Richard Baker announced that he was stepping down as President of the 'Lil Tigers, the franchise that he had founded. He had served for the last seven years. The franchise started from scratch and is now giving Worth County and Northeast Nodaway kids the opportunity to learn football fundamentals so that they will be ready for high school and junior high. The teams have been highly competitive playing against much larger schools and despite playing 11 man football instead of 8 man.
At this year's banquet, Baker thanked the parents for their time and commitment as well as the cheerleaders. Worth County has regularly formed the largest cheer squad in the whole league under the direction of Sheila Hunt, who has been with the organization for seven years as well. There were 28 kids from Worth County and Northeast Nodaway out for cheerleading this year. Baker said that Worth County consistently had the largest following of any of the teams and thanked everyone who had helped host the football games this year.
The senior squad this year started out short of numbers, with 15 players out this year. That meant that players had to play out of position and many others had to play both sides of the ball. While their 2-5 record this year was not what had been hoped, "We came a long ways in the last three years," said assistant coach Adam McIntyre. "I'm still proud of them," said Coach Dave Brown, who laid his hands on each kids' shoulder and had something positive to say about each of them. There were some first-year players on the squad who picked up the game quickly and were able to make some contributions to this year's team. The team did set a record for the longest pass play from scrimmage, a 75-yard strike from Hunter Simmons to Chance Barbar against Lamoni.
The junior squad had 22 players out this year, which bodes well for the future. They went 3-3 for the year despite not having a lot of size and starting from square one. They developed a breakaway threat in Alex Rinehart, younger brother of Caleb Parman. Cooper Simmons established himself as a force on defense, getting into the backfield regularly.
Following the banquet, the teams and cheerleaders watched highlight pictures from the season.
Whoever takes over from Baker will have some big shoes to fill. The senior squad started their initial year winless; however, fittingly enough, their first win in franchise history was against Albany in their second year. From there, they had a good run of success and they were always a threat to challenge for the title even against the likes of Mount Ayr. The players who went through the system first are already showing fruits. The juniors on the varsity squad this year were on the first 'Lil Tigers squad that did not win a game. However, all the hard work is paying off as the varsity Tigers are now 6-3 despite battling a lot of injuries and adversity this year. This year's juniors have come a long ways from going 0-6 in their first year of playing competitive football seven years ago. And several sophomores are already making positive contributions to the varsity squad.
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