Anyone who thought that Worth County would go away following their state title last year was sorely disappointed. The Tigers return plenty of their horses for this year’s campaign and showed they had lost little as they ran the table again during their jamboree.
Tigers 24, Albany 0
Albany had 24 players listed on their roster, but they were badly shorthanded (flu), only bringing nine of them to the jamboree Friday. They struggled to put anything together; they got a promising drive going against King City, only for the Wildkats to scoop one up and score to reverse the momentum. That was the closest they would come to scoring all night.
Each team started by running 12 straight plays. On a fumble recovery, the offense would start over again at their own 20. Each team, by agreement, ran four plays with their JV and eight with their starters.
Albany’s starters got a couple of good gainers, a short pass from Tryce Floyd to Kaeden Hutchinson that went for 5 and a pitchout to Dawson Butterfield that went for 8. Other than that, they could do little against the Tiger first string, which held like a brick wall. Caleb Parman had a tackle for a loss, while Colton Wilmes dropped Tryce Floyd on another play. For the reserves, Austin Welch and Jackson Runde each had tackles for loss.
For the Tiger offense, Jacob New aired one out to Bryant McCord for 60 yards for a strike. Then, Caleb Parman took a direct snap as Worth County had an unbalanced line to the right and took off against the grain down the left side to score again on its second play. Isaac Alarcon rumbled for 14, breaking tackle after tackle to get the Tigers going and Andrew Alarcon followed with a 35 yard pass play from New to take it to the 11. Worth County overcame an illegal shift penalty as Bryant McCord took a jet sweep to the 7. An incomplete pass went too far, but Andrew Alarcon scored to make it 18-0.
The reserves tacked on another tally for Worth County as Alex Rinehart picked up six, Aydan Gladstone showed some muscle as he bulldozed his way to the 39 for 13, and then threw a long pass to Alex Rinehart for 41 yards. Aydan ripped off another 42 yards on a misdirection for the Tiger offense.
Tigers 12, Stanberry 6
All eyes were on Worth County’s second battle, as Stanberry returns some horses for this year. Trey Schieber, one of the leading runningbacks in eight man football, is back for Stanberry and tougher to tackle than ever. Cole Durbin, who emerged as a threat to break away for Stanberry, returns to the quarterback slot, while Zack Oldham and Rueben Gage can also pack a punch and gain yards in chunks. Dustin Jensen, only a sophomore, will likely be one of the biggest hitters the Tigers will have to face this year.
But Worth County held their own against Stanberry, with the exception of a couple of plays. Durbin cut one upfield for a long touchdown of 51 yards, while Kameron Wallace caught a pass for 17 yards that put Stanberry in a position to score again. But Colton Wilmes proved his mettle on defense for Worth County, shadowing Schieber all night and tackling him repeatedly. There was a heartstopping moment on the final play for Stanberry, as Collin Sager came open on a long pass that had six written all over it. But it was too far for him, and Worth County had their turn.
On their second play from scrimmage, Worth County got the score back as Aydan Gladstone dropped back to pass. Dustin Jensen came through untouched and had a clear shot at Gladstone, but he somehow had the presence of mind to get it away just before getting a vicious hit from Jensen as Alex Rinehart got behind the defense for a score to tie it up at 6-6.
Rinehart ripped off a 10 yarder for the reserves to put the varsity in a position to win it at the 38. Caleb Parman got a block from Jacob New and got loose down to the Stanberry 26. He only got one on the next play, but the Tigers spread it out to Parman on the next play. He faked to Bryant McCord down the left, then cut it down the right side. Parman cut back down the left side, got a block from Colton Wilmes, and sprung free for the 25 yard score to make it 12-6.
Tigers 12, King City 0
King City had 20 players listed on their roster, but like Albany, they were shorthanded and only brought 15. Nonetheless, they were not bad despite their numbers; they moved the ball on Stanberry even though they didn’t score. And they were able to hold the Stanberry juggernaut for most of the scrimmage, except for one play where King City seemingly had Trey Schieber stopped for a short game and stopped before the whistle, allowing him to spring loose for a long score. Senior quarterback Collin Breckinridge will be one of the top quarterbacks that Worth County will face this year; he had some highlight-film plays against Albany. King City has developed a pair of formidable receivers in Kagen Barnett and Hunter Abney to go with him.
But King City could do little against Worth County, which had grounded some of the top passing attacks in the league last year in North Andrew (twice), Pattonsburg, and Sacred Heart. Caleb Parman swarmed Breckenridge for a sack after their first play, when he bobbled a snap. A bad snap led to another sack as Jaxon Anderson got free; he is one of Worth County’s most improved players from last year, coming in from his end spot. For the reserves, Josh Freed broke up a pass while Reid Gabriel and Jeremy Wimer, the littlest guy on the team, had tackles for loss.
King City put up a good fight, but couldn’t keep Worth County out of the end zone. A long pass into the wind from Jacob New to Bryant McCord got the Tigers 32 yards down to the King City 20; Caleb Parman weaved his way for 17 more down to the 3. Parman was stopped short at the 1 and then Andrew Alarcon couldn’t get in. But Parman finally got in to put Worth County up 6-0.
Worth County had used up seven of their 12 plays, but a 12 yard scramble by Jacob New put the reserves in position to score again, which they did. Worth County pitched it out to Alex Rinehart down the left side; it was called back for holding to the 22. But Worth County simply pitched it to him down the right side, and he got loose again as he started off down the right side and cut to the left to make it 12-0.
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