Worth County used a big second half to down North Andrew 54-16 and win in Rosendale for the first time since 2018. North Andrew had been following a similar path to Worth County; they suffered a shocking loss to Nodaway Valley 32-8, then bounced back against DeKalb to win handily. But it was Worth County who took the ball right down the field on the ground. They started on their own 27 and got a 14 yard carry from Landon Wilmes to the Cardinal 38. Tyler New got blocks from Ethan Lininger and Elias Alarcon for a first down on the 26 to convert a third and two. On fourth and two at the 18, Lucas Frisch followed the blocking of Ethan Lininger to the nine, then Landon Wilmes took it to the house behind the blocking of Ethan Lininger and Elias Alarcon two plays later from the five with 6:08 left. Bo Collins caught the extra point pass. The Tigers had taken 11 plays to cover the 53 yards and took almost half the first quarter.
North Andrew graduated 10 seniors from last year and only had nine left over from last year, along with a few incoming freshmen. But they returned Braxon Linville and had a lot more players come out than they expected. Under their new coach, Dustin Williams, they made little secret that they wanted to keep the four yards and a cloud of dust football that his dad, Dewayne Williams, had preached since 2018, cumulating in last year's title run. They started at their own 29, and then an offsides penalty put it on the 39 for a first down. But then on fourth and three, Elias Alarcon dropped Linville one yard short of the first down on the 32, and Worth County took over on downs.
But on their first play from scrimmage, Landon Wilmes fumbled the ball at the 40 and North Andrew was back in business. Under Dewayne Williams, the Cardinals became one of the top teams in the area at taking the ball away, and that trend seems to continue. But North Andrew could not take advantage of the gift. On fourth and three at the Tiger 33, a false start moved it back to the 38, and they were forced to the air. Kolten Smith flushed Linville from the pocket and he threw it well short of his intended receiver. Worth County would stay away from turnovers the rest of the way.
Worth County only needed a few plays to get into the end zone. Tyler New bounced outside to the 20, Landon Wilmes bounced 17 more yards to the three, and Tyler New got a block from Bo Collins into the end zone with 11 minutes left in the second quarter. Grant McIntyre caught the extra point pass to make it 16-0. With both teams keeping it on the ground a lot, the first half went by fast.
The Tigers still need to fix the blown assignments that have hurt them the first two games, and they dodged a bullet as Jaxon Richie was all alone for six, only for Linville to overthrow him. North Andrew kept moving the ball down the field from the 24 behind Linville, Avrey Miller, and Matthew Evans. Linville scrambled to the Tiger eight after a third and ten at the 21, and then Linville picked up six more to the two. But then the Tiger defense made the first of four goal line stands that night as Kolten Smith dropped Miller for one, Bo Collins ran down Linville for no gain, and Dylan McIntyre, Elias Alarcon, and Landon Wilmes dropped Linville short of the goal line. But a block in the back penalty wiped out a Tiger score, and North Andrew trailed 16-0, still very much a part of the game.
Getting the ball to start the second half, North Andrew had every chance to get back in the game after Miller nearly broke one for 44 yards from his own 19 to the Tiger 17 before being forced out of bounds. But then the Tigers made another goal line stand as Lucas Frisch dropped Linville at the 16, a false start blew up a reverse, Grant McIntyre dropped Mattox Sybert, and a sack drove them back to the 23. Lucas Frisch broke up a shot into the end zone and the Tigers had the ball back at the 23. A holding penalty put the ball on the 11, but the penalties, for once, only seemed to make things more interesting. Tyler New got a block from Lucas Frisch, and that was all that was needed as he took it to the house with 8:21 left. Grant McIntyre caught a jump pass from Tyler New to make it 24-0.
But then North Andrew took it to the air and a pair of defensive breakdowns, a 36 yard pass to Cooper Grishow and a 17 yard pass to Hunter Lee, put North Andrew in the end zone. Linville ran in the extra points to cut the Tiger lead to 24-8.
North Andrew tried the onsides kick, but Elias Alarcon ran it back to the North Andrew 38, and the Tigers only needed one play to respond. Tyler New got blocks from Landon Wilmes, Lucas Frisch, and Grant McIntyre and took it to the house with 6:40 left and Bo Collins caught the extra point pass to make it 32-8. Unlike the Platte Valley game, Worth County would respond with a big play of their own anytime the Cards would take advantage of a defensive breakdown.
Fueled by a defensive holding penalty, North Andrew marched down the field to the Tiger 31, but then a botched reverse play resulted in a fumble and Bo Collins pounced on it at the 38. Worth County only needed a single play to take advantage as they faked the jet sweep to Landon Wilmes and then Tyler New aired it out to Bo Collins, who outran everyone to the house with 4:19 left in the third. Grant McIntyre added the extra point pass to make it 40-8.
But then Braxon Linville only needed one play to answer, and a single missed tackle was all that was needed to spring him loose 59 yards to the house with 3:58 left. He ran in the extra points to cut it to 40-16. North Andrew attempted an onsides kick, but shanked it and Worth County got a short field to work with at the Cardinal 30. A holding penalty put the Tigers back to the 40, but that only made things more interesting as Grant McIntyre took a 40 yard catch and run to the house with 3:40 left. McIntyre caught the extra point pass to make it 48-16.
North Andrew went back to their basic running game and converted two fourth downs to keep the drive going. They got to the 11, but then the Tigers made their third goal line stand of the night. Two cracks from Miller got to the five, but then an incomplete pass should have set up fourth and four. A bad spot by the officials put it on the four, but it didn't matter. North Andrew went to the swinging gate that worked for Platte Valley against Worth County, but this time, Worth County was ready for it and forced an incompletion to get the ball back on downs at the 4.
Worth County tried a simple dive play to get out of the shadows of their own goalpost, but it turned to gold. Landon Wilmes got blocks from Elias Alarcon and Ethan Lininger and that was all he needed to take it 76 yards to the house with 7:13 left to make it 54-18, the longest ever play from scrimmage for the Tigers since they started playing eight man football. One candidate for the previous record was in 2013, when the Tigers were playing Rock Port at Rock Port and they were pinned at their own 10 in the district playoff game. But Ben Badell led Brevyn Ross perfectly down the field for a 70 yard strike for one of Worth County's scores in that victory. Tyler New came close with his 69 yard scamper earlier in the game. Back to the present, the score triggered the running clock the rest of the way.
North Andrew tried to take it in and score the rest of the way, and Linville took it 23 yards to the Tiger 30 to wipe out a third and long. Miller converted a third and one to the Tiger 16, and Linville took it nine more yards to the seven. But the Tigers made a final stand as Linville threw an incompletion as time expired.
Coach Jon Adwell cited the team's ability to control the tight ends better on defense and free up their linebackers to make plays and the emergence of Kolten Smith as a force on the defensive line as reasons why the team had shown improvement since their week one loss to Platte Valley. "We've gotten a lot better chemistry with our younger players since then," added Elias Alarcon.
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