Austin Carlson and the rest of the Worth County offensive line came into their own despite losing Truman Moore (ankle) and Josh Warner (knee) for the game in the second half, carrying the Tigers past West Nodaway 88-68 Friday night. Worth County built up a big lead against West Nodaway. But they have always had trouble playing at the Rocket football field regardless of the record of the Rockets and West Nodaway came back to within 10 points in the second half. But then the Tiger offensive line carried the team over the end zone several times to put Worth County back in control and they set a state record for most combined points in an eight man game. Worth County came within six points of the school record for most points scored in a game. Defensively, Worth County gave up the most points in school history in a win. Previously, the Tigers had given up 52 points against Stanberry in 2005 and still won the game, 68-52 as Austin Findley broke the single game rushing record that game with 375 yards. They also gave up 52 points in a win over Mound City last year. The school record for points scored is 94 against South Holt three years ago; the Knights scored 48 in that game.
Brevyn Ross started off the Tigers in good field position, running back a kickoff to the Rocket 30. From there, a long pass from Ben Badell to Chris Alarcon put the Tigers into the end zone and Wyatt Rush ran in the extra points. Ben Badell was much more accurate this week. He completed some long passes early, which helped set up the running game later on, right when the Tigers needed it the most.
Part of the reason the game was so high-scoring was that West Nodaway, under a new coach, put in a no-huddle offense in which the team starts the play when the official blows his whistle and signals the ball ready for play. That made it much more difficult for Worth County to substitute players in and out without drawing an illegal substitution penalty. On the other hand, that puts pressure on the defense, which does not have as much time to rest as on a conventional offense. That seemed to wear them down in the third and fourth quarters right as they needed to get some stops.
West Nodaway had a strong runningback in Trevor Meyer, who had 17 carries for 233 yards against CFX in West Nodaway's week one win over the Hornets. He was every bit as good as advertised, putting up similar numbers against Worth County. They also had a strong sophomore quarterback in Jaden Gillenwater and a big play receiver in sophomore Jakob Cordell, whose size and speed created matchup problems for the Tiger defense.Meyer was off to the races on West Nodaway's second play from scrimmage, cutting Worth County's lead to 8-6 before the Tigers stopped him short on the end zone. There were two scores in the first 36 seconds of play and there were many more to come.
Worth County wasted another long kickoff return from Brevyn Ross as they struggled with their snapping game in that series and Wyatt Rush was stopped inches short of the first down at the Rocket 22. But the Tigers got the ball right back deep in Rocket territory as they held West Nodaway on defense and Lane Craven blocked a punt and fell on it at the 13. This time, Wyatt Rush took a counter into the end zone to put the Tigers up 14-6. But then two Worth County players got blown out on kickoff coverage and Worth County gave off a kickoff return to Colt McIntyre and Cordell caught a pass in the end zone to tie it at 14 with 6:13 left.
This time, West Nodaway kicked it away from Brevyn, who ran a long ways and took the kickoff anyways and was bottled up this time after bobbling it for a long time. West Nodaway threatened to follow Rock Port's lead and have Johnathon Madere, a defensive end, feast in the Tiger backfield as he dropped Brevyn for consecutive losses back to the Tiger 14. But Worth County called timeout to talk things over and they protected Ben Badell well enough to throw a 25 yard strike to Wade Rush for a first down at the 39. On the next play, Brevyn Ross took a sweep and simply outran Madere around the corner and took it 41 yards for a score with 4:25 left.
Penalties were a big issue for Worth County last week against Rock Port, but with the exception of a stretch during the middle of the game, they cleaned up their penalties for much of the game. On the other hand, West Nodaway was bitten by the penalty bug for much of the evening, including a holding penalty that killed their next drive. Josh Warner got a sack and a false start pinned West Nodaway back to the 9, where they were forced to punt again. They got off a great kick to the Tiger 20, but it didn't matter. Worth County once again got backed up third and long as this time, they let Trevor Meyer into the backfield on consecutive plays for losses. But once again, they adjusted and blocked well on the next play to get out of third and long. Brevyn Ross took the snap under center, faked the sweep to the right side that burned the Rockets earlier, and turned around and threw a screen to Lane Craven, who rumbled 44 yards down the field to the Rocket 18. Brevyn Ross took it to the house on a counter and ran in the extra points to make it 28-14 with 30 seconds left in the quarter.
Once again, West Nodaway could get nowhere as they picked up two holding penalties on their next series and Cordell dropped a pass which would have been a sure touchdown. Wyatt Rush on the next play showed a lot more explosiveness to his game as he took a sweep down the right side 21 yards and then dragged defenders 10 yards for another 16 yards to the Rocket 14. Brevyn Ross scored again for the Tigers on a sweep as Josh Warner knocked down a defender on the play and ran in the extra points to make it 36-14.
Consecutive sacks by Truman Moore after the Rockets had moved into Tiger territory seemed to stop them again, but this time, they threw a screen pass to Trevor Meyer for a long touchdown to make it 36-20. But Worth County answered right back as Brevyn Ross took the ensuing kickoff to the house down the right side to make it 42-20.
Things went from bad to worse as the Tigers got a sack on the first play from scrimmage and recovered a fumble at the Rocket 5; Brevyn Ross only needed one play to score behind a block from Shadow Briner. Brevyn dove into the end zone for the extra points despite Rocket players grabbing at his facemask to make it 50-20.
