October 2024

In weeks four and five, the Slater Wildcats outscored their opponents 166-0 on the gridiron.But in week seven, the Hardin-Central/Norborne Aggies stymied the Wildcats’ offense.The Aggies grabbed the lead early in the first quarter and Slater never caught up.The Aggies finished the game by scoring the final 36 points in a 60-12 victory to spoil Slater’s homecoming.The Aggies rolled up 310 yards of offense and held Slater to 162.Hardin-Central/Norborne led 24-12 after the first quarter, 34-12 at the half and 54-12 with a quick-clock fourth quarter to go.The Aggies scored eight touchdowns, including six on the ground.

In a battle that went right down to the wire, Jeff Holtzman’s Sweet Springs Greyhounds came up two points shy last Friday night.The Greyhounds, who overcame a 20-point third quarter deficit to tie the game 48-48, nearly erased a 14-point deficit in the final 4 minutes, but eventually lost, 62-60, at Saint Paul last Friday night.Trailing by 14 in the fourth quarter, sophomore quarterback Drayton Hampton connected with junior Joey Rapp on a 26-yard scoring play with 3 minutes, 44 seconds left in regulation.However, the ‘Hounds misfired on the two-point conversion attempt.The ‘Hounds’ defense then rose to the occasion and stopped Saint Paul’s offense.Hampton, who passed for 191 yards, zeroed in junior Jason Gonzalez on a 38-yard scoring play to get the ‘Hounds within two.But after a delay-of-game infraction moved the ball back to the 8, Hampton’s pass for two to Joey Rapp was just off target.With 1:22 left in regulation, the ‘Hounds were forced to try an onside kick, and the ball didn’t travel the necessary 10 yards and went out of bounds.The Saints successfully ran out the clock and preserved the I-70 Division victory.Despite the loss, Holtzman saw marked improvement by his team.“It was a fantastic effort by both teams,” he said.

Ka’Von Tiger was very difficult for the Marshall Owls to contain.Moberly’s junior running back amassed nearly 200 yards and four touchdowns in less than 10 carries, leading the Spartans to a 42-8 North Central Missouri Conference victory last Friday night, pleasing the Spartans’ homecoming crowd.Owls’ head coach Ian Verts said it came down to fundamentals.“We didn’t tackle very well, and we didn’t finish drives,” Verts said.The Spartans scored two quick touchdowns in the first quarter to go up 14-0.But the Owls showed some resilience by driving the ball into the Red Zone.

First-year Missouri Valley College football head coach Casey Creehan couldn’t have drawn up what happened any better than it played out in the first half at nationally ranked Baker last Saturday.The Vikings controlled most of the first 30 minutes and led 16-6 at the break.But the second half, the Valley offense had trouble moving the ball, and the Wildcats rallied to score 20 unanswered points and claim a 26-16 victory.It was the Wildcats’ sixth straight win in the series over Valley.