This year is the 40th anniversary of the last 11 man Worth County team to clinch the GRC. There were a lot of concerns coming into the season. One of its key players from the 1982 and 1983 campaigns, quarterback Chris Wilkinson, had moved. There was a coaching carousel at Worth County; since Bull Reece had retired at the end of the 1973 season, nobody had coached there for more than two years. They were under their sixth head coach in 11 years. Numbers were down, with as few players coming out as anyone could remember.
But the Tigers were not without assets. James Hardy had emerged as one of the top runningbacks of the GRC during 1983. David Cottrell was good for three or four yards a carry. Paul Sackett was one of the best tacklers the Tigers had ever produced, getting double figures in tackles every single game and being a force on the field even when everything else was going south. Kent Thompson was a breakaway threat at wide receiver.
The first sign that things might come together occurred on the first game of the season. Nodaway-Holt had Worth County’s number the last three years, but this time, Worth County turned the tables to win 16-6, taking their opening drive 45 yards down the field to score on Hardy’s eight yard run. That lead stood up until the third quarter when Paul Sackett blocked a Trojan punt and the Tigers scored a safety. Hardy ripped off a 17 yard run in the fourth quarter for a score and Cottrell added a two point conversion to make it 16-0. Shawn Skogland completed a pass to Jay Atkins with an eight yard pass and Nodaway-Holt nearly scored again, but time expired.
Worth County won its second game against an up and coming Hamilton team coached by Dave Fairchild 22-8. The next challenge would be against King City, who had started off 2-0 as well. They featured Shane Petty, the quarterback, who would go on to star for the Wildkats in both football and basketball. But Hardy ran for 178 yards and three scores in Worth County’s 30-6 win.
It started off as an even game before Hardy scored on a three yard run and ran in the extra points to make it 8-0. Hardy made it 14-0 on a three yard run, but then a flea flicker from Petty to David Eirsman cut it to 14-6 at the break.
But the third quarter belonged to the Tigers as they used two big plays to put the game away. Hardy ripped off a 49 yard run and Brian Sherer ran in the conversion, and then Vince Leeth threw a strike to Kent Thompson for 50 yards. King City snapped the ball out of the end zone for a safety.
Princeton came in winless, but had a dangerous weapon in David Smith, who could score anywhere on the field. James Hardy scored a two yard touchdown run and Vince Leeth ran in the extra points to make it 8-0 in the second quarter. But Smith ran back the ensuing kickoff 81 yards to cut it to 8-6, which was his second such runback that year. But then Kent Thompson got a pick six to make it 14-6, and like the last time, Worth County broke open the game in the third quarter. Hardy ripped off runs of 29 and 13, with Cottrell scoring both extra points to make it 30-14. Worth County continued to pull away for a 43-22 win.
The win led to a showdown with Maysville, also at 4-0 for the year. Worth County moved the ball up and down the field all night, and much of the game was played in Wolverine territory. The Tigers outgained Maysville 201-57 for the night. But every time they came close to scoring, a key penalty would set them back. Finally, with Worth Country driving in the fourth quarter, Maysville got a 57 yard pick six to score and beat the Tigers 7-0. It was their third pick six in two games; they had gotten two pick sixes against Petty and King City the week before.
The locker room was one of the saddest sights ever, with everyone in tears following the game. But there was still football to be played; if they won out, Worth County could still make the playoffs and could still clinch the title if Maysville were to falter in an always tough Grand River Conference.
Worth County went to tailender Stanberry next, but the Bulldogs had the Tigers in their sights as they had nearly beaten them last year before Worth County made a goal line stand at the 10 to win 7-6. Stanberry had picked this game for their Homecoming. This time, Vince Leeth threw a 12 yard strike to Kent Thompson and then James Hardy ripped off a 15 yard run in the third quarter to make it 12-0. But the rest of the game belonged to Stanberry as they used a six yard pass from Brad Summa to Kelly White to draw closer at 12-6 in the fourth. Stanberry got the ball back and threatened to tie or take the lead, but Worth County got a critical pick in the end zone to preserve the 12-6 win. But Maysville maintained their top spot in the conference by breaking up a 6-6 tie in the fourth quarter against Hamilton, using a series of Hornet turnovers to put it away 26-6. South Harrison was supposed to be the team to beat that year, but after they lost star quarterback Ted Monachino, Hamilton played spoiler and banished them from the ranks of the unbeaten the week before.
