North Harrison freshman Wyatt Maize got a key pick in his first ever varsity game and the Pattonsburg Panthers held off a good Rock Port squad at the end 54-46 Saturday. The big worry was that the Rock Port front line, led by Ryder Herron, would wreak havoc in the backfield all day against Gage Iddings. But while the early part of the game featured him running for his life a lot, similar to Pattonsburg's 82-12 debacle against Worth County last year, the line play this year was as different as night and day. The blocking improved as the day progressed, allowing Iddings to complete 38 of his 55 pass attempts for 397 yards, six touchdowns, and only one pick.
The line was led by Dillon Hartschen and Jace Estrada, both of whom made tremendous strides from last year. Hartschen, who was the lone North Harrison player on the squad from two years ago, saw all his hard work pay off against a quality opponent; Rock Port was 6-4 last year and returned all three of their front linemen from last year. Jace Estrada, a 6'5" 300 pound behemoth, showed a lot more aggression on both sides of the ball this year, making himself into one of the best tacklers on the team and improving his mobility. Only a sophomore, he is showing a lot of upside potential.
"All the credit goes to Assistant Coach Jordan Jenkins," said Iddings after the game. "He never once played on the line, but he's really helped our linemen out this year." Jenkins and head coach Brandon Burkhead, in his second year, are creating a culture of accountability, where the players are expected to own up to their play. There were still a lot of mistakes, but each time, someone would take responsibility and move on. If the name sounds familiar, Jenkins is a North Nodaway graduate; his sister, Andrea, is a senior there this year.
It threatened to be a long afternoon for the Panthers as Iddings took an early sack from Ryder Herron and they were threatened with fourth and four at the Rock Port 38. But with Iddings being chased by all three Rock Port linemen, he ran all the way back to his own 20 before picking up a block from Parker Virtue and scrambling all the way to the Rock Port 29 and a first down.
It looked like it would not matter after Iddings threw a pick to Jack Meyerkorth in the end zone; he returned it to the Rock Port 22 before it was called back to the 11 by a penalty. But the long field didn't matter as Rock Port was able to plug speed merchant Dakota Evans into the runningback slot and he took it 64 yards to the house with 8:50 left to put the Blue Jays up 6-0.
Rock Port played a bend but don't break defense, forcing Iddings to take small chunks of yardage down the field. An ineligible man downfield wiped out a first down pass, but Rock Port gave it back on an offsides penalty to give Pattonsburg a first down at the 30. Another Rock Port sack set up fourth and five at the 35, but all of a sudden, a light switch flipped on, Iddings had good protection, and he threw a strike to Gavin Humphrey for a first down at the Rock Port 37. Iddings scrambled to the 25 for another first down. On fourth and eight at the 23, Pattonsburg converted their second first down as Iddings picked up a block from Dillon Hartschen and Parker Virtue and made it to the 14. Jack Meyerkorth blitzed and sacked Iddings to set up fourth and six at the 10, but Pattonsburg did a much better job the rest of the way recognizing the blitz and picking it up. Iddings' pass to Daltyn Sperry set up their third fourth down conversion of the drive, Sperry caught another pass for a score with 2:33 left to knot it at 6.
The defensive breakdowns continued as Dakota Evans ran back the ensuing kickoff to the Pattonsburg 11. Pattonsburg started showing some toughness on defense as Bryson Clark, who has emerged as a leader and one of the hardest hitters on the defensive squad, dropped Evans. Iddings dropped Camden McEnaney for a short gain, and Landon Preston made a perfect one on one tackle on Evans to set up fourth down, but Evans trotted into the end zone on a sweep the next play and put Rock Port up 12-6. But Jace Estrada dropped quarterback Tayden Cook on the extra point try to deny the conversion.
The Panthers had two holes to fill at wide receiver; they had Sperry, Landon Preston, and Gavin Humphrey back, but they lost Brody Langfitt and Sam Coin. But they got Wyatt Maize to fill in one hole and Camden Griffith to fill in another, allowing Pattonsburg to rotate their receivers and keep them fresh. Griffith stepped up in a big way on the next series with a 19 yard catch and run to the Rock Port 34 after getting a block from Sperry. The receiving corps is doing lot more downfield blocking this year, allowing people to get extra yards after the catch. Ryder Herron rose to the occasion for Rock Port, blowing up a bubble screen and then sacking Iddings to force fourth and fourth and 13 at the Rock Port 37. But it didn't matter as Griffith got behind the defense and got a strike from Iddings as the Panthers knotted it up again at 12.
