Last year, Worth County marked its 100th anniversary in football by winning a state title. They were recently featured on Roca Sports, a YouTube channel out of New York, which travels all over the country to do human interest stories. They interviewed players Bo Collins and Caleb New, coach Jon Adwell, assistants Dan Collins and Les New, and members of the community in Craig McNeese, Jeff Blaine, Dennis Downing, and Mason Hawk. They talked about their playing days, the community support for the team, and how the school manages to defy a population decline to field healthy numbers every year. Les New noted that out of 32 players out this year, 13 had a dad or a brother go to state. The broadcast had 35,000 views and 83 comments as of Sunday evening.
But the crown lies uneasy on Worth County’s head, like it does for any other defending champion. Last year, they defied history by being the first Tiger squad to suffer a regular season loss and then turn around and win a state title. One thing Roca Sports omitted in its broadcast was the role that Northeast Nodaway plays in the program. The Bluejays always supplied 4-8 kids a year to Worth County, many of whom fill key roles. Out of 32 players, there will be six from Northeast Nodaway, all of whom are expected to play key roles in this year’s squad.
Graduating from last year’s squad are stalwarts like Lucas Frisch, Brayden Stevens, Brayden Combs, Sawyer Thurman, and Brayden Murphy. But many others will return.
Bo Collins will return to his tight end position, but he is versatile enough to play anywhere Coach Jon Adwell needs him to. He will move to linebacker this year, Ryder Smyser will move to defensive end. Collins was instrumental in last year’s state title game with three sacks and is now healthy after barely making it through last season and the season before. Hayden Sanders will return at quarterback, where he can muscle his way for three yards at will or air it out deep to receivers like Collins and Caleb New. Cole Ruby is now healthy after dealing with hip injuries during last year’s playoff run; he rushed for 1,500 yards last year. When Cole Ruby went down, Jude Archer turned into a force at the runningback position, getting 150 yards in the State Championship game. Ethan Lininger will return as the center, and Ryder Smyser will return to the line.
Archer, Bentin Roberts, Liam Cordell, Wyatt Scadden, Jace Burns, and Lance Runde will come over from Northeast Nodaway, and all will be expected to compete for key roles for the team. The Tigers will know right away whether they will be able to contend again. They will face Rock Port in Rock Port on week one on August 28th. The main change to their schedule this year will be the fact they are no longer hosting a jamboree. They will travel to East Atchison, where they will play EA and Nodaway Valley in Tarkio this Friday, August 21st at 7:00 pm. That will be a test for them as well, as the Thunder have one of the fastest receiving corps in eight man, and East Atchison also has some speed on their squad.
Among teams in the conference, King City still has Landon Carlson at quarterback. Albany always finishes in the upper half of the conference. The Cinderella team of the area will be Princeton, which joined forces with North Harrison; the Shamrocks will bring over leading quarterback Gage Fortner and 1,000+ yard runningback Wyatt Maize along with big linemen Henry Frank and Meric Hansel to compliment Mitchell Walker and a dangerous group of skill players like Bowe Ussery and Kash Holt.
The softball team will be playing the numbers game once again this year, with only 11 players out for the varsity. They have a solid group of upperclassmen in Megan Tracy, Kristen Tracy, Addison Gray, Keira Hardy, Audrey Runde, and Kambree Briner. The key will be to see if they can develop the lower part of their order. Two freshmen could help; Brooklyn Smith is one of the fastest players on the team, while Kaydence Downing has been a steady hand at softball as well. Teams to watch for this year include Princeton, Albany, Stanberry, King City, and Gilman City, which joined forces with Tri-County this year.
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