The game set up one of the hardest hitting games the Tigers played during their 11 man days. South Harrison, without Monachino, was still a force to be reckoned with and still had Larry Linthacum, who was a load to bring down at 6’7” as a receiver. They also had Jeff Shelby, who excelled as a runningback and stepped in at quarterback when Monachino went down. In the game, South Harrison turned the ball over seven times, while the Bulldogs gave as good as they got, knocking both quarterback Vince Leeth and runningback James Hardy out of the game. Worth County had a 6-0 lead at halftime behind Hardy’s touchdown run before Kent Thompson ran back the second half kick 75 yards for a score. Then, Worth County set up what was designed to be a short pass, but Thompson beat his man and took it to the house for 67 yards to make it 20-6.
But once again, South Harrison made it interesting by cutting it to 20-12 and then drove for a game-tying score late in the fourth quarter. Worth County had an apparent interception to kill the drive, only for the officials, in a controversial call, to wipe it off. South Harrison got as close as the Tiger 30, but the call didn’t matter as Brian Sherer picked off a pass to allow the Tigers to run out the clock. Maysville beat Stanberry 30-6 to stay on top.
Worth County next had to travel to Albany to play the Warriors. David Cottrell played the game of his life, getting 21 carries for 146 yards for the Tigers. James Hardy came back and had 14 carries for 58 yards. Vince Leeth came on strong as a third running threat that game. Leeth ran in a five yard score with 2:43 left in the first and Hardy added the two point conversion to make it 8-0. But Albany fought back, using a one yard sneak from Steve Griesinger with 49 seconds left in the first half and a conversion run from Brian Quinley tie it at 8-8. But Worth County went right back to work, using a nine yard run from Cottrell and a conversion run from Cottrell to make it 16-8. The defense did the rest, limiting Albany to 51 yards through the air, most of it on its scoring drive, and no back got more than 40 yards on the ground.
As the seconds were counting down, Albany Public Address Announcer Leon Messner had an announcement from Bethany — South Harrison had beaten Maysville 20-6, vaulting the Tigers into a tie for first place in the conference.
A strike from Jeff Shelby to Larry Linthacum gave the Bulldogs a 6-0 lead that would stand up at halftime. Then, Galen Gillespie ate Maysville alive, getting scores of one yard and a four yard sprint with 5:28 left in the game to put the game away.
The last thing that stood between Worth County and its first GRC title since 1967 was a rapidly improving Gallatin team, who had gotten off to a bad start but was coming on strong.
For three and a half quarters, Worth County looked like it had put the close game jitters in the past. James Hardy rushed for 131 yards and a score that night and broke the 1,000 yard barrier. Vince Leeth had an eight yard run with 1:49 left in the first to put the Tigers up 8-0 after Cottrell’s two point conversion. Hardy struck from eight yards out with 4:04 left in the half before Dennis Hacker threw a 9 yard pass to Craig Cummings to cut it to 16-6. But when Worth County made it 22-6 in the second half, it looked like they had it salted away.
But then Hardy broke his collarbone fighting for yardage and all of a sudden, a completely different Gallatin team came out on the field. Dennis Hacker completed long pass after long pass to 6’6” Syd Wybrew, cutting it to 22-14 and then 22-20 with 25 seconds left. Gallatin was a two point conversion away from tying it, only to have a dropped pass in the end zone. The score would not have counted; Gallatin was flagged for an ineligible man downfield. Worth County covered the ensuing onsides kick to preserve the win. They also made the playoffs.
Without Hardy against Rock Port, the Tigers played in one of the most bitterly cold games they had ever played in and fell 42-0 to Rock Port, the eventual state champions. They got one first down the whole game and Rock Port was a juggernaut, taking down even good teams by ridiculously lopsided scores.
No comments:
Post a Comment