Friday, August 23, 2019

Tigers Turn Back Challenges to Win Jamboree

Worth County turned back stiff challenges from King City and Albany and had a surprisingly easy time with Stanberry as they won their jamboree Friday.

Worth County 12, King City 6
King City had only three seniors listed on their roster and and everyone else is a freshman or sophomore. Nonetheless, King City was scrappy, came after everyone, and showed they could play football.

On just their fourth play from scrimmage, Parker Muff broke free on a simple dive play after everyone overran him and he took it to the house from 50 yards out. Jacob Moen broke loose for 15 yards to start the drive. Then, they went to their passing game and Landon Wells threw a strike to Braden Gilbert for 16. Wells then threw one to Moen that was up for grabs, and somehow, he came up with it for 25 down to the Tiger 11 despite Nate Adwell draped all over him.

But then the Tigers showed that they have a lot of skill at the JV level when the reserve squads took over. Dylan Wilmes dropped Zeke Fisher for a loss of four back to the 15. Ty Mooney got five back to the 10, but two cracks by Ron Pulliam could only get to the 5 before King City ran out of plays.
The offense then established a consistent pattern for the entire night – sputter for a few plays in a row, then torch the opposition with a big play. A pair of sacks and a pair of no gainers drove Worth County back from their 20 to their 10 in their first four plays. But then Aydan Gladstone got the first-game jitters out of his system and uncorked a bomb to Jaxon Anderson, leading him perfectly down the field for a 70 yard strike as he outran everyone to the house to tie it up at 6.

Worth County got some good gainers on their next series at first, as Gladstone got 10 and Alex Rinehart got 5. But the Tigers were on the verge of running out of plays, as their only big gainer was a seven yarder by Levi Cassavaugh to the Wildkat 33. A crack by Nate Adwell could only get one to the 32, and Worth County only had two plays left to make 32 yards and paydirt.

But that was when Braxton Hightshoe, one of the littlest guys on the team, took over for the Tigers. He dropped back to pass, found nobody open, and got loose, weaving his way through traffic for 18 yards down to the 14 for the final play. Then, he led Dylan McIntyre perfectly on a 14 yard strike for a score to give Worth County the 12-6 win.

Albany 12, Stanberry 0
Albany completely outplayed Stanberry in this game; Stanberry, which has been one of the dominant eight man teams in recent years, looks to be in rebuilding mode this year. Albany’s size, with one lineman listed at 260 and another at 240, was a problem for the other teams all night long. Prize runningback Dawson Butterfield returns and is bigger and stronger than last year, while Tryce Floyd has established himself as a breakaway threat and Ethan Mercer is a reliable third option for Albany.
Floyd broke a long one to put Albany on the board after Albany had stifled Stanberry in their series. Troy Popplewell added a tally for the reserves when he stiffarmed free of a tackle and broke another long one for the Warriors.

Worth County 24, Stanberry 0
Worth County varied from play to play, but got loose against the Stanberry defense. A false start was followed by a 65 yard breakaway by Aydan Gladstone, who got a block and got free around the left end and outran everyone to the house. Then, a bad snap was followed by another 65 yarder, as Alex Rinehart took an option pitch and outran the Stanberry defense for another score.

Gladstone had gotten sacked twice on his first four plays against King City, but this time, he stepped up calmly under a heavy rush and led Jaxon Anderson perfectly over the middle for Worth County’s third score. The reserves got the fourth as Colt Cameron ripped off 13 and Dylan McIntyre got loose for 14 to the Bulldog 33. Dylan then scrambled and weaved his way for 18 more to the Bulldog 15. On Worth County’s final play, he got a block from Colt Cameron and got into the end zone to make it 24-0.

On the other side of the ball, Worth County’s defensive line showed its size and strength as both Austin Welch and Justin Dye blew up Stanberry’s running game. Jaxon Anderson caught a Stanberry fumble in the air and would have taken it to the house in a game, Austin Welch got a sack, and Alex Rinehart got a pick.

The reserves had just as easy of a time of it as Wyatt Craven and Dylan McIntyre had tackles for loss and McIntyre had a pass breakup.

King City 12, Albany 0
In a chippy game between two teams that didn’t like each other very well, Albany could only get to the King City 38 with their varsity, as the King City defense held and didn’t give up any big plays. The reserves held as well. Parker Muff broke a 60 yard score on a counter that fooled everyone, and Holden Farmer wove his way through traffic for another tally.

King City 0, Stanberry 0
After a long talk by Shane Hilton to his Stanberry charges following the Worth County game, Stanberry put up a much stiffer fight and fought King City to a tie. Parker Muff got loose for 40 yards and a score, only to get it called back by a holding penalty. Dustin Jensen showed some promise as a pass rusher for Stanberry; King City gave him a hole on one play, and he took a mile, getting to the quarterback on one play.

Worth County 12, Albany 6
Worth County turned back a challenge from Albany as the Warriors marched right down the field on the Tigers. A win by the Warriors would tie them for first with Worth County. First, Floyd dropped back to pass and found Kaeden Hutchinson for 18 yards to the 37. Four plays later, Butterfield hit the hole hard and got loose, taking it to the house from 30 yards. Albany moved the ball again, getting a 15 yard pass from Floyd to Mercer.

Then, a roughing the passer penalty put Albany on the 30. But the reserves held as the Warriors could only get to the 22 before they ran out of plays.

It only took Worth County one play to get the points back as Andrew Alarcon saw a perfect cutback hole open up and took it down the left side to the house to make it 6-6.

Once again, Worth County sputtered for a few plays, only for Aydan Gladstone to throw a strike to Reed McIntyre for 33 yards. Andrew Alarcon ripped off 14 and Aydan Gladstone picked up another 7 to the 10 to put the reserves in position to win it again for the Tigers. They pulled through as Levi Cassavaugh shot through a big hole for 10 yards to make it 12-6. Nate Adwell ripped off a 28 yarder off an option to cap the night’s work for the Tigers.

No comments: