Observers thought that the Tigers would go down early against East Atchison. The Maryville Forum predicted a 32-28 victory for the Wolves, which would have marked the first-ever eight man win for the Tarkio kids against Worth County, and the first for a Fairfax squad since 1994. The Wolves had led 20-18 against Stanberry with two minutes left in the game, only to throw a pick to the Bulldogs on the Stanberry 15. The next play, Stanberry completed a short pass and took it to the house to preserve their undefeated season. The Wolves had finished with impressive wins over Platte Valley to finish the season and a 72-0 decapitation of North/West Nodaway to start districts. It looked like everything was clicking for the Wolves.
Everything went according to plan for one play for East Atchison after Worth County took the opening drive on their own 15 following a touchback. Andrew Alarcon ran smack into a red wall for one yard. But then all of a sudden, Worth County ran the same play to Alarcon, he bounced to the outside, and took off down the left side of the field for 64 yards to the house to break the spell, and the rout was on. Caleb Parman followed a big line surge to make it 8-0 with 11:07 left.
Briacin Bywater fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Worth County recovered on the six, with Austin Welch recovering the loose carom. Caleb Parman took it to the house behind blocking from Andrew Alarcon and Bryant McCord. Parman took a power sweep down the right side for the extra points to make it 16-0 with less than two minutes into the game.
Worth County had their problems defending third and long and fourth and long against Stanberry, and sure enough, Jake McEnaney gashed the Tigers with a 26 yard scramble to the Tiger 22 on the next series on a third and seven as the tackling was non-existent. But then Worth County held as Gage McAdams was dropped for a loss of one after a short pass play, Jaxon Anderson hurried McEnaney into an incompletion, and Kaylin Merriweather got nowhere with a jet sweep as Worth County successfully protected the edge. Merriweather dropped a pass on fourth down and Worth County held.
On its first play from scrimmage. Worth County aired it out from Jacob New to Bryant McCord, who beat McAdams down to the 11. McAdams recovered and stripped McCord to give the Wolves the ball back there. But then Isaac Alarcon stripped one of the East Atchison backs and scored to put Worth County in front 22-0 with 7:42 left in the first quarter.
East Atchison buried themselves in bad field position at the 16 with a holding on the kickoff. Three scrambles by McEnaney only got five yards, and the Wolves lined up in punt formation. Kicker Gage McAdams, instead of punting, threw a quick shovel pass to Merriweather, but it fooled nobody and he ran into a black wall at the 21 and Worth County took over on downs. McAdams nearly made another play for East Atchison, picking off Jacob New in the back of the end zone, but he was out of bounds and Worth County got another chance. This time, they turned a power sweep by Caleb Parman into a score with 5:39 left and he ran in the extra points to make it 30-0.
This time, the long yardage gremlins that would haunt the Tigers against Stanberry came back to bite them; a pass interference put the ball on the Tiger 38. On third and 13 from the 39, McEnaney threw a strike over the middle to Kaylin Merriweather, whose catch and run brought it down to the nine. McEnaney was sacked by Colton Wilmes back to the 16, but then scrambled into the end zone on the next play to make it 30-6 with 3:22 left. Bryant McCord broke up the extra point pass.
East Atchison tried some more trickery as McAdams lofted an onsides kick high into the air in the hopes that someone not used to handling the ball would drop it. Dakota Auffert called for a fair catch, dropped it, but then fell on it to give Worth County good field position at the Wolves 39. Two carries by Caleb Parman picked up a first down to the 28, and Andrew Alarcon picked up 12 to the 16 behind a pull and block from Colton Wilmes. Two more carries by Alarcon netted 12 yards to the 4, but he was stopped for no gain on the next play. But then he broke free thanks to the blocking of Isaac Alarcon and took it to the house with 23.5 seconds left in the first and Worth County led 38-6 after Caleb Parman ran in the extra points behind the blocking of Colton Wilmes and Isaac Alarcon.
