Tiger Football Looks to Contend With Strong Returning Class

 Worth County’s football team is looking to contend again with a strong nucleus of players returning from last year’s 8-4 campaign. Back are quarterback Aydan Gladstone, runningback/receiver Alex Rinehart, runningback Andrew Alarcon, leading tackler Jackson Runde, and linemen like Justin Dye, Auston Pride, Austin Welch, and others. Dawson Vore showed some potential last year as a pass rusher, while Dylan McIntyre has the potential to break into a skill slot.

Back this year are Chris Healy as head coach and Jon Adwell and Will Coleman as assistants. The Jamboree, as of Friday morning, is still on for Friday, August 21st, with King City, Stanberry, and Albany coming to town and games starting at 7:00 pm. 

With last year’s champion, Pattonsburg, losing much of their nucleus to graduation, there will be several other teams vying to fill the void. The Panthers still have horses like Cameron Jones, Kade de Jong, and Brett Emig in the mix. North Andrew returned last year as a force to be reckoned with, falling 68-62 to Pattonsburg in a game that turned out to decide the GRC Title. Stanberry returns most of their squad from a team that finished with a disappointing 3-8 campaign, King City will be a scrappy team, and Albany showed they are a team on the rise, as they return almost everyone besides Dawson Butterfield from last year’s squad that threw a scare into Worth County twice.

Over in the Highway 275 Conference, Mound City is the two time defending state champion and will be the team to beat until someone else proves otherwise. South/Nodaway-Holt is a dangerous squad that can beat anyone on a given night. 

One of the big unknowns is how the new teams on Worth County’s schedule will perform. Santa Fe, Schuyler County, and Orrick will be in the Tigers’ nonconference portion of the schedule. The teams outside of the GRC and Highway 275 are no longer an automatic win given last year. Southwest Livingston made it to the State Title Game last year, while North Shelby beat Pattonsburg and Orrick threw a scare into Worth County before falling 28-6.