Tigers Beat Muskets 46-0 in Rare Breather Win

Worth County beat North/West Nodaway 46-0 and got a rare breather Friday. Their next game will be much tougher, as Albany will come to town much improved from their 82-42 loss to Worth County from earlier in the season. Albany won much more convincingly 76-32 over Platte Valley Friday than they had in the first meeting between the two schools, when Albany trailed for much of the first half before they came back and won 70-42.

Worth County won the toss and Jaxon Anderson ran back the kickoff all the way back to the Musket 27 to set up their first score. Karson Oberhauser broke up a pass, and another pass from Aydan Gladstone sailed incomplete, and a third down run from Alex Rinehart only netted six yards. But on fourth and four from the 21, Aydan Gladstone kept it on an option and found daylight for a score with 10:57 left and Alex Rinehart dove into the end zone for the extra points to make it 8-0.

North/West Nodaway fumbled on the handoff and Aydan Gladstone pounced on it at the 21. Alex Rinehart bulldozed his way through traffic to the 14, caught a short pass to the 10, and took an option pitch to the house with 8:50 left. On the extra point try, he bowled over the last man to stand between him and the end zone as the Tigers took a 16-0 lead.

Rinehart, pressed into full time service as a runningback after Andrew Alarcon went down, has shown improvement each week; with Austin Welch’s shoulder injury from the Stanberry game healed to the point where he could play and Chase Atkins stepping up, the line play was there.

On the ensuing kickoff, Preston Bateman tried to pull off a Dante Hall act as he dodged a Jackson Runde tackle that would have pinned the Muskets at the 9 and scrambled up to the 24 before being brought down. Karson Oberhauser then bulldozed his way all the way from the 26 to the Tiger 37 before being brought down, dragging a black shirt several yards before being brought down. But a false start and a pair of incompletions killed the drive and Worth County took over on the 40.

Jaxon Anderson caught one over the middle for 14 to the 26. Aydan Gladstone scrambled to the 24, and Rinehart walked the tightrope down the left sideline and somehow stayed inbounds until he got to the 7. Another crack got him to the one, and then he took a solid shot from Cody Goff, but managed to muscle his way in anyway to put the Tigers on the board with 3:46 left. Jackson Runde was all alone for a pass from Aydan Gladstone to make it 24-0 on the extra point play.

A long run from Karson Oberhauser on the next series was wiped out by a holding penalty, and the Muskets tried unsuccessfully to go for it on their own 26, and the Tigers took over on downs from the 24. Two plays later, Alex Rinehart caught a short pass and broke three different tackles and took it to the house with 1:06 left. Aydan Gladstone’s keeper for the extra points put Worth County up 32-0.

North/West Nodaway went three and out on their next series after a bad snap pinned them on their own 7, and Worth County got the ball back in good field position at the Musket 24. They were faced with fourth and 12 on the Musket 36 following a sack by Mason Chitwood and Will Cordell, but then Aydan Gladstone threw a perfect pass despite being leveled on a called Roughing the Passer penalty to Jaxon Anderson. Jaxon had Cody Goff draped all over him, but somehow managed to haul it in and take it to the house with 10:26 left. Alex Rinehart took it in on the option to make it 40-0.

Karson Oberhauser ripped off a 15 yard run to the Musket 38 on the next play and picked up six more to the Tiger 36. But then Austin Welch scooped up a fumble and leveled someone with the very shoulder that he got hurt the previous week, bulldozing it all the way down to the North/West 30.

Alex Rinehart spun his way for six down to the 24. The Musket defense stiffened as Wyatt O’Riley and Cody Goff stopped Rinehart for no gain, but Gladstone picked up a first down to the 17. A holding wiped out a score and set the Tigers back to the 27, but Alex Rinehart’s option went for six to the 21. On the next play Aydan Gladstone laid out a blue shirt at the end of a 12 yard keeper, causing the whole Worth County sideline to erupt.

Rinehart picked up three more to the nine and then dove into the end zone with 5:10 left for Worth County’s final score. Wyatt O’Riley and Will Cordell hurried Gladstone into an overthrow for a rare missed extra point.

But to show the futility of the night for North/West, Oberhauser had his second long run called back by a penalty, and a fake punt direct snap to one of the upbacks fooled nobody.

The Muskets stopped the Tiger JV, and Oberhauser ripped off 13 yards and Cody Goff 21 more to the 34 with 8 seconds left before half. But a long pass was incomplete and Aydan Gladstone got a pick to seal the game.