Worth County played its first full game of the year and survived a homecoming scare against Albany as they won 88-58. The Tigers have now won their last 11 Homecoming tilts dating back to 2004, when they lost 14-8 to Mound City. Dalton Auffert pounced on a fumble right off the bat on Albany's first play from scrimmage and Brevyn Ross scored on Worth County's first play, getting blocks from Mason Hawk and Tristan Miller in the process. Ben Badell took an option play, got a block from Isaac Alarcon, and got in to make it 8-0 just 17 seconds into the game.
But Albany would not go away as Worth County was still struggling with learning where everyone was supposed to be. They had Albany backed up fourth and four at the Tiger 35, but then nobody guarded Caden Wilson on fourth and four and he caught a 12 yard pass down to the 23. Two plays later, Colton Coburn took a counter handoff and made it in from 23 yards out with 8:33 left. That play showed why Albany has not gone away; Seth Cline, who moved to quarterback this year, along with the rest of the Albany backfield, showed that they were one of the best teams in the area as far as carrying out fakes. All night, nobody seemed to know where the play was going or who was carrying the ball, which led to a lot of missed assignments. On one play, the Albany backs even fooled the officials.
After Albany tied the game at 8, Worth County came right down the field again as Brevyn Ross (170 yards) ripped off gains of 17, 13, and 5 behind the blocking of Tristan Miller. Finally, Ben Badell followed Drake Kinsella around the left end and both Drake and Tristan threw seal blocks to get him into the end zone from 8 yards out to make it 14-10 with 7:10 left. Brevyn had "only" 170 yards despite playing a full game. Worth County had a defensive score and Albany frequently onside kicked it, meaning that Worth County had a much shorter field to work with than usual, which brought down the rushing stats. Also, quarterback Ben Badell had his best passing night of the year, scoring on several long strikes after Albany started selling out to stop the run, allowing Worth County to isolate Chris Alarcon.
Worth County forced a three and out, but the ensuing Albany punt rolled all the way to the seven and then the blocking completely broke down, and Albany sacked Ben Badell in the end zone for a safety. Worth County stopped the ensuing Albany drive, but then one of the Warrior players got a helmet on Brevyn Ross and knocked the football loose and then all hell broke loose as Albany used a 27 yard hook and ladder play to take the lead at 18-14 with 3:11 left in the first. Worth County continued to sleepwalk on the next series, with two or three players not knowing the play and throwing up their hands in confusion on one occasion. They gave up the ball on downs at midfield and Albany drove in using 9 plays and 39 yards to get in at the start of the second quarter.
Drake Naylor dove into the end zone to make it 24-14, but then a critical play happened on the ensuing extra point as Brevyn Ross put a solid shot on Cline to stop the extra point. That hit knocked Cline out for the rest of the half and from there, the momentum began to swing back in Worth County's favor.
The sloppy play continued, but Ben Badell rescued Worth County out of a third and ten hole when he aired it out to Brevyn Ross for a 50 yard strike with 10:14 left. Ben Badell ran in the extra points, getting a block from Ross to spring loose and Worth County was back in the game, down 24-22. With Cline out, Tom Sagun took the reigns at quarterback. At first, nothing seemed to change as Albany's juggernaut converted two first downs and used 10 plays and 54 yards to get in. Drake Naylor ran in the extra points to make it 32-22. But then Worth County got it right back as they executed a perfect double screen pass to Brevyn Ross for 49 yards and another score and Ross ran in the extra points to make it 32-30.
That set up a frantic final few minutes of the half. Jacob Hardy, whose grandfather Pat played quarterback for the 1973 team that was recognized at the game Friday, shot through and sacked Sagun and Albany was forced to punt. Tevin Cameron ran back the punt 57 yards to the 3, setting up a score from Brevyn Ross to make it 36-32 and put Worth County back in the lead with 1:33 left. But then someone missed a tackle on Khol Bounds and he was gone as Albany went back in front 38-36. But then on Worth County's first play from scrimmage, they put Isaac Alarcon in the Wildkat formation and he scored from 42 yards out to put the Tigers back in front. Brevyn Ross followed blocking by Isaac and Chris Alarcon to put the Tigers up 44-38 with 1:01 left. For some reason, Albany elected to run out the clock even though they got it back at midfield after Coach Chris Healy elected to kick it short to prevent another runback and Worth County would get the ball to start the second half.
