Worth County will face a stiff test Friday at 7:00 after enjoying a week off; they will face North-West Nodaway in the first round. The Muskets drew the #4 seed despite having beaten the #2 seed, Greenfield easily earlier in the year. Another seeding that left observers scratching their heads was Rock Port also being seeded behind Greenfield, dropping to the third slot after getting lit up by Hardin-Central Friday. Worth County will have the advantage of being rested.
The Tigers played their best game of the year against North-West earlier in the year, winning 58-12 in a game ended in the third quarter. Brevyn Ross ripped off nearly 300 yards in that game and Worth County answered questions about their defense by shutting down North-West's vaunted passing attack by holding them to 78 yards in a performance reminiscent of the 1981 team that shut out five in a row or the 1956 team which beat Maryville handily.
But that game lies in the past; Andrew Webster has diversified his game plan in the weeks after that loss. He first broke out the running game against Albany after falling behind 40-22; the Muskets forced overtime and lost 62-60 against the 7-2 Warriors. The 106-57 loss to Nodaway-South Holt turned out to be an aberration; the Muskets bounced right back like that game never happened and beat East Atchison 79-22 Friday after the Wolves had appeared to have momentum after putting up 32 against Worth County. Against East Atchison, North-West ran the ball 30 times and passed 31 times, getting more rushing yards (304) than passing yards (224). But the passing game is still there; that is the whole point. In Andrew Webster's world, he uses the pass to set up the run rather than the other way around. That is similar to June Jones' Hawaii teams which won a lot of games and rewrote the record books along the way.
Coach Webster is not afraid to rely on the pass; he once attempted 88 passes against Polo when he was the head coach of Tarkio and the Indians were still playing 11-man football. He attempted 92 against Rock Port in an 88-70 loss earlier this year. In his first year coaching 8-man, still guiding the helm at Tarkio, he guided the Indians to an 8-4 record and a playoff appearance behind a 6'6" receiver. But he has also gone to the other extreme; last year, after pass protection had broken down repeatedly in a 36-18 loss to Rock Port, he relied exclusively on the run in a 42-20 win over East Atchison. The Muskets will spread out the field, run no huddle, and take whatever the defense will give them. The line has gotten much better at protecting Koby Reynolds; the Wolves did not get a single sack and Reynolds was able to scramble out of trouble any time he was under pressure. He is one of the most difficult men in the area to tackle.
After ripping off a 67-yard run against East Atchison, Dakota Smyser has emerged as a threat to run as well as catch the ball. He would start as runningback on a lot of other teams; he has speed and he can stiffarm people. The Muskets ran a lot of misdirection, jet sweeps, and a quick hitter similar to the play Worth County uses to spring Isaac Alarcon free for a big gain.
For Worth County, stopping the run after the catch will be key. Reynolds is not afraid to throw deep several times; he completed a long one to Smyser Friday night. But usually, the Muskets will throw short passes, get their guy the ball in the open field, and rely on their ability to run after the catch. Jakob Cordell is one of the physically strongest men on the field in the area; he can drag defenders 10 yards after they latch on to him or else shake them off like they're not there at all. Worth County held him to two catches earlier in the year; if he gets loose, they will be in for a long night defensively.
On the other side of the ball, Worth County rode the back of Brevyn Ross to reestablish itself as one of the top teams in the area. He is now at nearly 1,300 yards for the year. He ran wild against North-West Nodaway, getting nearly 300 against them. But they have diversified their game as well. Isaac Alacron has emerged as another threat to run with the ball as well. Ben Badell can go deep with his passing game; he can also run with the ball, picking up 115 against East Atchison two weeks ago. Chris Alarcon is his top receiving threat. North-West will have to do better in the trenches if they are to slow down Worth County; in the first game, they would stack eight players in the box and still get driven back five yards.
Worth County is fourth in eight man football with 59.1 points per game; North-West is right behind them at sixth with 57. The other side of the ball has been the big difference; Worth County is sixth in defense with 30.2 points allowed while North-West Nodaway is the fifth from the bottom at 59.1 points allowed per game. Koby Reynolds has completed 273 passes in 432 attempts for 3,677 yards, around three times that of his nearest rival. However, Ben Badell averages nearly 30 yards per completion, over a third of the length of the field. He has completed 24 passes in 52 attempts for 621 yards. Brevyn Ross is third in eight man football with 1,290 yards in 127 attempts, over 10 yards per carry. For North-West Nodaway, Jakob Cordell has 88 catches for 1,351 yards, tops in eight man football. Dakota Smyser is 2nd with 55 catches for 978 yards. Daytona Lutz has 59 catches for 599 yards. Jakob Cordell is 2nd in sacks with 11 for North-West Nodaway while Blake Farnan is 4th with 7.5 and Ben Hart is 6th with 6. Cordell has 196 tackles to lead the Muskets, 2nd in eight man football. For Worth County, Tevin Cameron has 103 tackles (6th) and Tristan Miller has 87 (10th). Tevin will likely move up the ranks as he had 24 against Stanberry. These stats do not include Friday's games.
Depending on how districts are assigned, this could be the last game in a while between the two schools. Worth County is moving to the Grand River Conference next year to play St. Joseph Christian, North Andrew, Stanberry, King City, Braymer, Pattonsburg, and Albany in the eight man division of the conference. North-West Nodaway will play in the merged Highway 275 Conference; Stewartsville, DeKalb, and South Nodaway will join from the Platte Valley Conference.
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