Any Democrat who claimed that Obama was playing 9-dimensional chess while his opponents were playing checkers obviously doesn't know about North Andrew coach Jonathan Schoonover. The Cardinal skipper and Mound City alum has established himself as one of the most colorful coaches in the area now that Dan Collins is no longer with Stanberry. There are some parallels between Schoonover's team that won back to back state titles and Dan Collins' Bulldog team that won it in 2012. Back in 2012, Trevor B. Johnson went down with a season-ending injury for Collins' squad, seeming ending their hopes for a title that year. But it only galvanized them to get over the hump that year; one game, they even brought him out on the field when the team was in the kneel-down stage in order to put him in the spotlight one last time.
Now, North Andrew is on a similar mission, trying to win a third straight title for Christian Patterson, a prize offensive and defensive lineman who suffered a season-ending injury earlier this year. But that did not stop Schoonover's Cardinals; it only seemed to stiffen their resolve to capture a trifecta. Even in street clothes, Patterson remained a force, whipping his teammates into a frenzy. Sporting a glare similar to Drago, Rocky's final antagonist, he even took one of the linemen aside and demonstrated technique after he was flagged for a penalty.
The Cardinals were simply the better team Friday night. They were bigger and quicker than Worth County. The Tigers have improved greatly from last year, given that they showed the ability to play a full game with them. But they made too many mistakes and passed up a chance to get back in the game in the fourth quarter. They will have to get things figured out in a hurry as they play Stanberry this Friday at home. Stanberry played their most complete game of the year, disposing of Albany in the third quarter 58-12.
The first such mistake came on their opening drive after Gunner Hughes' 23 yard power sweep set up North Andrew's first score, a Hughes pass to Mitchell Officer with 9:34 left and another pass to Officer for the extra point that made it 8-0. One of the Worth County players, who was 15 yards away from the play, grabbed a Cardinal player on the jersey right in front of the official, which wiped out Brevyn Ross' first down run; later, Worth County was forced to punt.
Mitchell Officer ran back the ensuing punt for a score, but Zach Atkins tackled Brevyn Ross on the play. The ensuing flag drew the ire of Schoonover, to no avail, which pinned North Andrew back on their own 5. This was a critical sequence; had Worth County held, they had every right to get the ball back in good field position with a chance to tie. Dalton Auffert had a sack wiped out when he grabbed Hughes' facemask for a five yard penalty. Tristan Miller's shoestring tackle on Hughes that saved a long run made it third and five at the 10. Then, the refs threw a flag for Delay of Game on North Andrew; Schoonover, whose staff keeps time on offensive possessions, claimed they only took 23 seconds while the timekeeping official said he gave them an extra second. But the officials ruled he had called timeout before the penalty.
Then, they had to replay the down again when Hughes dragged a pile all the way from the 10 to the 23, but the officials flagged the Cardinals for helping him forward. The Duck Dynasty crew of officials did not appreciate Schoonover's repeated attempts to talk them into penalties, whistling North Andrew for 21 penalties for the night. Finally, Worth County gave Deryk Goff too much cushion on a short pass, and his catch and run picked up a first down to the 23. Despite Schoonover contending in vain that Worth County's corners were holding his receivers, Hughes completed a 27-yard pass to the Tiger 23 to get out of a false start penalty. That set up a direct snap to Officer for a 5-yard score with 11:14 left in the second quarter to make it 14-0. Tevin Cameron got a sack on the extra point to deny the Cardinals.
North Andrew rung Tevin's bell on the ensuing kickoff, and it was Worth County's turn to be upset at the officials as they declined to throw a flag for a late hit after a long huddle. A 15-yard facemask on North Andrew moved it up to the 40, but a block in the back wiped out a first down run by Isaac Alarcon and a fake punt and direct snap to Alarcon was three yards short of the first down at the 33. Mitchell Officer broke a long one for a score, but it was called back to the Tiger 33 due to another block in the back penalty, despite Schoonover's protests.
Schoonover's Cardinals were backed up by a holding penalty back to their own 37, but a late hit on Tevin Cameron made it second and five following an incomplete pass as Schoonover unsuccessfully lobbied for his ejection. The hit would have been legal two years ago, but with the recent emphasis in the last two years on defenseless players, the flag was thrown. A false start moved it back to the 31, but then Worth County suffered a defensive breakdown. A hook and ladder play to Officer went for a score as nobody covered him, meaning that North Andrew was up 20-0 with 6:43. It was the second time in three weeks that Worth County was victimized by the hook and ladder.
This was when the Worth County players started hanging their heads, as the ensuing squib kick caromed off a Tiger player and a Cardinal player all the way back to the Cardinal 26, where it was recovered by the red shirts. Still hung over, they got no pressure on Hughes, who aired out a 54-yard strike to Officer to make it 26-0 with 6:30 left. Frustration set in for Worth County as they picked up a late hit after the successful extra point, which meant that instead of taking the ball on the 25 after North Andrew kicked it out of bounds, they had to take it on the 10. But they recovered from their hangover at that point after going three and out, stopping North Andrew for the first time all night after they had driven to the Tiger 8. A delay of game penalty by North Andrew (one of many they had), a sack by Tevin Cameron, and a pick by Ryan McClellan in the closing seconds denied the Cardinals another score and a chance to end the game early.
