Worth County dropped its second game in a row, 52-30 to Stanberry, a team which has elevated its game in the last two weeks. Stanberry had been struggling to put people away earlier in the season. However, they played their most complete game of the year last week, beating Albany 58-12 during the Bulldogs' Homecoming Week. They came into the season with one of the best two-headed monsters in Clayton Stoll and Trey Schieber, both of whom racked up over 100 yards a game under new coach Shane Hilton. Last week, they diversified their game, turning loose quarterback Cory Luke to throw passes to skyscrapers Alex McQuinn and Dan Hailey anytime defenses stacked the box too much. There is nothing fancy about their approach and little drama from the sideline from Hilton and his staff; their goal is to put in a winning game plan every week and get the players to buy in. Defensively, their linebacking corp shot through gaps and disrupted Worth County's running game all night. It all added up to a Stanberry victory capped off by the players rolling down the windows and chanting on the team bus as they headed back to Stanberry with the 275 title all but assured. Their next game is against a depleted Mound City squad which had trouble putting up points against North-West Nodaway the week before last.
The focus for Worth County will be on being ready to play for every game; in the preseason game, Worth County and Stanberry played to a scoreless tie. In games between evenly matched teams, the winner is frequently the one which is more ready to play than the other team. But it was evident that Worth County was not ready to play early on. Although they stopped a drive on Stanberry's first possession, they were too slow getting off the ball and their backs were repeatedly swarmed under by Stanberry's players, something that repeated itself all night long. Then, after they had forced another three and out thanks to a sack by Dalton Auffert and Drake Kinsella, Tevin Cameron muffed a punt, giving Stanberry new life at the Tiger 29. Then, after they had seemingly forced an incompletion on fourth down and getting the ball back, someone roughed the passer, which gave Stanberry the ball again at the 14. Then, after Stanberry was flagged for a false start, Brevyn Ross was flagged for a late hit when the play was over, moving the ball to the 9. Given four different chances, Stanberry finally scored on a two yard score from Schieber with 51.5 seconds left. Once again, Worth County had a breakdown on defense as nobody covered Alex McQuinn in the opposite corner of the end zone until it was too late, and Stanberry was up 8-0.
Worth County, to their credit, marched right back down the field to tie the game at 8. Isaac Alarcon, running out of the Wildkat formation, ripped off 33 yards to the Stanberry 22 and the Brevyn Ross took a handoff and bounced to the outside and beat Alex McQuinn down the right sideline to get in with 11:44 left. Ross ran in the extra points to tie it at 8.
But then Stanberry began grinding it out on the ground; Worth County knew what was coming, but they could not stop it. With the Bulldogs at second and three on the Tiger 13, one of the Worth County players and one of the Stanberry players got into a scuffle after the play was over and were flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after Stoll had gained four on the play. That only seemed to enrage the Stanberry players even more; the late Vince Lombardi used to be very careful in never giving the other team lockerroom material and expected his players to do the same. A good illustration of the wisdom of Lombardi's approach was Friday night's game. Stanberry proceeded to march into the end zone on a two yard run by Schieber with 6:08 left; Stoll's sweep into the end zone made it 16-8.
Neither team could cross the end zone for the rest of the half, and Worth County had the ball to start the second half with a chance to tie. But nobody blocked on the kickoff and Tevin Cameron fumbled the ball on his own 13, and all hell broke loose in the second half. Stanberry used the short field to score behind Luke's 1 yard sneak with 9:47 left. Once again, Stanberry's linebackers were swarming around Worth County's backs like their line was not there and they were forced to punt. On the ensuing possession, Schieber ripped off 30 yards; Brevyn Ross was hit hard twice on the play, was shaken up badly, and did not return. Clayton Stoll's 15 yard run put Stanberry up 30-8 with 7:23 left.
At that point, frustration set in for Worth County. Isaac Alarcon ripped off 23 yards into Stanberry territory and then got six more. But once again, the blocking disappeared and quarterback Ben Badell threw a pick to Brad Hailey, who returned it to the 30. Coach Chris Healy protested that one of the Stanberry players had grabbed the intended receiver on the jersey; the officials missed the call, but Healy only got a sideline warning for his troubles. This stretch was characterized by players not knowing their assignments and arguing with the coaches on the sideline.
Worth County got a stop thanks to Chris Alarcon's breakup of a pass intended for a much taller Alex McQuinn on fourth down, but Ben Badell threw his second pick in as many attempts and Cole Craig returned it to the Worth County 25. This time, Stanberry would not be denied as Schieber scored from 9 yards out and his final effort on the extra point try made it 38-8 with 1:10 left. Faced with the prospect of the game ending early, Worth County woke up from their stupor like they did at the North Andrew game, but they had too many breakdowns in the last quarter to have any chance of a comeback. Badell finally got untracked, throwing a long pass to Tevin Cameron, who had his best receiving night of the year; his 35-yarder down to the 10 set up Isaac Alarcon's 10 yard run with 50.8 seconds left in the third. But the tackling broke down on the next play as Schieber ripped off a long run that set up his one yard score with 18 seconds left and extra point run to make it 46-16.
A reverse to Isaac Alacon on the ensuing kickoff fooled nobody and he was buried on the 5. But then Nate Pointer ripped off his biggest run since coming back to Worth County and picked up 39 yards down the left sideline, taking on McQuinn for some extra yardage to the Bulldog 36. On the second play in the fourth quarter, Badell threw a long strike to Chris Alarcon, who beat the entire Stanberry defense for 36 yards with 11:23 left. Tevin Cameron's reverse made it 46-24. But Stanberry has always been one of those teams which has gotten stronger as the game progressed under Shane Hilton; a case in point was the next possession, in which Schieber was running wild as the tackling broke down on two different plays. Worth County had plenty of chances to get a stop thanks to two holding penalties. But the tackling broke down one too many times as Luke, on fourth down, cut back up the middle and slipped some tackles to score with 7:16 left to make it 52-24. Worth County scored its final tally with 2:54 left as Mason Hawk bobbled a pass, but gathered it in as he was being it for 12 yards, Isaac Alarcon ripped off 11 yards behind Hawk's blocking, and Ben Badell's spread draw picked up 19 yards for a score to make it 52-30. Schieber appeared headed for a breakaway score with a minute left, but reserve linebacker Max Giesken caught him from behind and wrestled him down to save a score.
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