Worth County matched its school record for the most points scored in a game, downing Princeton 94-6 Friday to end their regular season at 8-1. They will now have a week off and play the winner of Pattonsburg and Albany, who play at Albany this Friday. Worth County has the most points in District 7, but since they lost to Platte Valley, the Tigers get the second seed and Platte Valley the top seed. Albany locks down the third seed and Stanberry the fourth seed. Pattonsburg and King City are fifth and sixth, but since King City beat Pattonsburg, the Wildkats leapfrog over Pattonsburg and take over the fifth seed, setting up a rematch of Pattonsburg's 90-66 win over Albany.
Princeton was playing without Talan Holt, their star quarterback and runner (ankle). They kicked off to Worth County and held them on their first two plays. But then Tyler New jetted ahead for 10 yards and a first down to get them untracked to their own 34. From there, Landon Wilmes got loose for 44 yards down to the 2, and then Tyler New took it the house. Landon Wilmes caught the extra point pass to make it 8-0 with 10:16 left in the first.
Tyler Coffman, a lightning quick back, ran back the kickoff to the 32, but was immediately driven back on the first play. Then, Kolten Smith, Bo Collins, and Elias Alarcon dropped Clay Evans, Holt's replacement at quarterback, for a loss of two. An incomplete pass forced Princeton to punt, and the kick was shanked, giving Worth County good field position at the Princeton 33. Landon Wilmes caught a short pass to the 22, and then Tyler New took a counter 14 yards to the 8. Landon Wilmes got blocks from Elias Alarcon and Ethan Lininger to the house and Tyler New ran in the extra points to make it 16-0.
Princeton was taking too much time getting the play off, with the play clock running down to one second at one point. A tackle for loss and two incomplete passes set up a three and out, and another short kick put the Tigers on the 40. This time they only needed one play to score as Tyler New aired it out to Grant McIntyre and Bo Collins made a diving catch to add the extra points to make it 24-0 with 6:20 left.
Lucas Frisch buried Coffman at the 15, but then Evans aired it out to Corbin Powell for 32 yards to the Tiger 33. An incomplete pass and a sack by Bo Collins and Tyler New pushed Princeton back to their own 35. But then a strike from Evans to Navari Payton set up a first down at the 21. A jet sweep to Payton moved it to the 12, and then Landon Wilmes and Bo Collins stopped Coffman back at the 17. But then Evans aired it out to Payton again, and he caught it with 2:23 left to put Princeton on the board at 24-6.
Princeton tried an unsuccessful onsides kick to give the Tigers the ball at the Princeton 38. But just as it looked like they would get a stop and make a game of it, Tyler New took a sweep 39 yards to the house with 1:30 left. Landon Wilmes ran in the extra points to make it 32-6.
A holding penalty on the ensuing kickoff buried Princeton at their own 13, and then Elias Alarcon buried Evans at the 12. Bo Collins got a sack to push them back to the two to force a three and out, and then Tyler New ran back the ensuing punt to the 11. Landon Wilmes got blocks from Lucas Frisch and Grant McIntyre to the house with 10 seconds left in the first quarter and Grant McIntyre ran in the extra points to make it 40-6.
The Blue Tigers set up shop at their own 26. Lucas Frisch got a big hit on Payton after he caught a short pass to hold him to no gain. Two quarterback hurries forced a three and out and Worth County got the ball at their own 30. Grant McIntyre caught a long pass to the nine, and one of the Princeton players landed on him, tweaking his ankle. Fortunately, he came back a few plays later. Worth County needed three plays to get in, but Landon Wilmes took it to the house with 9:49 left in the second and caught the extra point pass to make it 48-6.
Bo Collins got another sack, burying Princeton at their own 16 on their next series. Worth County forced a three and out and Tyler New ran it back to the Princeton 17. Grant McIntyre came back, and Lucas Frisch waited for a block to develop, then burst through a hole and took it down the right side to the house with 7:58 left in the half. Tyler New scrambled into the end zone to make it 56-6.
