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Helped by 32 points scored in the first quarter, a trip to Mount Ayr was unkind to the Nodaway Valley/OM football squad last Friday in its 2024 season opener.
The Raiders took a 46-6 halftime lead into the dressing room en route to a 58-6 Week 1 win in the annual rivalry game known as The Battle of the Rock. The win was the third straight for the Raiders in the series after the Wolverines won it 20-16 in 2021.
Despite the outcome, NV/OM co-head coach Jack West said his team was ready to go Friday night.
“We were amped up and it’s the first game of the year,” he said. “They haven’t had the seasons that they have wanted the last two years, and then this summer. I know the score may not ultimately show it, but we were fired up to go.”
The game started well for the Wolverines, as they forced a Mount Ayr turnover on the Raiders’ first possession. Senior defensive lineman Charles Rudolph recovered a forced fumble by the Wolverines after the Raiders tried to run the football through the interior of the Wolverine line. The turnover set the Wolverines up
“Getting an early turnover was huge for us,” West said. “Even though we didn’t score, when you have a program that hasn’t had success in a while, a fast start is key and we got that defensively.”
The Raiders settled down and scored touchdowns on their next three possessions on touchdown passes from Jackson Ruggles for a 20-0 lead.
Nodaway Valley/OM answered back with a big 63-yard touchdown pass from Eli Harris to receiver Keyin Steeve. Steeve had to battle a Raider defensive back for the football and timed his jump perfectly to haul the ball in and sprint the final 30 yards untouched for the touchdown.
The touchdown was the first in the first half of a game for NV/OM since a 36-34 loss at home to Panorama on October 14, 2022. The touchdown cut the Raider lead to 20-6 with 5:46 left in the first quarter.
The scoring wasn’t finished yet as Mount Ayr answered with a Ruggles 34-yard run to set the score at 26-6.
On the ensuing Wolverine possession, an NV turnover led to a Tate Dugan 21-yard scoop and score to put the score at 32-6. That would be the score after the first quarter.
A Ruggles 26-yard scoring run 24 seconds into the second quarter gave Mount Ayr a 38-6 lead. After a NV/OM defensive stand turned the football over back to the Wolverines, the Raider defense came up big. Starting their drive inside their own 5-yard line, the Wolverines fumbled the football in the endzone, which was recovered by Dylan Graham for a touchdown and a 46-6 lead. That score would stand at halftime and in the second half of the game, the mercy-rule running clock was activated.
Mount Ayr scored the only points in the game after halftime. Ruggles’ third scoring run in the third and a Bryson Marton scoring run in the fourth accounted for the points.
For the first time since the 2022 season, a Wolverine quarterback threw for at least 100 yards. Harris completed four passes in the game with Steeve catching two passes for 64 yards and a touchdown. Harris eclipsed his total passing yards all of last year with his game total. Ashton Honnold led the Wolverines in rushing with 18 yards on six carries. Garrett Welsch and Titus Hamer also carried the football. Honnold and freshman Titan Foster each had receptions.
Defensively, the team was led in tackles by Honnold with eight stops to go with three tackles for loss. Welsch had 5.5 tackles while Harris and Trent Warner each had five tackles. Warner also collected a pair of tackles for loss and the Wolverines’ only sack.
Mount Ayr had 531 yards of total offense in the game with 319 rushing and 212 passing yards. Ruggles passed for 198 yards on 7-for-8 attempts with three touchdowns and added 100 yards rushing on 12 carries and three more touchdowns. Dyson Thompson also topped the 100-yard mark for Mount Ayr with 117 yards on 11 carries. Dugan led Mount Ayr in receiving with 124 yards on four catches and two touchdowns. Tyler Martin and Loudein Main led Mount Ayr in tackles.
West said that he looks forward to seeing how the Wolverines’ work this week will pay off in Week 2.
“Most teams make jumps in their play between weeks one and two,” he said. “You can’t replicate other teams’ speed on film, and at times we got caught in bad positions. Every team makes a jump. We feel that way about our team. We want to clean up some fundamentals, whether it is tackling, snap exchanges or handoffs. Some of the kids saw that they could compete at the varsity level after our game. Some of the kids were disappointed with the outcome. We (coaches) need to get them back to work and get ready for this week.”
The Wolverines will host Central Decatur this week in their home opener and their second to-last non-district game. It will be the first of four home games this year for them.
The Wolverines will play three of their five district games at home this season including homecoming Friday, Sept. 27 against South Hamilton and senior night Friday, Oct. 18 against Ogden.
Central Decatur graduated six all-district players from Class A, District 6 last year, including a first-team quarterback and running back on offense and a defensive lineman and defensive utility player. The Cardinals return all-state defensive back Nash Dykes, who had 10 interceptions for 83 yards and a touchdown last year along with 29 tackles. His interception total led the state in any class last year. Dykes is also the team’s top receiver from a year ago, after having 32 receptions for 359 yards and a touchdown. Also back are second team all-district players Cord Hamilton, Mason Allen, Paxon Applegate, and Tariq Miller. Miller is a recent University of Wyoming commitment.
Last week the Cardinals fell at home to Earlham 41-12. The two teams played twice last year with Earlham winning the regular season contest, but Central Decatur exacted revenge with a win in the Class A playoffs. The Cardinals fell in the next round to 2023 state quarterfinalist Madrid.
The Cardinals have a new quarterback in junior Asher Norman, who passed for 111 yards and a touchdown on 12 completions. Senior Gavin Smith led Central Decatur in rushing with 28 yards on nine carries with a touchdown. Paxon Applegate caught the only touchdown and had three receptions for 27 yards in the game.