A bad snap and a sack from Colton Wilmes, his second of the night, forced East Atchison to punt again and Worth County took over on its own 32. Andrew Alarcon picked up three, and Caleb Parman picked up eight yards in two carries to the East Atchison 37 for a first down. Then, Caleb Parman bounced outside and got free as Isaac Alarcon took his man and drive-blocked him five yards down the field. Parman made it all the way down to the 13. Parman picked up nine more as Alarcon knocked his man down and got him free again. Then, Isaac took it the remaining four yards to the house with 8:49 left in the half to make it 46-6.
On the next possession, East Atchison aired it out to Gage McAdams for 45 yards down to the 10. But Worth County would make a goal line stand as Jaxon Anderson stopped a Wolves’ back with a WWE body slam on the next play. A delay penalty pushed it back to the 17, and a shovel pass fell to the ground, incomplete. East Atchison pulled off a successful screen pass from Jake McEnaney to Garrett Meyer down to the 3, but on fourth down, Bryant McCord broke up a pass intended for McAdams and the Tigers took over on downs at the 3.
Worth County was faced with third and six at their own 7, but Caleb Parman’s fumble bounded forward and Bryant McCord alertly fell on it at the 15 for a first down, prompting squawking from the Wolves’ sideline, but the play stood as the Tigers got new life. Andrew Alarcon then ripped off 10 to the 25, Caleb Parman picked up 18 to the Wolves’ 37 behind a Colton Wilmes block, and picked up 12 more behind a block from Isaac Alarcon to the East Atchison 25. Caleb then got loose for 16 more as he shot up the middle, got a block from Wilmes, and dragged a defender five yards to the East Atchison 9.
On the next play, Worth County lined up in its power formation with Parman taking a shotgun snap, and the East Atchison coach told his players he probably wasn’t going to pass it on that play. But Parman took two steps forward like he was going to run, pulled back, and threw a strike to Bryant McCord for six to make it 52-6 with 4:47 left.
But the tackling was non-existent on the next play as Briacin Bywater took it to the Tiger four. Three plays later, he was in the end zone from the one with 3:17 left to make it 52-14.
Andrew Alarcon took an option pitch seven yards to the East Atchison 39 and then Caleb Parman muscled his way for a first down to the 32. Worth County was backed up third and 13 at the 35, but then Caleb Parman got the right edge, broke tackle after tackle, and dragged a defender the last ten yards into the end zone with 1:33 left to make it 58-14.
Worth County elected to kick it short to prevent another long runback, and it worked out as Bryant McCord pounced on it at the Wolves 38. Andrew Alarcon picked up seven yards through good second effort to the 31 and then Worth County lined up in its power formation again. This time, Caleb Parman picked up a block from Dakota Auffert and took it to the house with 49 seconds left and Andrew Alarcon’s blast up the middle made it 66-14. Colton Wilmes did a WWE body slam on McEnaney in the closing seconds for good measure.
Worth County racked up 331 yards on the ground and another 51 in the air for a total of 382 yards. Caleb Parman got 16 carries for 202 yards, breaking the 200 yard barrier. He is over 1,400 yards for the year. Andrew Alarcon had 13 carries for a career high 125 yards; he has been coming on strong the last two games, getting over 80 against Stanberry. He is now over 500 for the year.
Defensively, Colton Wilmes had 9 tackles. Jaxon Anderson had 7, Andrew Alarcon 6, Caleb Parman and Austin Welch 3, Reed McIntyre and Isaac Alarcon 2, and Bryant McCord and Jeremy Wimer 1.
On Friday, Worth County will go down to Stanberry for a rematch with the Bulldogs at 7 pm. Stanberry and Rock Port played a tough battle for the first half, with Stanberry leading a 58-36 shootout. But Stanberry typically finishes off games strongly and shut down the Blue Jays, pulling away for the 84-44 victory. Pattonsburg won handily, 66-12 over North Shelby. King City, which went to the Final Four each of the last two years, saw their season come to an early end against Southwest Livingston.
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