The teams traded quick scores as a blown coverage left Cade Makings all alone for a 43 yard strike from Tayden Cook to make it 18-12 with 7:23 left in the second. Wyatt Maize's shoestring tackle denied the extra points. But Pattonsburg got it right back as Landon Preston's catch and run knotted it right back up at 18. Gage Iddings slipped and fell as the field was slick from a brief downpour. Up to that point, nobody had converted any extra points.
A personal foul on Pattonsburg put Rock Port in good field position at the Panther 22, and they only needed one play to regain the lead as the tackling broke down and Dakota Evans took it to the house with 6:54 left. Pattonsburg was faced with third and seven at their own 23, but Rock Port was flagged for a facemask penalty on one of their players trying to tackle Iddings as he was scrambling, and Pattonsburg got a first down at the 32. Passes to Griffith for 12, Humphrey for 10, and Humphrey again for 10 brought the Panthers to the 14. Rock Port had Pattonsburg back up third and 13 at the 17 after blowing up a short pass play, but for the second time, Rock Port self-destructed, this time with an illegal use of the hands penalty that put it on the four for a first down. Iddings scrambled into the end zone for a score. Griffith caught the extra point pass for the first converted extra point by either team and Pattonsburg led 26-24 with 3:24 left in the first half.
Dakota Evans got loose on a sweep for 15 yards to the 40, but the Pattonsburg defense started to stiffen as Griffith dropped Cade Makings, now at quarterback, as did Jace Estrada. But on third and five at the Panther 35, Landon Preston tried to jump a pass, missed, and Corbyn Jakub was off to the races for Rock Port to give them the lead back with 1:12 left. Makings ran in the extra points to put Rock Port up 32-26.
Pattonsburg overcame a sack from Camden McEnaney as they got their fifth fourth down conversion, a 14 yard strike from Iddings to Camden Griffith to the Rock Port 33 and a first down. But with time running out, the Panthers had to try a shot into the end zone with 3 seconds left and Makings broke it up with his big long arms. It was one of several pass breakups that he had for Rock Port.
Since they had the ball to start the second half, Rock Port had a golden opportunity to make it a two possession game and take control. But Pattonsburg made the first of three key defensive stands when Dillon Hartschen dropped Makings for no gain. The sun came out and people started to cramp up similar to the Worth County/Platte Valley game the night before as the humidity skyrocketed. Evans picked up seven to the 31 for third and three, but Parker Virtue dropped Cade Makings two yards short of the first down. A false start moved Rock Port back to the 27, and they were forced to punt for the first time all game.
A good kick pinned Pattonsburg at their own 10, but a 20 yard scramble from Gage Iddings and a late hit flipped the field to the 30. Iddings picked up four more on another scramble and then he aired it out to Wyatt Maize despite Rock Port giving up 10 yards of cushion to him and the Panthers were able to tie it up at 32. But once again, Cade Makings, with his big long arms, was able to reach up and break up a pass that would have given Pattonsburg the lead.
Bryson Clark dropped Corbyn Jakub for no gain on the next play, and the Panthers were able to get a good pass rush and force two straight incompletions, forcing a punt. Pattonsburg was faced with a fourth and five at their own 35, but they converted their sixth fourth down as Rock Port jumped offsides, putting it at the 40. On third and ten at the 40, Iddings scrambled 20 yards to the 20. A short pass to Daltyn Sperry netted five yards, but he was shaken up on the play and came out. After the brief shower in the first half, the sun came out and it got very humid and players started to get shaken up right and left, similar to the Worth County game.
With Sperry clamoring to get back in the game, Camden Griffith caught a short pass and took it seven yards to the eight, but without one of their best downfield blockers in Sperry, the Panther offense grounded to a halt and they were faced with fourth and goal at the 11. With 5:09 left, Sperry came back in and backed it up as he caught a perfectly designed screen pass as Pattonsburg converted their seventh fourth down. All three of the Panther linemen formed a wall and he beat one man into the end zone to give the Panthers the lead.
