Saturday, October 20, 2018

Tigers Give Up Too Many Big Plays, Fall to Stanberry 30-22

Worth County gave up too many big plays to Stanberry and fell to the Bulldogs 30-22 Friday. That meant Stanberry clinched the GRC Title outright, Pattonsburg finished second with one loss, and Worth County fell to third with two conference losses. For districts, Worth County fell to the second spot in districts.

The Tigers face a bye in the first week and host the winner of East Atchison and North/West Nodaway, which will take place Friday. Stanberry will play the winner of Albany/Rock Port. Should Worth County win and Stanberry win, Worth County would travel to Stanberry again for the District Finals. Should Worth County get past districts, they would likely host a Sectional game, since they would have fewer home games.

Defensively, Worth County frequently got Stanberry into long yardage situations. But time and time again, Stanberry would gash them with big plays to escape them. On the offensive side of the ball, Worth County couldn’t block Trey Scheiber, Zack and Sam Oldham, or Hunter Johnson at key moments.

Everything started off well for Worth County as the Bulldogs attempted a play action pass that fooled nobody and Worth County got a sack instead. Stanberry went three and out, but Worth County fumbled the ball away on the 19 as nobody was on the same page during that series. Worth County had a chance to escape the miscue as Stanberry was faced with fourth and eight at the Tiger 17, but then Cole Durbin aired it out to Kameron Wallace for a score to make it 6-0 for the first of many third and long and fourth and long conversions for Stanberry.

Worth County nearly stalled on their own 37, but a pass interference gave them new life on the 28. On the next play, Andrew Alarcon took an option down the right side and outran everyone for a score with 5 minutes left. But Worth County failed to block Trey Scheiber on the extra point try and he tackled Caleb Parman just short of the goal line to keep it at 6-6.

After the two teams exchanged punts, Stanberry went to their double wing and Durbin, who had gashed the Tigers in the playoff game last year and in the preseason game, did so again with a 27 yard keeper right up the middle as everyone was selling out to stop the sweeps from Trey Scheiber and nobody was left to cover the middle. That put the ball on the Tiger 18. Once again, Worth County nearly got out of the mess, thanks to a bad snap and a hard tackle by Colton Wilmes on Durbin after Stanberry got as deep as the five. But once again, Stanberry converted, this time a fourth and goal at the 14 as Cole Durbin threw a strike to Brian Medina over the middle and he took it in with 11:07 left to make it 12-6.

Worth County came right back to take the lead; they were faced with third and eight at their own 26, when Caleb Parman, lined up at quarterback, faked a run up the middle. The entire Stanberry team sold out to stop the run, only for Parman to pull back and air it out to an unguarded Andrew Alarcon for 54 yards with 9:32 left to score. Parman followed the blocking of Isaac Alarcon to make it 14-12.
Once again, Worth County could not hold on fourth down as Schieber nearly broke one as Stanberry gambled on its own 31 on fourth and two. Somehow, Bryant McCord was able to bring him down, or he would have taken it to the house. Once again, Stanberry converted a long yardage situation as Durbin converted a third and eight at the 32, taking it eight yards to the 24. But this time, Worth County held on downs at the 25 as Stanberry got a false start, then tried to air it out on fourth and 11. The Stanberry coaches were demanding a push in the back, but the flag was not thrown and Worth County held on downs.

But Worth County fumbled the ball right back to Stanberry at the 39 with 1:41 left. Once again, Worth County could not hold in long yardage situations as Cole Durbin aired it out to Rueben Gage for 21 yards to the 16 as he slipped out of a couple of tackles and went from the sideline to the middle, where nobody was home. From there, Durbin gashed the Tigers for carries of 9 and 6 for a score with just 18 seconds left to make it 18-14.

Worth County swung the momentum back in their favor in the third quarter; after Caleb Parman was shaken up during a punt when he tripped and fell on the muddy turf, the team rallied and held Stanberry to three and out thanks to a bad snap. Parman came back in and burst to the outside to pick up 35 yards to the Stanberry 34. Andrew Alarcon bounced to the outside for 14 more to the 20 and Worth County went against the grain with a sweep to the right on a play designed to go left as Alarcon got loose again to score with 5:46 left to put Worth County back on top. Caleb Parman ran in the extra points to make it 22-18.

Both sides exchanged punts as Justin Dye dropped Durbin for a one yard loss and Austin Welch stopped him again before Andrew Alarcon broke up a throwback pass across the field. But Worth County got stopped by a false start after Caleb Parman got a first down run to the 31 and punted it back.

But once again, Worth County was gashed by a big play as Cole Durbin took an option run 55 yards into Tiger territory at the 10. Once again, Worth County nearly got out of it, but with fourth and goal at the 10, Stanberry slipped Trey Scheiber out of the backfield and nobody guarded him on the pass play as he took the pass from Durbin to give his team the lead again at 24-22.

Stanberry nearly made it two possessions as Worth County got a first down, but was forced to punt. The kick went into the wind, and Schieber returned it to the Worth County 36. Once again, Worth County gave up a big play and once again, they could not contain Durbin, who found a hole and cut it up for a score with 7:20 left. But Worth County kept it at one possession when they tackled Scheiber just short of the goal line to keep it at 30-22.

Another shanked punt that landed at the Tiger 31 nearly let Stanberry put it away, but Worth County held on downs at the 25 to give themselves a final chance with 4:03 left. They were faced with third and eight at the 27, but they aired it out to Andrew Alarcon for 33 yards to the Stanberry 20 with 2:59 left. But then three cracks with the ball all ran into Scheiber and Stanberry got a sack to end it.

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