Cordell dropped another pass that would have been a score and West Nodaway was forced to punt again following a bad snap by the Rockets. After the one earlier in the game, Worth County did much better at snapping the ball this time; on the other hand, West Nodaway had trouble with the center-quarterback exchange all night. The Rockets were forced to punt and Worth County was driving for another score, but a momentum-changing play happened when Jonathon Madere stripped Brevyn of the ball as he was fighting for yardage and returned it to the Rocket 31. That was similar to a play that happened a few years ago when Kyler Hiatt was stripped from behind for a score that would have put Worth County up 50-6, West Nodaway returned it a long ways to set up a score, and there were some anxious moments in that game before the Tigers finally won 64-42.
West Nodaway was able to capitalize on the Tiger miscue as Meyer took a short pass and converted it into a long run. Gillenwater scrambled into the end zone and the Rockets were right back in the game at 50-28. Brevyn Ross was shaken up on the series and had to come out for a few plays. The game really tested both teams' depth, but Worth County found themselves another runningback in Nate Pointer, who took a sweep 58 yards to the Rocket 5 to set up a Wyatt Rush score that made it 56-28. But then Meyer caught another long pass for a score which made it 56-34 with 2:39 left in the half.
At that point, Worth County started losing their composure and Brevyn Ross was flagged during the next series for protesting a non-call and came out of the game for the rest of the half. The Tigers were forced to punt and made a defensive miscue, coming off of Cordell during a quarterback scramble situation. This time, Cordell caught the ball for a long run down to the 1 and Meyer dove in on the next play to make it 56-40 with 44 seconds left in the half, too little time for Worth County to get another score.
West Nodaway had a chance to make it one possession, but Worth County recovered a fumble during the initial kickoff and had a chance to convert from the Rocket 26. But they could get nowhere on their next series and West Nodaway got the ball back on downs and started marching down the field. The Tigers had obviously not regained their composure yet as Lane Craven was flagged for a late hit during the series. Cordell finally caught a 1 yard pass to make it 56-46 with 7:51 left. But Wyatt Rush made a perfect one on one tackle on Meyer to deny them a one possession game and Worth County was still two scores up. That was the defensive play that began to swing the momentum back to the Tigers.
After that, Worth County regained their composure and control of the game. Nate Pointer made a heads-up play when he ran back a squib kick all the way back to the Tiger 37 to give them good field position. Brevyn Ross ripped off two good gains down to the Rocket 25 and then Wyatt Rush took it to the house to put Worth County back up. Rush ran in the extra points to make it 64-46. Another momentum changing play happened the next series when Lane Craven rung Gillenwater's bell and knocked him out of the game, hitting him as he was throwing a pass. Gillenwater is just as important a part of the Rocket offense as Meyer is; the Rockets were frequently lost on offense without him. He did not get back into the game until it was already decided in Worth County's favor. Coach Chris Healy made some adjustments during the next stretch, changing the coverage scheme so their backs would not have to chase Meyer all over the field and putting more pressure on the quarterback in the backfield. He said that the players picked up their effort for the next stretch as well.
West Nodaway scored to cut it to 64-52, and then Truman Moore and Josh Warner were hurt on consecutive plays on the next offensive series. But then center Austin Carlson started taking over, blowing back his man five yards at will and opening up huge holes for the Tiger backs. Wyatt Rush ripped off a gain of 18 and Brevyn Ross got 10 more before being shaken up down to the Rocket 25. But Nate Pointer followed the block of Austin Carlson for five, got six more off a block from Wyatt Rush, and got into the end zone off blocks from Carlson and Lane Craven. Brevyn Ross came back and ran in the extra points to make it 72-52 with 2:30 left.
West Nodaway fumbled the ball on the ensuing possession and Austin Carlson pounced on it at the Rocket 15. Wyatt Rush scored on one play from there, following the blocking of Austin Carlson and Wade Rush. Tristan Miller, who came in when Josh Warner went down, showed some of the best blocking of his varsity career, carving up a hole with Carlson for Wyatt Rush to run in the extra points to put Worth County up 80-52 and finally give them some breathing space.
West Nodaway could not get anywhere on their next possession as the big hits were fast and furious. Wyatt Rush did a WWF body slam on Meyer on one play and a false start penalty hurt the Rockets as well. On fourth and 10, the Rockets lined up to punt, but a bad snap forced punter Blake Sanders to scramble and Shadow Briner rung his bell at the Rocket 20. Worth County overcame a substitution infraction penalty on the next play as Wyatt Rush followed Tristan Miller's blocking eight yards to the 17. A busted play was blown up for a short loss, but then Lane Craven knocked down a defender as Ross got down to the 11 for fourth and one. Tristan Miller then opened a big hole for Nate Pointer for eight yards to the 3 and then Wyatt Rush scored on the next play despite some helmet to helmet contact from the Rocket defenders. Nate Pointer ran in the extra points to make it 88-52 early in the fourth before Coach Chris Healy subbed freely for the remainder of the game.
Wyatt Rush had a career night for the Tigers rushing, running for 184 yards on 20 carries. For West Nodaway, Gillenwater threw for 342 yards, completing 17 passes on 33 attempts. Trevor Meyer caught seven passes for 265 yards and ran for 79 more. This game was an echo of a 1992 game between Worth County and West Nodaway played on the same field; in that game, P.J. Sanders threw for 400 yards, but the Tigers still lost 62-54. Steve Hartman, who coached the Rockets that game and who later coached girls basketball and softball and assisted with football, did the commentary for KNIM during Friday night's game. Mark Fletcher, who coached the Tigers in that game, is now an assistant for Coach Chris Healy.
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