Dust Settles After Chaotic Two Weeks with Stanberry, North Andrew Still on Top

After a chaotic two weeks of football in which conferences realigned and there were rain delays and reschedulings galore, some semblance of normalcy returned to the eight man scene Friday night. But one thing hadn’t changed – Stanberry and North Andrew were still at the top of the heap. Worth County started off at the number two slot of the Missouri Eight Man Coaches Association rankings before they crashed and burned on week one 42-30 to South/Nodaway-Holt.

But the two teams are not without their challengers. Josh Peterson’s Spartans have an experienced backfield and two 6’4” receivers along with Zach Walker, a force on both sides of the ball. St. Joseph Christian, supposedly playing the numbers game and rebuilding, threw a scare into North Andrew before falling 30-12 in week two. King City rode Drevin Breckenridge’s back, scored first on Stanberry, and trailed 20-14 at halftime in their effort to crash Stanberry’s homecoming before Stanberry tacked on two insurance scores and were able to do the W! W! W! Chant again. Wade Rush complimented last year’s wrecking ball Isaac Alarcon and will be a force in future games while new signalcaller Cade Allee is becoming a force as Coach Chris Healy seeks to replace Ben Badell.

The conferences have realigned, with Worth County, North Andrew, Stanberry, Christian, Pattonsburg, Braymer, King City, and Albany all joining the GRC for a new eight man division. The Platte Valley and 275 merged, with South/Nodaway-Holt being one of the favorites. Mound City, which had fallen on hard times the past two years after being a perennial powerhouse, looks to be back in the thick of things this year with a 3-0 start, and Rock Port, which switched schemes in mid-season and went from a running to a passing team last year, also jumped out to a 3-0 start.
Southwest Livingston, which had been a powerhouse team the last few years, looked to challenge the Spartans. Coached by former Northeast Nodaway basketball coach Eric Fairchild, they scored first on the Spartans in week two, only to crash and burn 63-16. However, they have gotten off to a strong start otherwise.

#1 Stanberry 36, #8 King City 14 – King City and Stanberry’s players were chippy at the preseason scrimmage at Worth County and King City sought to crash Stanberry’s homecoming despite having been lit up by North Andrew 48-0 in week one. All they did was spread the field and let Drevin Breckinridge pick his holes to the tune of 122 first half yards. They scored first and they were still within striking distance at 20-14 at the half. But Stanberry clamped down with their stout defense and tacked on two more insurance scores to come away with the win, holding Breckinridge to 21 yards in the second half. Cory Luke ran 8 times for 115 yards for Stanberry.

#2 North Andrew 72, Pattonsburg 6 – Schoonover’s Cardinals had little trouble disposing of Pattonsburg in this GRC tilt.

#3 South/Nodaway Holt 58, East Atchison 0 – The Wolves have receiver Gage McAdams, but are still looking for someone to throw him the ball. Josh Petersen’s huge beard continues to grow and his Spartans had little trouble disposing of the Wolves in this halftime game. Brody Day had a 35 yard score, Zach Walker had a 43-yard score, Alan Ottman had 5 completions in 10 attempts for 118 yards, and Westyn Williams had one catch for 44 yards.

#4 Rock Port 64, Stewartsville 8 – Stewartsville had a promising 275 debut, beating North-West Nodaway 28-26. But then they had to travel to Mound City and Rock Port.

#5 St. Joseph Christian – bye

#6 Worth County 84, Braymer 6 – The question was, how would the Tigers and the other powerhouse teams of eight man football respond to the influx of new teams coming in from 11 man ranks? Worth County responded with resounding victories over North Shelby and Braymer. It was the first time in school history they had scored 80+ points in back to back contests. Unlike the 275, which requires schools to call games at halftime, the GRC allows the losing team to play on, which Braymer elected to do. North Shelby elected to play on in the non-conference game last week.

#7 Mound City 84, Albany 36 – Mound City is back on the prowl after having fallen on hard times the last two years. But Albany hung tough with the Panthers for a while and they have the size on the line to present problems for the Tigers this Friday in Albany.

#9 Southwest Livingston 64, DeKalb 0 – The one-time powerhouse of the Platte Valley, DeKalb, has fallen on hard times after showing some life last year. Eric Fairchild’s squad had little trouble disposing of them in this halftime game.

#10 Greenfield 13, Chilhowee 0 – Greenfield fell hard to Worth County, but then got back off the deck, won four games over the course of the season, and then threw a scare into Rock Port before losing by two scores last year. Now, they have won their first two games of this year.

Next week, Worth County travels to Albany for its first road test against its archrival. Stanberry travels to St. Joseph Christian as the Lions will seek to prove that their strong showing against North Andrew was no accident. Southwest Livingston could make things interesting against visiting Mound City. Stewartsville and Braymer will try to get off the deck after tough losses. King City hosts Pattonsburg.