This week, the Missouri Eight Man Coaches Association asked which Missouri eight man game was the best anybody had ever seen. Here are some of the posts from readers, along with some of our picks, in no particular order:
2020 North Shelby 94, Pattonsburg 88 – Pattonsburg put together a frantic rally in the fourth quarter to make this one close. This game showed that the teams outside the Highway 275 and the Grand River Conference had arrived.
2015 Stanberry 46, North Andrew 42 – Stanberry made a goal line stand with seven seconds left to clinch the state title. They played many good games against each other during that stretch.
2011 Mound City 50, St. Joseph Christian 48 – The Panthers had the Lions’ number in previous years, but Christian almost pulled off this state semifinal game. Down six with less than a minute left, Mound City ran back a kick to tie and converted the extra points to win it and go back to state.
1988 Miami 22, North Andrew 14 – The Eagles were the Cinderella team that year, on a roll after dropping their first seven games. They invaded North Andrew for the right to go to state and the Cardinals were threatening to tie, aided by three offsides penalties. But the Eagles held and went on to go to the first ever Eight Man State Title Game.
2003 Mound City 20, West Nodaway 18 – Mound City marched down the field by completing several passes in a row from Zach Scarbrough to Zach Sharp and scored on a quarterback sweep by Scarbrough as time expired to get the win.
2018 North Andrew 56, South/Nodaway-Holt 54 – In this district playoff game, the Spartans came from a long ways down and were driving for what would have been the winning score. But North Andrew intercepted them in the end zone to preserve the win.
2018 Mound City 36, Worth County 32 – Worth County led much of the way after digging themselves into a 14-0 hole early, but Mound City completed a long pass in the last minute to set up their winning score.
2020 North Andrew 50, Albany 46 – North Andrew would go on to play in the State Championship game, but this game was a big confidence booster for Albany, who felt they could finally play with the big boys. Unfortunately, COVID shut down their season.
1990 Worth County 18, Mound City 12 – Nobody expected Worth County to win more than one or two games that year, but the Tigers made a goal line stand at the 1 yard line against a good Panther squad to get their first ever eight man win. This was the first of many such games between the two schools.
1995 Worth County over South Holt – South Holt was the powerhouse team of the early 1990’s, and games in that decade between the two schools were just as intense. Worth County made a late goal line stand against the Knights to preserve the win, and would go on to win their first ever state title.
2001 Worth County 48, Miami 40 – The Eagles had a star runningback and plenty of other weapons to challenge Worth County with. But the Tigers got ahead and then kept scoring to hold off Miami. With one minute left, Tiger Quarterback Chris Healy dove ahead for a first down to preserve Worth County’s third state title in four years.
1989 North Nodaway 24, West Nodaway 18 – The Rockets built up an 18-0 lead in the first half, but then North Nodaway chipped away, finally taking the lead in the fourth quarter as they bent, but didn’t break on defense. Finally, they used a late interception to preserve the win. They would go on to win state that year.
2007 Worth County 30, Mound City 22 – Worth County fell behind in this district semifinal game, but Logan Dignan, a reserve who ran out onto the field when Coach Borey needed an end, made a key one on one tackle on dual threat Taylor Sharp on an extra point try to keep Worth County’s deficit at one possession. Worth County took the lead in the third quarter, only for Mound City to tie it at 22. But in the closing seconds, a Drew Yarmer punt return set up a Kyler Hiatt run to put the Tigers ahead.
2019 Southwest Livingston 74, Pattonsburg 68 – This game featured one of the best all-time passers in Steven Willhite against one of the best all-time rushers in Mack Anderson. The game followed the South Shelby script; Pattonsburg got behind by a long ways, but then came to within six points before Southwest picked off Willhite in the end zone in the closing seconds to preserve the win.
2019 North/West Nodaway 58, LeBlond 52 – The Muskets moved up and down the field against LeBlond, as Karson Oberhauser broke the North Nodaway school single game rushing record, getting over 300 yards rushing. But LeBlond had a chance to win it at the end, driving down to the Musket 5 in the closing seconds before Tyler Bix got a pick in the end zone to preserve the win. This ended a 20 game losing streak for the Muskets.
2011 Sacred Heart 31, Mound City 26 – Sacred Heart, a Nebraska powerhouse, became the first team in six years besides Worth County to beat Mound City as they held them off in the final seconds.
1996 Stanberry 20, West Nodaway 12 – West Nodaway was supposed to be a juggernaut that year, but this was a big breakthrough win for Dan Collins’ squad. This was the year they established themselves as an eight man power.
2006 North Nodaway 26, West Nodaway 20 – West Nodaway had just beaten Worth County two weeks before, and just had to win in order to get into the playoffs. But North Nodaway, who was battered and bruised following a 38-24 loss to Worth County the week before, rose to the occasion and denied the Rockets. Worth County would beat Stanberry to get into the playoffs, where they would go on to become state runner-up.
