Worth County played their best game of the year in giving Albany, the top team in Missouri Eight Man Football this year, all they could handle. Unfortunately, they once again could not hold a two possession lead in the fourth quarter and fell 40-36. Worth County cleaned up a lot of their mistakes from the first two games, only getting six penalties after getting 21 against Rock Port and 18 against Mound City. They didn't have a single blown pass coverage against Albany after having eight against Mound City. The tackling was the best it was this year, with hardly any missed tackles after 50 against Rock Port. They proved they can play with anyone, but the time is gone when the Tigers only had one or two strong teams to contend with. In order to start winning games, the Tigers will have to master the little things.
One of these things is getting off to faster starts. In many games between evenly-matched teams, one team will jump out on the other team right off the bat; the other team uses all their energy to get back in the game, and then they don't have any energy to finish off the game. This is pretty much what happened Friday night. Worth County dug themselves into a 12-0 hole, fought back and led for much of the game, only to have no more energy to hold off Albany's final run in the last seven minutes of the game.
The Tigers had trouble containing Zach Sharp, the 2nd leading rusher in Missouri Eight Man Football. Drew Cottrill rightly had most of the hype; however, the scary thing was that he was only the third best back on the team behind Sharp and quarterback Seth Cline, both of whom had over 100 yards in Albany's 66-18 drubbing of Rock Port. Albany was having their way up the middle, people were getting blown off the line, and people were forgetting who they were supposed to hit as Sharp scored off an 18-yard scamper. After a Tiger fumble, Cottrill took a quick hitter up the middle, the same play that Mound City used, and scored from 15 yards out as Albany was up 12-0 with 5:28 left. It was seven minutes before the Tigers realized that they could play football with the Warriors, and that seven minutes proved costly in the end.
But the kickoff return game, which had been a liability against Mound City, turned into an asset against Albany as Tevin Cameron returned the ensuing kickoff to the Warrior 39. Assistant Coach Mark Fletcher said that Cameron would have the best hands on the team since Vinny Fletchall back in the late 1990's; he showed a ton of speed as he weaved his way through traffic. He is earning playing time; he played some receiver as well.
Another adjustment Coach Chris Healy made was putting Jayden Mancuso in at runningback and pairing him with Wade Rush and moving Chris Alarcon back to his natural position at end. Only a freshman, Jayden showed some raw speed and the ability to thrive in big games in junior high; this year, he showed that he has built on his success over the offseason. If the line can open holes for him, then he will be a threat to score every time he touches the ball similar to Eli Mullock. The line blocked as well as it has all year; the focus in future games will be to hold their blocks until the whistle and making sure that their guy does not make the tackle. They showed a lot more mobility in Friday's game; there were numerous times when Albany defenders had one of the Tiger backs zeroed in for a loss or short gain when someone would come out of nowhere and make a block to keep the play alive.
Jayden's 11-yard run to the 28 was followed by a 22-yard burst from Wade Rush down to the five. Wade showed some rust in his first game against Mound City; he got more confident against Albany and showed the form that made him so hard to tackle in junior high and in 'Lil Tigers, rumbling down to the five. Finally, Ben Badell threw a strike to Chris Alarcon to put the Tigers on the board with three minutes left. Worth County got a false start on the extra point, but they overcame that as a sweep play to Wade Rush fooled everyone as he was open all day as he rumbled in from eight yards out to make it 12-8.
The next challenge was to figure out how to stop the vaunted Warrior juggernaut; however, Josh Warner pounced on a loose ball at the Warrior 15 on their second play from scrimmage after Chris Alarcon's hit buried Albany in bad field position on the kickoff. Worth County was faced with fourth and three at the Warrior 8; however, they pulled off the guard eligible play and sprung Warner loose for a touchdown strike to put them in front. Warner rumbled in for the extra points to put Worth County up 16-12.
But Albany showed on their next possession that they could throw as well as run; Noah Wilmes showed that he is one of the top receivers in Eight Man as he got behind the Tiger defense for a 46-yard strike that put Albany back up 18-16 with 10:40 left in the first half. Worth County did a much better job of pass coverage than they did against Mound City; however, they could only slow down Wilmes for a time; they could not keep him down forever.
The question was how well Worth County would respond to Albany's opening up the game. But they showed some mental toughness as they responded with a solid kick return up to their own 35 and then a series of punishing runs, 3-5 yards at a time, down to the Warrior 17. Finally, Jayden Mancuso got the big hole that he needed and that was all he needed to scamper in to put Worth County up 24-18 with 6:36 left in the second after Ben Badell ran in the extra points. Worth County was ahead because they were converting their extra points and keeping Albany out of the end zone; a reversal from the Rock Port game.