That move backfired as Worth County rescued a fourth and two as Ben Badell's sneak got three yards to the Warrior 32. An illegal block wiped out a touchdown, but then Isaac Alarcon broke two tackles on his way to a 24-yard run down to the Albany 12. On his final effort, Isaac got into the end zone from seven yards out and Worth County finally had some breathing room, leading 50-38. Seth Cline came back for Albany, but on his first play from scrimmage, Isaac jumped a pass and got a pick six; Ben Badell ran in the extra points to put Worth County up 58-38 with 8:03 left in the quarter.
For the second time of the night, nobody seemed to know who was responsible for Caden Wilson, whose long pass for 42 yards set up Cline's pass to Nathan McLain to make it 58-44. But on its first play from scrimmage, Ross got blocks from Drake Kinsella and Jacob Hardy. It took him a moment to realize there was a big hole there, but then he shot through and scored from 41 yards out. Isaac Alarcon caught the two point pass to make it 66-44 with 5:40 left in the quarter.
Worth County overcame a pass interference penalty on its next defensive series as Tevin Cameron and Nate Pointer stopped Drake Naylor short of the first down and Ben Badell aired it out to Isaac Alarcon from 17 yards out after setting up the Tigers with a 19 yard keeper. Alarcon ran in the extra points to make it 74-44.
Last year, Worth County had trouble protecting the lead in this situation and as the fourth quarter opened up, once again, nobody knew who was responsible for covering Caden Wilson, whose 43 yard pass with 10:55 left in the game made it 74-52. With Worth County driving for an answer, they fumbled the ball away as Albany was going for the strip all night long and a long draw play to Drake Naylor set up a 1 yard run from Cline to make it 74-58. Worth County had been dependable in recovering the onside kick all night, but there was a heartstopping moment when the next one caromed off a black shirt into the air. A touchdown and a two point conversion would have made it a one possession game again, but Mason Hawk pounced on the loose ball. Worth County was backed up and had fourth and five at the Warrior 33, but then Worth County opened up their playbook as Brevyn Ross got loose on a reverse. The line sealed the back side perfectly and he made 18 yards down to the Warrior 15. Three plays later, Ben Badell found Topher in the left corner of the end zone. He hesitated on throwing the pass, which would have driven former coach Chuck Borey crazy; current coach Chris Healy was repeatedly yelled at for hesitating before throwing. But the pass was on the money and Albany went three and out on its next series.
Brevyn continued to fight for yards to the very end, bowling over his own teammate, Nate Pointer, in a successful effort to fight for 9 yards and a first down on the next series to the Warrior 36. Finally, Dylan Mildfeldt came in and the Tigers showed that they may have found a new runningback for the future as the Northeast Nodaway sophomore showed the same mentality as Eli Mullock -- he wasn't thinking protect the ball and run out the clock; he was thinking touchdown. He outran everyone, racing down the tightrope on the right sideline to score and put Worth County up 88-58.
The game had everyone, especially the people from the 1973 team, on edge; some of them had never seen an eight man football game before. It was one of the largest crowds at Worth County in recent memory, resembling the crowds that would watch GRC games all the time back in the 1960's and 1970's. There was a decent Albany contingent as well. However, it was not the biggest crowd in history to attend a Worth County football game; one candidate is the Nodaway-Holt playoff game in 1981, when the band had to move down to some makeshift bleachers on the track. Another candidate was the 1969 game with Princeton, when both Tiger squads were playing for the GRC title; an estimated 3,000 people attended that game. And there was a Homecoming game in 1955 between Worth County and Albany which drew an estimated 2,500 people to see the Tigers win 19-6.
Among people who returned for the game were Dennis Downing, whose one task was to "bust the wedge" on kickoff coverage. Chuck Waske and Ronnie Walker were avid storytellers as well as football players; during the banquet preceding the game, the energy level went up noticeably when they entered the room. And then there was Brad Ross, whose dad Jim coined the common battle cry of the 1970's and 80's, "Be there, Tigers!" That cry was heard at least once Friday night.
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