would have made the score even worse. Ethan Schmitz was a force on the defensive line; he had three tackles for loss and a quarterback hurry that led to a Mitchell Minter (Rock Port) pick that set up a touchdown and gave the Blue squad some brief hope. Tyler also rotated into the defensive line regularly, while Dallas provided some strong blocks and scored one of three touchdowns for the Blue squad. Aaron Patton got in on the offensive end and caught two passes while mixing it up with Kevin Stoll.
There were plenty of opportunities for athletes who were under the radar last fall to step up and shine and several made the most of it. Jacob Uribe (Southwest Livingston), exhorted by Coach Dan Collins (Stanberry) to come out of his shell, did so by catching a touchdown pass in the closing seconds of the first half from Reid Osborn (Stanberry) that briefly gave Blue some momentum at the half and brought them to within 26-14. Trent Coleman (North Nodaway), despite being told "You're killing me!" by Collins at one point, was all over the field making tackles. Trevor Johnson (Stanberry), the heart and soul of the Bulldogs' state championship squad despite blowing out his knee, came back at full strength, with all of the competitive fire that drove him during his playing days. Dustin Stevens (North Nodaway), who split time with the Schmitz brothers on the defensive line, shot through and blew up an extra point try. Minter, after being inserted late as a runningback, set up the final touchdown for Blue with the kind of hard running that broke Worth County's chances in the playoffs last year. Asked if he ever got tired by one of his teammates, he said, "no." After developing a reputation for eating Snickers bars among his new teammates, he earned their respect with that kind of play.
On the other side, Zachary Officer (North Andrew) showed that he was one of the most elusive backs in eight man football as he broke tackle after tackle on his way to winning offensive MVP honors for the Red squad. He and quarterback Derek Montgomery (Southwest Livingston) formed a one-two punch that could not be stopped by the Blue squad. Teams were fortunate not to have to play against Isaiah King (Cornerstone Joplin); one of the littlest members of either squad, he nonetheless delivered some of the biggest hits on defense while showing some elusive ability on the offensive side. And Tucker Null (North Nodaway) made a perfect one on one tackle that stopped Blue's final drive in the fourth quarter and sealed the win.
The game marked coach Chuck Borey's final duties as head coach for Worth County, assisting head coach Dan Collins with the Blue team. He will retire after winning 157 games for the Tigers, the winningest coach in Worth County football history. He still has passion for the game; he had plenty of opportunities to swap football stories with Dave Fairchild, recently interim superintendent of Worth County, who won three titles and counting at Hamilton. But as assistant principal, Borey will have a chance to make a positive difference in even more lives than he did as a teacher and football coach.
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