Albany looked like they would come right back as Cottrill gashed the Tigers once again with the quick hitter. In order to get better, Worth County will have to find a way to stop this play. But finally, Andrew Faustlin pounced on a fumble at the Tiger 16 to kill the Warrior drive. Worth County had a promising drive to finish the half, but clock management turned out to be an area in need of improvement. Ben Badell got a block from Wade Rush and sprung loose for 15 yards into Warrior territory and then Jayden Mancuso got a block from Josh Warner for 10 more down to the 17 with time running out in the first half. But then the Tigers had a first down run wiped out by a holding penalty; the bad thing about that penalty was that it was committed after they had already gotten the first down.
Finally, with the Tigers in position to take a shot into the end zone at the Warrior 20 and one timeout left, they let the clock run out instead of calling timeout. Under the rules, either the head coach or any player can call timeout; but nobody noticed time running out until it was too late. Instead of Worth County possibly making it a two possession game and getting a chance to score twice without Albany having the benefit of a possession (Worth County had the ball to start the second half), they came away empty-handed. It's just like pop flies in softball, where someone has to take charge before the ball drops in for a hit.
That play seemed to kill Worth County's momentum, as they went three and out to start the second half and Ben Badell stumbled on defense and Wilmes had all the daylight in the world to catch a long pass that set up Drew Cottrill's five yard score early in the third to tie it at 24. Ben Badell atoned for that by breaking up the extra point pass to keep it tied.
Once again, the question was how well Worth County would respond to the change in momentum, but Wade Rush got consecutive carries of 11 and 8 yards and Ben Badell scrambled for a long gain and the ref tacked on a defensive holding penalty that move the ball all the way to the Warrior 6. Jayden Mancuso got a block from Truman Moore and got loose to put Worth County back in front at 30-24 with 6:30 left.
Albany went three and out, but then pinned Worth County at their own 8. Jayden got a 20-yard sweep to the 31 and Ben Badell broke another carry for 19 to get into Warrior territory at the 34, but then the blocking started to break down and the Tigers started having trouble holding their blocks and stalled there. Albany aired it out to Noah Wilmes in an effort to tie or take the lead, but Johnny Carlson came off the bench to break up the pass and Albany was forced to punt. He was able to give Ben Badell a rest on defense; Ben had to pull double duty directing the Tiger offense and trying to keep up with the fleet-footed Wilmes. One of the main reasons for Worth County improving their play this week was some of the younger players stepping things up and earning some playing time.
Gavin Hawk got a sack to force Albany to punt from their own end zone on that series and Worth County had a chance to go up two possessions as a shanked punt gave the Tigers a short field to work with on the Warrior 28. A holding penalty wiped out a first down run, but a pass interference penalty on Albany returned the favor and put the ball on the Warrior 13. Finally, Ben Badell found a big hole around the right end and got in to put Worth County up 36-24 with 7:19 left.
But then Albany spread out the field for the first time and marched right down the field, getting a pass to Cole Parman with 5:04 left to cut Worth County's lead to 36-32. Worth County had a chance to pick up some first downs and run out the clock, but once again, they could not run out enough clock and Albany got the ball back with plenty of time left. Ben Badell's 12-yard sweep picked up a first down following a Warner block and Worth County was faced with a fourth and one at the 40 with 2:23 left. Pick up another pair of first downs and the game would be over. But once again, clock management turned out to be a killer for the Tigers. They were out of timeouts, took too long to get the play in, and nobody noticed the play clock winding down and the Tigers took a delay of game penalty. Instead of a makeable fourth and one, Worth County was faced with fourth and six at their own 35 and was forced to punt.
Once again, Worth County could not keep up with Noah Wilmes, who hauled in a 36-yard pass to the Tiger 16. A false start penalty on Albany moved the ball back to the 21, but then Albany opened up the playbook with 53 seconds left and Zach Sharp went back for a halfback threw a perfect strike to Wilmes in the back of the end zone for the go-ahead score to make it 40-36. Ben Badell made a smart play by not coming off his man and covered Wilmes as well as he could, but Sharp threw it in a spot where Wilmes could leap really high for the catch. Worth County got the ball back, but with no timeouts left, they could only get it to midfield before time ran out.
Coach Chris Healy told his team after the play that the goal going in was to find some heart. "We found some heart; we can build on this," he said. "This one's on me. You all played your hearts out this game."
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