It looked like North Andrew would end it early anyway at the start of the second half. Following a blocked punt, they used the short field to score when Hughes scored from two yards out to make it 34-0, Worth County promptly turned the ball over when Ben Badell threw a strike to Officer, who returned it to the Tiger 30. But then a facemask penalty killed North Andrew's drive, and they were forced to punt for the first time all night. Worth County finally got on the board when Mitchell Officer gambled for a pick, missed it by five yards, and nobody was there to tackle Isaac Alarcon, whose 61 yard pass from Badell broke the shutout with 6:23 left in the third. Brevyn Ross ran in the extra points to make it 36-8.
The two halves showed the kind of schedule the two teams were playing. Worth County, who has played a tougher schedule than North Andrew, did better in the second half; the Cardinals, who have played the likes of Pattonsburg and Chilhowee, have played much easier teams after playing St. Joseph Christian and Sacred Heart earlier in the year. Worth County was more used to going a full game than North Andrew was, which prompted one of the Tiger players to declare that the Cardinal players were getting tired. This, of course, led to the North Andrew players claiming that practice was harder than this. This reflects the kind of philosophy Schoonover preaches -- make sure the games are easier for the players than practices are.
The first half, by contrast, showed the kind of game Schoonover imposes -- enemy coaches can throw scouting reports and film out the window as he puts together new schemes every week that nobody has seen before. That means that they are one of the most difficult teams to prepare for and it showed in the first half. By the second half, Worth County was able to adjust and they were able to play a more competitive game.
North Andrew was faced with a third and three at the Tiger 37, and everyone knew that the next play was going to Hughes on a power keeper. But it didn't matter as he scrambled 14 yards to the 23 to set up North Andrew's next score, a pass from Hughes to Officer to make it 42-8. That play showed the kind of dominance that the Cardinals brought to the field; even when you know what the play is, you can't stop it. In order to be more competitive against Stanberry this Friday and in a possible rematch with North Andrew, Worth County will have to not let the other team impose their will on the field.
Coach Chris Healy put Brevyn Ross up as an upman instead of the back man; despite Schoonover's explicit instructions to kicker Spencer Kuykendall not to kick it to Brevyn, he did so, and Brevyn ran back the ensuing kick for a score to make it 42-14. North Andrew countered immediately when they spread it out and Zach Atkins ran a spread draw for a score with 2:35 left to make it 48-14. This time, North Andrew kicked it away from Brevyn, but Tevin Cameron returned it to the Cardinal 38. He then caught a bubble screen down to the 25 for a first down. Ben Badell got a block from Tristan Miller for 14 yards on a keeper down to the six. Worth County was faced with fourth and goal there early in the fourth, but Badell led Brevyn Ross perfectly when he motioned in and hooked out to the right corner of the end zone to make it 48-20.
North Andrew came marching down the field again as Brent Windsor caught a pass over the middle down to the 15. But they stalled as Nate Pointer covered the first pass perfectly. Dalton Auffert hurried Hughes into dumping off a short pass to Windsor, who was dropped back to the 16. Another pass was too far and a holding penalty wiped out a Hughes touchdown run back to the 16 as Officer grabbed a Tiger defender who was trying to make a play on him. Dylan Mildfeldt then broke up a pass intended for Officer in the end zone on fourth down and Worth County got the ball back on their own 16. Brevyn Ross then took a handoff up the middle, got a block from Jacob Hardy, bounced outside, and took it to the house for 64 yards as he found rare daylight to cut Worth County's deficit to 48-26 with 8:19 left despite Schoonover unsuccessfully lobbying for a holding penalty.
With North Andrew having the ball at their own 31, Worth County could have made things interesting had they made another stop. But then the next two plays showed why North Andrew was the better team. Gunner Hughes went out on a sweep and five different Tiger players had a shot at him, but they arm-tackled him instead of wrapping up; thanks to poor tackling, he ripped off a 40 yarder to the Tiger 9. Then, North Andrew called a play that looked like an option. The object of defensive backs is to cover receivers no matter what; however, nobody accounted for Mitchell Officer even though he was one of North Andrew's main receivers all night long. Hughes pulled up before he crossed the line of scrimmage and threw a strike to Officer, who was in the back of the end zone with nobody within 10 yards of him to make it 54-26. The demoralized Tigers had a bad snap on fourth down and a fumble that set up two more Cardinal scores in the closing minutes to make it 66-26.
With Schoonover's alma mater, Mound City, falling hard in Burlington Junction to a resurgent North-West Nodaway squad in halftime, he has a good argument to make that North Andrew is now God's country. In any event, he brought both teams together for a prayer afterwards following the handshake like they have done in Mound City for almost 20 years. Worth County, Stanberry, and Southwest Livingston have a month and a half to get things figured out in order to deny them a chance at a threepeat. The fact that they were the better team Friday night doesn't necessarily mean that they will be the better team if the two teams meet again in the playoffs.
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