Worth County will not have time to dwell on their heartbreaking 40-36 loss to Albany. In order to pick up their first win, they will have to beat North-West Nodaway, a rapidly improving team which evened their record at 2-2 Friday night. The goal will be to avoid a trip to Rock Port for the first round of districts. Despite dropping back to back games, the Blue Jays are still a formidable team.
North-West Nodaway came close in losses to Stanberry and Rock Port; however the problem is, that close doesn't count. Coach Andrew Webster challenged his team to pick it up in practices and they have responded, with wins over East Atchison and a 57-0 win over South Holt Friday. After facing one of the top backs in eight man football in Zach Sharp of Albany, Worth County will now have to face the top passer in eight man football in Koby Reynolds. He is 80 for 116 this year for 1,040 yards, 12 touchdowns, and only three picks. They will also have to face one of the top receivers in Trevor Meyer; he is absolutely fearless and is willing to take a big hit if it means coming up with a catch. He can run after the catch and can count on his receivers to block for him after the catch, which is something not necessarily taught even at the NFL level. He is ranked as the top receiver with 606 yards, over twice the 2nd ranked receiver. One of North-West's favorite plays is to isolate Meyer on the zero pass; if he can make his defender miss, then he is frequently gone. He burned Rock Port twice this way.
But Worth County cannot just focus on Trevor Meyer. The other three receivers, Dakota Smyser, Jakob Cordell, and Dakota Chesnut are all ranked as well. And the Muskets can run as well as throw; after throwing it nearly every single time against Stanberry and Rock Port, they ran nearly every single time in their 42-20 win over East Atchison. And Meyer picked up 224 yards in that win; he is the fourth-ranked runningback with 525 yards for the year.
The challenge for North Nodaway will be pass protection. The one way Rock Port was able to stop the Muskets and get the win was through constantly blitzing from different angles, something that North Nodaway did not have an answer for. Worth County held Albany well below their average defensively, so they showed some promise in the defensive area last Friday. But a good possibility could be a high-scoring game; last year, the only way Worth County could beat both North Nodaway (72-54) and West Nodaway (86-68) was to keep scoring. Paradoxically, if the game is high-scoring, the outcome can hinge on a key fumble recovery or a key pick. While North Nodaway is loaded with talent, former Tiger Coach Gary Wood says that Worth County is loaded with talent as well. It's simply a matter of being able to put it to use on the football field.
Worth County was nearly the second winless team to knock off an unbeaten. What looked like a misprint on Northwest Mo Info turned out not to be the case as previously winless South Nodaway knocked off previously unbeaten Mound City 34-0. Tryston Freemyer returned the opening kickoff 71 yards for a score and they continued to pull away, crashing Mound City's homecoming and winning 34-0. The win obviously had Dan Collins' fingerprints all over it; he is now helping out there after being forced out at Stanberry. Whatever he told the Longhorn players must have lit a fire under them as South Nodaway showed that they could be relevant this year.
Trying to regain their footing after their disappointing 66-18 loss to Albany, Rock Port used a 76-yard kickoff return to start the second half to catch Stanberry at 16-16. But then Stanberry pulled away by scoring the next 30 points to pick up the 46-24 victory and remain unbeaten. The elusive Brady Minter was held to 18 yards before breaking away for a 46-yard run with the game already decided. Stanberry showed the capability of having two backs who can run for over 200 yards; Clayton Stoll ran for 211 yards in the win. Nick Shanks ran for 270+ yards in Stanberry's opening victory over North-West Nodaway.
East Atchison picked up their first win of the season, getting a halftime victory over Nodaway-Holt 48-0. Blaine Lambert picked up 105 yards and four touchdowns in the win. Greenfield picked up their first win, beating DeKalb 14-12. Hardin-Central went the distance against powerhouse North Andrew, dropping their game to the Cardinals 42-12. Hardin-Central showed that they are relevant as they are 3-1 despite the loss. St. Joseph Christian got locked in a track meet against Chilhowee, as they led them 24-16 in the second quarter. However, they broke the game open and won 72-22 to raise their record to 3-1.
On the 11-man scene, Maryville knocked another team from the unbeaten ranks as they beat LeBlond 58-19 after knocking Chillicothe from the unbeaten ranks last week. What looked like an offensive shootout turned into a rout for Maryville after the Spoofhounds, up 22-6, saw a long LeBlond score wiped out by a holding penalty. Last year, LeBlond nearly pulled off a shocker before Maryville pulled off an 18-16 win. Maryville's win streak is now 34 games.
Polo established themselves as the team to beat in the Grand River Conference. Quarterback Wiley Martin, normally known for his legs, threw for two touchdowns as Polo beat South Harrison 24-14 to drop them to 1-3. Martin had ran for over 300 yards in an earlier game. Maysville raised their record to 3-1 with a 26-20 win over Christ Prep Academy. Former Coach Wood says they are a team on the rise this year. Gallatin evened their record to 2-2 with a 44-0 win over hapless Princeton. After a promising start, Braymer (2-2) has gone into a tailspin as they fell 50-6 to King City, who used a 28-point third quarter to break the game open. Skylar Lane had 222 yards for the Wildkats.
Hamilton beat hapless East Buchanan 69-30 as they scored 62 points in the first half to seal the game. Kellen Overstreet had "only" 180 yards after getting over 300 in Hamilton's first three games.
Next week, Albany will stay at home as they host Nodaway-Holt. They will have to avoid a letdown against the Trojans, who won their first game of the year before dropping their last three. South Nodaway will have plenty to build on as they travel to DeKalb. In what could be an entertaining matchup, St. Joseph Christian will travel to Hardin-Central in a battle of 3-1 teams. Mound City will be traveling to Rock Port in a battle of normally solid teams that are reeling. The question is, which Mound City team will show up -- the one that established themselves as one of the top defensive teams in Missouri Eight Man Football along with Albany, or the team that fell 34-0 to previously winless South Nodaway. Rock Port is normally one of the most difficult venues to play in, but Albany had no problems in trouncing the Blue Jays in Rock Port. South Holt will be traveling to East Atchison. The Knights are still looking to score their first points of the year.
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