Tigers Going Back to State, Play Mound City Saturday

Worth County beat Pattonsburg 56-0 and will go back to state and rekindle one of the best rivalries in eight man football when they face Mound City Saturday at 2 pm at Faurot Field. They completed their revenge tour, getting a 32-20 win over Stanberry the week before to punch a return ticket home to face the Panthers. For Pattonsburg, which ends their season at 10-2, it was a disappointing end to their best season ever. They got their first winning season ever, their first district title, and will return as a favorite to compete for state next year.

But the single season passing record of Kobe Reynolds, at 4,339 yards, remains intact. Worth County played lockdown defense for the entire game, bringing safety help on Cameron Jones and daring Pattonsburg to beat them with their other receivers. Worth County simplified its pass rush scheme and shut down the running lanes that Steven Willhite gashed the Tigers with in the first meeting, getting 149 yards. They put much more pressure on Willhite than before, forcing one errant throw after another.

On the other side of the ball, Worth County simply lined up Isaac Alarcon at the point of attack, and Isaac played like one possessed, getting a good drive block on nearly every single play. Andrew Alarcon had one knockdown block and was also blocking at the point of attack. The line was blocking well and moving people out of holes. Defensively, Isaac Alarcon got his fourth defensive score of the year, and the Tigers picked off Willhite, his first pick since September. They blocked two punts and had short fields all day to work with.

The game was played in the cold and driving snow; the temperature was 32 degrees at gametime and fell throughout the day. The wind was howling out of the north. Worth County thrived in those conditions last week against Stanberry, and they thrived against them Saturday against Pattonsburg.
Pattonsburg won the toss and elected to receive the ball and go into the howling north wind. The kickoff was fumbled by Logan Huitt, who was buried at the 8 by Austin Welch. Willhite tried a draw play, which went nowhere, and he fumbled it, prompting an angry timeout from Pattonsburg Coach Chase Roberts. Willhite tried to throw over the middle, but nobody was home as Austin Welch put him under a heavy rush. And then another draw went nowhere and the Panthers were forced to punt. The punt snap was bobbled, and Isaac Alarcon dropped Willhite in the end zone for a safety with 10:43 left in the first to put Worth County up 2-0.

Pattonsburg tried an onsides kick, but Worth County was ready for it and covered it at the Panther 28. They took advantage of one of many short fields and Caleb Parman took a power sweep 11 yards to the 17. Caleb only got three on his next play to the 14, but then Parman got the edge on the next play and got blocks from Isaac and Andrew Alarcon to get into the end zone with 9:36 left. Andrew Alarcon went off left center and Isaac Alarcon sprung him loose into the end zone to put Worth County up 10-0.

There was a heartstopping moment on the next series after Pattonsburg went three and out. The punt apparently bounced off a black shirt and one of Pattonsburg’s players scooped it up and scored, which would have cut Worth County’s lead to 10-6 or 10-8. But the referees called it back to the Panther 39 and gave Worth County the ball back; apparently, the ball had touched a Panther first, which would have blown the play dead.

It only took Worth County two plays to create a 14-point swing and put the momentum permanently in their favor. Andrew Alarcon got a block from Isaac and took it 19 yards down to the 20, and then Caleb Parman found daylight on a cutback run with 7:57 left to put Worth County on the board. Caleb got blocks from Isaac Alarcon and Bryant McCord to run in the extra points to make it 18-0.

Pattonsburg finally got its first first down thanks to a pass interference that put the ball on the Tiger 38. But then Caleb Parman picked Willhite a few plays later and ran it back to the Panther 37. It was Willhite’s first pick since September, when Pattonsburg was playing Norborne/Hardin-Central.

Bryant McCord took an option pitch and motored down to the 25 for 13 yards, and two more plays netted nine yards to the Panther 16. Worth County went to their power sweep, and Isaac Alarcon’s block set Caleb Parman free and Dakota Auffert motored down the field and threw the final block to get him into the end zone. Caleb Parman got blocks from Colton Wilmes and Bryant McCord to get in the extra points with 3:38 left.

Steven Willhite finally found some daylight and got eight yards on the ground to set up a manageable third and two at the 23. But a pass sailed over everyone’s head and Willhite bobbled the fourth down snap. He picked it up and ran with it, but ran into a black wall and was stopped one yard short of the first down at the 24. Caleb Parman took the snap, got a block from Andrew Alarcon, and got good second effort to drag green jerseys to the 14. He nearly fumbled it, but was ruled down before the fumble. Some more second effort by Parman put the ball on the six. Pattonsburg tried to make a stand as Connor Ireland dropped Andrew Alarcon for no gain and Patrick Cowley stopped Bryant McCord one yard short to set up fourth and one at the 5. But then Caleb Parman motored into the end zone after getting a block from Dakota Auffert to make it 32-0 with 53 seconds left.

Pattonsburg tried to put in Cameron Jones at quarterback, but it didn’t make any difference and the Panthers went three and out. On the ensuing punt, Colton Wilmes blocked the kick and Isaac Alarcon fell on it in the end zone as time expired. It was his fourth defensive touchdown of the year; he had two pick sixes in September along with a strip and score two weeks ago against East Atchison. Caleb Parman ran in the extra points to make it 40-0.

With the change of quarter, Pattonsburg had reason to hope things would get better with the wind at their backs. But after some initial success, Worth County stopped the Panthers again. A diving catch by Patrick Cowley in double coverage put Pattonsburg on the Tiger 27 and Brett Emig caught a short pass to the 21 to set up third and four after Willhite’s first down pass sailed over everyone’s heads. But then Caleb Parman broke up a pass and then Willhite seemingly found daylight down the right sideline. But Colton Wilmes came all the way over from his nose tackle spot to the right sideline and dropped him at the 19, two yards short of the first down and Worth County got the ball back on downs.

Caleb Parman ran into a wall of white shirts, but reversed his field and picked up 10 yards to the 29 for a first down. On the next play, Caleb got a block from Isaac Alarcon and then found nothing but daylight ahead, outrunning everyone to the end zone for a 51 yard score with 10:37 left. On the ensuing extra point try, everyone got sucked in trying to stop Caleb Parman and Andrew Alarcon took an option pitch for a score to make it 48-0. 

Despite kicking into the wind, Caleb Parman nearly got the ball to the end zone on the ensuing kick and Jaxon Anderson buried Logan Huitt at the 10. Worth County nearly got another safety as Colton Wilmes and Isaac Alarcon dropped Steven Willhite at the 3. Two incomplete passes forced another punt, and it was blocked by Jaxon Anderson, putting the ball at the Panther 17. Two plays later, from the 11, Caleb Parman weaved through traffic, got blocks from Andrew Alarcon and Bryant McCord, and got into the end zone for Worth County’s final score with 8:40 left.

Cameron Jones picked Jacob New in the end zone and ran it back to the 23 to finally stop Worth County, but the Tigers got a stop and ran out the clock to end the game at halftime.