Upsets Likely to Upend Eight Man Rankings

The following were the preseason Eight Man Football Rankings:

1.North Andrew
2.Stanberry
3.Southwest Livingston
4.North West Nodaway
5.Rock Port
6.Hardin Central
7.St Joseph Christian
8.Albany
9.Stewartsville
10.Mound City

There were some interesting results in the Missouri Eight Man Football Rankings that will likely result in some changes. Worth County came into Friday night's game with Rock Port unranked after having only won three games last year. That will change after Worth County's 54-8 win over #5 Rock Port. Other ranked games:

#1 North Andrew 48, #7 St. Joseph Christian 12
The defending two-time state champs rolled to a 32-6 lead over the Lions, with a new coach this year. But two injuries tested their depth, forcing Coach Jonathan Schoonover to play people out of position. The Lions justified their preseason ranking as they went the distance over the Cardinals.

#2 Stanberry 80, #4 North West Nodaway 48
Stanberry justified its current position as one of the teams to beat this year, but the Muskets are not going anywhere despite losing prize runningback and receiver Trevor Meyer. Quarterback Koby Reynolds and his stable of receivers rewrote the passing recordbook last year and could do so again this year. Stanberry led 40-20 at the half, but could never put North West Nodaway away.

#3 Southwest Livingston 86, Northwest Hughesville 0
Games like this are why the Highway 275 Conference put in a rule requiring games to end after one team goes up by 45 or more points. The Wildcats keep coming close to getting to St. Louis and look to go over the hump this year.

Worth County 54, #5 Rock Port 8
Worth County showed that they belong in the rankings, but Rock Port is not as bad as the score indicates. They still have a solid line behind which backs Brady Minter and Colby Linthicum can run. Rock Port had a touchdown run called back by a penalty, two bad snaps go over the center's head, and a squib kick late in the first half that Worth County was able to recover. Take those away, and it's a much closer game.

For Worth County, they show that they belong in the conversation this year. Brevyn Ross, Issac Alarcon, and Ben Badell are all threats to break away and score. If they clean up some of the mistakes in the first game, they will be one of the teams to beat along with North Andrew, Stanberry, North West Nodaway, and Southwest Livingston.

#6 Hardin Central 76, #9 Stewartsville 20
Hardin-Central, which has a cooperative with Norborne this year, had little trouble disposing of #9 Stewartsville.

#8 Albany 60, Greenfield 28
Greenfield, Worth County's next opponent and a district foe, scored first on Albany, but the Warriors took control and pulled away for the win. This Friday, Worth County will travel to Cameron to play Greenfield, a southwest Missouri school which formed an emergency eight man program last year. Coach Chris Healy said that they will likely try to spread the field out on teams. It will be a good tuneup for Worth County's upcoming showdown against North West Nodaway.

East Atchison 38, #10 Mound City 36
The other shocker was the Wolves' win over Mound City. The one-time powerhouse Panthers fell on hard times last year, while a new coach has lit a fire under the dormant Wolves. Worth County assistant coach Jon Adwell was on the players' backs all night about not converting extra points and this game was a prime example -- after Mound City failed to convert an extra point to tie the game at 30, the Wolves scored and converted an extra point attempt to make it 38-28. That made Mound City's last score meaningless.

Game of Interest:
Nodaway/South Holt 41, South Nodaway 14
The new cooperative won its first game Friday night. For the South Holt kids, it was the first time they had tasted victory since 2011. This game was not the kind of debut that new Longhorns coach Dan Collins wanted. For Worth County, every game will be tough and there will be no weak teams this year. That means that they will have earned everything they get.