Saturday, September 18, 2021

Strong Line Play Leads 'Lil Tigers "B" Squad to First Win

The 'Lil Tigers junior squad needed to get out and reestablish dominance after dropping a track meet to Albany in their first game. In Saturday's 45-0 win over Southeast Warren, they set the tone right away when Silas Brown got a pick on Southeast's first play from scrimmage. Then, they overcame a fumble as strong line play helped lead the Tigers into the end zone, a theme that would repeat itself all day long. The line was firing out and holding their blocks as the Tiger backs, Liam Cordell, Wyatt Scadden, and Cole Hardy, got loose all day long. The Tigers overcame a fourth and three at the Warhawk 15 as Cordell bounced outside to the seven, and then Scadden got around the edge on a sweep to put the Tigers on the board. Cordell threw a strike to Scadden to put the Tigers up 8-0.

The Tigers overcame an offsides penalty on their next series as Hudson Cameron tackled Nicholas Piekema short of the first down and the Warhawks were forced to punt. On their second play from scrimmage, Wyatt Scadden got good blocking up front, bounced to the outside, and scored from 50 yards out. Cordell threw a strike to Scadden for the extra points with 3:33 left in the first quarter to make it 16-0.

Hudson Cameron was all over the field early for the Tigers, breaking up a pass on third down to force another punt, and Weston Hill had a tackle for loss on the series as well. The Warhawk defense was not set up, and it cost them as Scadden took it 55 yards to the house early in the second quarter to put him over 100 yards already in the game. Gracin Runde caught the extra point pass from Cordell to make it 24-0.

Brock Adwell got pressure from the edge and forced an incompletion, and Southeast was forced to punt again. Worth County started from their own 25, and this time, Liam Cordell bounced out to the left side. He was seemingly pushed out of bounds after a short gain, but the whistle never blew and he reversed field to the right side for a 19 yard gain to the Warhawk 36. Cole Hardy picked up 24 more to the 12, and Scadden took it the rest of the way on a reverse down the left side to make it 30-0 with 6:33 left in the half.

The Warhawks finally found some daylight as two Tiger defenders collided with each other and Charles Olsasky got loose for 15 yards to the Tiger 37. A pass interference put it on the 18, but then a holding penalty, a false start, and two incompletions killed the drive and kept the shutout intact at halftime.

With the game well in hand in the second half, Worth County sought to work on its passing game, but Cordell was picked off to start the half. But a false start and a bad snap forced another third and long, and Mason Hiatt had a pass breakup to get the defense off the field. This time, Cordell threw a strike to Scadden, who ran hard and delivered a big hit at the end of the 19 yard catch and run to the Warhawk 36. Cole Hardy ripped off gains of 13 and 18, weaving his way through tacklers along the way. He was stopped for no gain on his third try, but Liam Cordell got a block from Wyatt Scadden and took it the rest of the way, and Cole Hardy ran in the extra point to make it 37-0 after the third quarter.

Southeast found some daylight late as two runs from Olsasky got them to midfield. But then Weston Hill stepped up and made some big hits for the Tigers. who stopped the Warhawks cold and they took over at the 25. Cole Hardy took a short pass to the 29, and then Wyatt Scadden got his last big run of the day as a defensive lineman overran the play and Scadden was gone, taking it to the house from 51 yards out with 4:17 left in the game. Cordell completed the extra point pass to Scadden to make it 45-0. Hill got a pick to kill Southeast's last drive, allowing the Tigers to kill the clock.

The Tigers racked up over 318 total yards on 22 plays, while holding Southeast to 50 yards on 26 plays. Scadden had 7 carries for 183 yards, while Hardy had 7 carries for 65 yards and Liam Cordell 4 carries for 51 yards. Cordell had 2 completions in four attempts. Scadden had 1 catch for 19 yards, while Hardy had 1 catch for 4 yards.

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