Worth County's Junior High clinched their second straight undefeated season last Monday night, beating Stanberry 28-22 in Stanberry to complete the clean sweep. Worth County had to go through a gauntlet of tough teams to round out the season, playing North Andrew, unbeaten East Union, and Stanberry in three consecutive weeks. Two of those games were on the road. However, the Tigers passed with flying colors, getting their sixth win of the year despite the mud and rain that created slick conditions for the players.
Jayden Mancuso once again led the Tigers against Stanberry as he has proved to be a Bulldog killer. Last year, he scored the only touchdown of the game in Worth County's 8-0 win over Stanberry. This year, he had 169 yards of rushing, a career high. The conditions were difficult for both teams as there were a lot of fumbles and missed tackles in the slippery conditions.
Worth County marched right down the field to open the scoring in five plays, capped by a 23-yard run by Mancuso with 6:05 left in the first quarter. He also ran in the extra points to make it 8-0. But Stanberry struck right back as Trey Schieber got a breakaway score from 52 yards out; Levi Murphy caught a pass to tie it at 8 with 5:17 left in the first. Schieber, only a 7th grader, had a low center of gravity, which made it even more difficult for players to tackle him.
Jayden ripped off gains of 18 and 15 and caught a long pass for 25 yards down to the Bulldog 10, but a fumble killed the drive and Stanberry had the ball back and made it back to midfield by the end of the first quarter. They took a 14-8 lead with 7:27 left in the second as Schieber got loose again from 25 yards out.
Worth County appeared to stall as a sack set them back third and long after a promising drive had gotten them as far as the Stanberry 23. But then Cade Allee threw a strike to Ryan McClellan for a score and he dragged his defender into the end zone despite his small size as Worth County tied it back up with 4:25 left in the first half. Dakota Gross had a pass breakup and a sack in the closing seconds to preserve the 14-14 tie.
Stanberry had the ball to start the second half and were seemingly bottled up third and long when they checked in Tristan Lager and he ran a sweep that netted them 20 yards into Tiger territory at the 35. But they stalled there as Tevin Cameron had a perfect one on one tackle despite the tough conditions five yards short of the first down and Worth County got the ball back on downs at their own 28. A bad pitch set them back second and 17 at the 21, but then Cade Allee ran a quarterback keeper that fooled everyone as everyone was sucked inside and Cade ran around the left end untouched to put Worth County back in front. Jayden Mancuso dove into the end zone for the extra points to make it 22-14 with 3:29 left.
Worth County seemingly got a gift when Stanberry fumbled it to Worth County at the Bulldog 30, but they fumbled it right back to Stanberry, which rode the running of Schieber all the way down to the Tiger 7 on four straight carries. But Stanberry finally fumbled the ball and Dylan Mildfeldt pounced on it at the 5 to kill Stanberry's chance to tie the game.
The Tigers then got a badly needed insurance touchdown as they drove up to the 31 and then Cade Allee took another quarterback keeper around the left end. He got a block from Ryan McClellan and sprung loose for 49 yards, putting Worth County up 28-14 with 6:24 left in the game. But Stanberry was not finished as they drove right back down the field and scored on Schieber's third run from scrimmage from 26 yards out. Murphy caught a carom to make it 28-22.
Worth County had to run the last 3:56 off the clock and they did as they recovered the onsides kick at their own 27 and then handed it to Mancuso six times during their next drive. Cade Allee added a sweep for 15 yards as the Tigers were able to drive down to the 8 with 33 seconds before running out the clock for the win.
The JV lost 36-28 to Stanberry in the closing seconds to finish their year at 4-2.
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