Worth County beat North Nodaway 72-54 as Andrew Mullock made his return and Wyatt Rush ran 36 times for 279 yards in another track meet. When the two teams met in JV a few years ago, the players were similar and the Tigers lost a similar track meet to North Nodaway. But when the players moved to varsity roles, the tables were turned; Worth County was able to turn around and win at North Nodaway. They overcame a slew of miscues including six bad snaps and a shanked kickoff that led to an easy score. They were able to keep their penalties down for two weeks in a row. North Nodaway's miscues were more serious as they turned the ball over four times and got untracked too late. These included a goal line fumble and a pick thrown into the end zone that killed two drives.
The first quarter was not indicative of the remainder of the struggle as it started out like a defensive struggle. North Nodaway was shooting their linebackers through and guessing right every single time in that first quarter while Worth County wasted two chances to score after getting the ball in Mustang territory. North Nodaway elected to try a squib kick and Lane Craven returned it to the Mustang 38. But Worth County could not convert thanks to a bad snap on fourth down. North Nodaway returned the favor thanks to a bad snap of their own, pounced on by Truman Moore at the Mustang 36. Lane Craven caught a pass for 13 to the 23 and Andrew Mullock ran for 8 more to the 15. Worth County got all the way down to the 5 on fourth down, but then Wyatt Rush was stopped a yard short.
Worth County twice failed to convert from deep in Mustang territory. That led the Mustang players to believe that they could play with the Tigers. They drove right down the field and got to the 1 yard line before Wyatt Rush recovered a fumble at the 1 to keep the game scoreless. But then another bad snap cost the Tigers as on fourth down, Wyatt was snowed under at the one and North Nodaway capitalized with a six yard pass from Koby Reynolds to Dakota Chestnut with 3:36 left. Reynolds ran in the extra points to make it 8-0.
It looked like it might be another long night for Worth County as the blocking broke down and they could get nowhere on two plays. But an offsides penalty made it a more manageable third and six situation from the 35 and then Ben Badell took yet another bad snap and somehow managed to convert it for a first down to give the Tigers new life. Ben showed a lot of development as a quarterback as he has learned to run with the ball effectively as a quarterback and was able to get some good ones when it counted.
North Nodaway's blitzing tactics finally backfired as Andrew Mullock burned them with a quick hitter for 15 yards down to the 21. The Tigers were once again shorthanded without Brevyn Ross (collarbone), stretching them thin at the corner position. But Andrew's return was timely as he was able to make some critical plays on both offense and defense. Ben Badell once again got a key carry for the Tigers, muscling his way just short of the first down at the one to set up fourth down. Wyatt Rush took it the rest of the way as once again North Nodaway overextended and Worth County got on the board with 12.1 seconds left, trailing 8-6.
Wyatt Rush had two pass breakups on the next series and North Nodaway struggled with their long snapping game as well as they were forced to punt. Wyatt got a big surge from the line and took it 45 yards to the house with 11:36 left in the second to make it 12-8. But North Nodaway got it right back as there were too many defensive breakdowns on the next series and Dakota Smyser caught a 23 yard pass from Reynolds to put North Nodaway back up 14-12 with 9:10 left.
North Nodaway threatened to take control of the game following another bad snap from the Tigers and another three and out. They drove all the way down to the Tiger 5; however, Nate Pointer picked off a pass in the end zone to keep North Nodaway off the board. A score could have made it a two possession game in North Nodaway's favor.
From there, Wyatt Rush broke a host of tackles to the 26 and then weaved his way to the Tiger 38. He took the third straight handoff, hurdled two defenders, and ran to the 11 for 31 more yards.A six yard keeper from Ben Badell and two more cracks from Wyatt put the Tigers up to stay and Wyatt ran in the extra points to make it 20-14.
Ben Badell got a pick to put the Tigers in good field position at their own 35. That was North Nodaway's fourth turnover of the game. Two plays later, Wyatt was off to the races again, ripping off 45 more yards for a score with 3:18 left to put the Tigers up 26-14.