The extra point play was another adventure as a flag came out for holding on Pattonsburg, only for the play to be blown dead by an inadvertent whistle. Since the inadvertent whistle blew, it wiped out the holding penalty and the down was replayed. Pattonsburg made the most of their second chance as Iddings threw a shovel pass to Landon Preston, who got a block from Sperry and took it in to make it 40-32.
Rock Port set up on their own 26, and then Bryson Clark and Gage Iddings blew up a handoff to Evans for no gain. Camden Griffith dropped Makings for no gain, and then Griffith broke up a pass on third down, forcing them to punt. Pattonsburg was backed up by a false start to the 21 for third and seven, but Wyatt Maize caught a pass and weaved his way to the 23. There was a heartstopping moment as Gage Iddings got his bell rung on a called Roughing the Passer penalty. The penalty put the ball on the 11, but Iddings had to come out for a play. They lined up Camden Griffith at quarterback, and he followed a wall of blockers all the way into the end zone with 1:53 left. A questionable blind side block call wiped out a triple lateral touchdown strike to Sperry, but it didn't matter as Iddings threw a strike over the middle to Wyatt Maize and he scored the extra points to make it 48-32.
Sacks by Bryson Clark and Gage Iddings set up fourth and 16 at the Rock Port 32, but a roughing the passer penalty gave them new life and Dakota Evans weaved his way 17 yards to the 15. The tackling broke down again after that, and Cade Makings broke tackle after tackle with 8:35 left in the game to score, and then dove into the end zone to make it one possession again at 48-40.
If the Panthers continued to click on the offense, it wouldn't have mattered, but after a nice catch and run by Camden Griffith, he fumbled the ball at the end of the play at the Rock Port 26, and the Blue Jays had a chance to tie. They elected to move slowly down the field to leave Iddings and the Panthers as little time as possible to answer if Rock Port were to tie it up. They converted a fourth and three at their own 33 with 6:49 left when Corbyn Jakub caught a short pass to the 40. Pattonsburg seemed to be holding, but a questionable pass interference call, called by a referee on the other side of the field, gave Rock Port new life again at the 22. From there, Rock Port continued to march on the ground down to the 5 with 3:31 left.
Pattonsburg stiffened up as Jace Estrada blew up a running play at the 6 and the Panthers caught a break when two Rock Port players collided going for the ball, one of them had an apparent score, but it was ruled incomplete. But Camden McEnaney caught a pass in the end zone with 2:20 left in the game to cut Rock Port's deficit to 48-46. Rock Port tried a handoff to McEnaney for the extra points, but Gage Iddings blew it up to preserve the Panther lead. It was their second key defensive stand.
Rock Port tried the onsides kick, but Gage Iddings pounced on it at the Rock Port 35. A false start set up third and ten with 1:10 left, but Gavin Humphrey caught a pass over the middle for the first down. Had he gone down, Pattonsburg would have been able to kneel out the clock, but it's the hardest thing to go against one's instincts, and he took it to the house to make it 54-46. Cade Makings, for the fourth time, broke up a pass with his long arms to keep it a one possession game.
That meant Pattonsburg had to play defense one more time, and Rock Port set up shop at their own 35. Makings scrambled into Pattonsburg territory at the 39 with 1:02 left, but on the next play, Wyatt Maize picked off a pass and Pattonsburg was able to kneel out the clock.
Gage Iddings completed 38 out of 55 pass attempts for 397 yards, six scores, and one interception. He ran 20 times for 86 yards and Camden Griffith ran for another 11 yards. Wyatt Maize had 6 catches for 93 yards. Camden Griffith had 7 catches for 115 yards, Landon Preston 5 catches for 68 yards, Daltyn Sperry 13 catches for 48 yards, and Gavin Humphrey 7 catches for 73 yards.
Gage Iddings had 16 tackles for the Panthers. Landon Preston had 6, Dillon Hartshcen, Bryson Clark, and Jace Estrada 5 each, Camden Griffith with 4, Wyatt Maize 3, and Beau Gibson and Daltyn Sperry 1 each.
