The Northwest Missouri Eight Man Coaches Association top two teams both received scares Friday night before fending off challengers. The #3 and #4 teams played each other, while Worth County kept its climb intact with its Homecoming win over Albany. DeKalb replaced East Atchison on the top ten by virtue of its 3-0 start while everyone else stayed on the totem pole.
#1 North Andrew 60, #10 DeKalb 14
Word was floating around at the Worth County game that North Andrew was trailing DeKalb, and it was true -- the Tigers had scored first against the Cardinals. But North Andrew recovered and came away with the halftime win. Gunnar Hughes ran 7 times for 106 yards for the Cardinals, while Jacob Powelson completed four passes for 99 yards. Big plays led to DeKalb's demise.
#2 Stanberry 64, #7 Rock Port 36
The fireworks were exploding in Rock Port Friday in the first half as the Bluejays gave Stanberry everything they could handle. They ripped off 24 points in the second quarter to take a 30-26 halftime lead. Worth County assistant coach Jon Adwell has been ranting and raving at his players about converting extra points all season long, and this game was a prime example -- Rock Port scored four times in that period, but failed to convert on any of their extra points. If Rock Port had converted on three of those, they would have been in control of the game up 36-26. Instead, Stanberry, which always gets stronger as the game progresses, came back and took control of the second half.
#4 Southwest Livingston 34, #3 Hardin-Central 26
Recovering from its 30-20 loss to Stanberry the week before, Southwest Livingston banishes Hardin-Central from the ranks of the unbeaten.
#5 Worth County 88, #8 Albany 58
Worth County was finally tested and the question was how well they would respond when they fell behind for the first time all year. They responded well enough to win, but now will have to figure out how to slow down the high-flying North-West Nodaway squad. Worth County was burned three times by long passes and will have to figure out how to stop those plays if they are to keep winning. For Albany, they are not as good as last year, but not as bad as everyone thought coming out of the jamboree. They have a lot of size up front, and they still have Seth Cline.
#6 St. Joseph Christian 62, #9 North-West Nodaway 52
The Lions may have written the book on how to stop the Muskets -- you can't stop them completely, but if you can stop them for a few series, you can grab the lead. They jumped out to a 34-6 lead and showed that they are one of the better defensive teams around, along with Stanberry and North Andrew. The key to stopping the Muskets is to not let up; they simply keep right on playing even when well behind. Given their passing game, they don't have to adjust when they are behind; they simply keep firing away; consequently, they are never out of a game. They attempted 92 passes, for instance, against Rock Port. Other teams struggle when playing from behind; for instance, Rock Port went 3 for 19 in the air trying to play catchup football with Stanberry. North-West Nodaway fought back and got their deficit down to 50-46 at one point with 8 minutes left in the fourth quarter. But they could not buy a stop in the last eight minutes and they could not convert a two-point conversion late that would have made it 62-54. In order to get back on the winning track, the Muskets will have to solve their defensive woes. Someone suggested the Tiger/Musket game could go into triple digits.
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