North Nodaway buried themselves with a holding penalty on the next series. Shadow Briner had a quarterback hurry on the series and Lane Craven partially blocked a punt that set up the Tigers on their own 35 with plenty of time to make it three possessions. Wyatt Rush ripped off 33 more yards to the 12 behind a block from Austin Carlson and then picked up three more to the 9. Ben Badell took it the rest of the way to put Worth County up three possessions at 32-14 with 36.1 seconds left. Ben managed the clock perfectly on the series, directing the Tigers down the field while leaving North Nodaway with too little time to score again right before the half. North Nodaway made it into Tiger territory, but Nate Pointer got a sack to kill the drive.
By the half, Wyatt Rush had 225 yards on 27 carries. But with North Nodaway keying on Wyatt in the second, Nate Pointer got the bulk of the carries although Wyatt was constantly a threat. North Nodaway had four turnovers to prevent them from answering effectively.
But the Mustangs got new life in the second half thanks to a botched kickoff that barely rolled off the tee. By rule the ball is spotted where it lands if it does not travel the required 10 yards. North Nodaway took full advantage of the momentum-changing play, cutting it to 32-22 and it was a track meet between the two teams for the rest of the game.
North Nodaway returned the favor on the next kickoff and Worth County got the ball on the Mustang 32. They took full advantage of the gift. With Wyatt Rush and Nate Pointer carrying the load, the Tigers moved down to the 9, where Andrew Mullock got a 9 yard touchdown following a Wyatt Rush block to make it 38-22 with 9:03 left.
North Nodaway could get nowhere on their next series as Truman Moore got a sack and they were forced to punt. Andrew Mullock made a touchdown saving tackle as he made a shoestring grab of Reynolds trying to scramble for yardage; had he not made the play, Reynolds would have been gone. The ensuing punt came under a heavy rush and it was shanked, giving Worth County a short field to work with at the Mustang 35. With everyone keying on Wyatt, nobody was covering Mullock, who caught a perfect swing pass from Ben Badell for a 31 yard score that made it 46-22 with 6:09 left in the third. It was similar to the swing pass against Stanberry that broke their backs last year.
Neither team could get anything else going for the rest of the quarter, but a roughing the passer call against Worth County gave North Nodaway new life, which they converted into a score with 10:56 left in the fourth quarter to make it 46-28. Ben Badell had a key pass breakup on the extra point that kept it a three possession game.
North Nodaway, at this point, went to their onside kick. There was method to their strategy besides trying to get the ball back; the short field meant that Worth County would take less time off the clock to score instead of taking a long time off from, say, their own 15. Jacob Hardy pounced on this one at the 39, and Ben Badell's keeper behind a Truman Moore block got 26 yards down to the Mustang 8. Three cracks from Wyatt got only to the one; however, Ben Badell, who really wanted the ball on the series, converted a fourth down sneak to put the Tigers up as Josh Warner pushed him into the end zone. That is one of those actions that is illegal and is frequently done, yet is rarely called by the officials. Wyatt Rush and Lane Craven formed a perfect wall for Ben Badell to run in the extra points to put Worth County up 54-28.
North Nodaway went to the long bomb and they used a 53 yard pass to Dakota Smyser to set up a five yard run from Reynolds to make it 54-34 with 8:09 left. But this time, the onside kick backfired as Lane Craven scooped it up and returned it to the Mustang 25, nearly breaking one in the process. Worth County only needed one play to answer as Nate Pointer got a Wyatt Rush block and got 25 yards to make it 60-34 with 7:55 left.
This time, kickoff coverage turned out to be an area in need of improvement as the Tigers gave up the first of two long runbacks. Fred Rios ran back the kickoff to the Tiger 22 and Dakota Chestnut caught a long pass with 6:47 left to make it 60-40. The onside kick was fumbled around until Wyatt pounced on it at the Mustang 36; a few plays later, Ben Badell threw a long strike to Chris Alarcon from 24 yards out with 4:49 to make it 66-40. Another breakdown on kickoff coverage led to another Rios runback, this time to the 9. That set up a pass to Chestnut that made it 66-48 with 3:48 left. Wyatt Rush broke his final run of the evening, bouncing outside and getting a 32 yard score to make it 72-48. North Nodaway used some trickery to get their final score of the night, a reverse pass from Dakota Smyser to Dakota Chestnut from 38 yards out to make it 72-54 with 1:12 left before Worth County was finally able to run out the clock for the win.
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