Princeton got a runback to their own 31, but then Bo Collins blew up a sweep by Evans to the 26. A short pass to Kash Holt picked up two, but then Bo Collins flushed Evans out of the pocket and he threw it away to force a three and out. Worth County got the ball back at their own 36, and then Tyler New aired it out to Lucas Frisch. He caught it at the Princeton 20, and he was in the grasp of a blue shirt, but he broke away and took it to the house. Bo Collins made a diving grab to make it 64-6.
Once again, Princeton took too much time in the huddle, and a Delay of Game penalty put them behind the sticks. A sack by Elias Alarcon, Landon Wilmes, and Bo Collins and a pass breakup by Lucas Frisch forced a three and out and Worth County started at their own 29. Landon Wilmes picked up carries of six and 15 yards to the Princeton 30, and then a hard run by Lucas Frisch picked up 10 yards and drew a five yard facemask penalty to the 15. A bad snap put the Tigers back on the 30, but that only made things more interesting. Nobody covered Bo Collins on the next play, and he took a pass from Tyler New to the house with 2:18 left in the first half. Worth County had a rare miscue on the extra point try as they lined Bo Collins up to kick the extra point, but a bad snap derailed it.
Elias Alarcon and Lucas Frisch had tackles for loss on the next series, and Princeton was forced to punt and Tyler New ran it back to the Blue Tigers’ 25. A swing pass out of the backfield to Landon Wilmes netted 20 yards down to the five, and then Lucas Frisch picked up four more to the one before Worth County elected to kill the first half clock.
Princeton elected to play on with junior varsity players, but the JV picked up where the varsity left off. Ryder Smyser showed a lot of improvement over last year and flushed Chase Evans out of the pocket on one play and then he and Franklynn Taute combined on a tackle for loss. Worth County started off on their own 20, and a simple dive play sprung Cole Ruby loose and he took it to the house with 8:29 left. Karson Briner caught the extra point pass to make it 78-6.
Princeton started at their own 29, but then Sawyer Thurman set them behind the chains with a tackle for loss, and they were forced to punt. Worth County started at their own 17, and Cole Ruby picked up 13 to the 30. A blind side block wiped out a touchdown run by Ruby and put the ball on the 26, but on the next play, nobody guarded Karson Briner, and he took a long pass from Hayden Sanders to the house with 3:13 left. Sanders ran in the extra points to make it 86-6.
Brayden Murphy and Sawyer Thurman had tackles for loss to put Princeton behind the sticks, but a Roughing the Passer penalty gave them new life at the Tiger 34. But the Tigers held there as a Delay of Game penalty set them behind the chains again and they were unable to get out of it. Worth County almost stalled, faced with fourth and seven at their own 36, but then Cole Ruby took a quick pitch down the right side, met a wall of blue shirts, reversed his field left, reversed field again, and got the first down to the Princeton 24. Hayden Sanders aired it out to Karson Briner the rest of the way, and he ran in the extra points to make it 94-6 with 2:48 left in the game.
Worth County had a chance to score 100 as Princeton tried to air it out for a score on the last play of the game and Hayden Sanders intercepted it. But he was tackled at the Princeton 30 as time expired.
The Tigers last scored 94 points in 2016, when they beat Pattonsburg 94-50. They scored 92 last year when they beat St. Joseph Christian 92-12. They also scored 92 against Pattonsburg in 2021, when they beat the Panthers 92-6 at halftime. They also scored 94 against South Holt in 2010 in a wild 94-48 win which promoted the Highway 275 Conference to make a rule requiring conference games to be called when the margin reaches 45 points for a while.
The game clinched the
GRC West title for Worth County. The game was the first win for Worth County in
The Pit since 1984, when they beat Princeton 43-22 in the year they won their
last 11 man GRC title. In Worth County’s last-ever 11 man varsity game in 1988,
Princeton was beating Worth County 48-0, but one of the few highlights for
Worth County was when current assistant Les New, then a freshman, picked up a
fumble in the last few minutes. Everyone stopped, but the whistle never blew as
it was still a live ball. All of a sudden, Les realized what was happening and
returned it several yards before being tackled.
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