The ‘Rock’ trophy back home
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Mount Ayr 54, NV 0
It was a night to remember for the Raider football team as they opened the season with The Battle for the Rock once more.
Last year, the Raiders fell short of keeping The Rock trophy home, losing to Nodaway Valley 20-16, but a year later the Raiders made sure the trophy would come back to Mount Ayr after a dominating 54-0 win over the Wolverines.
“Nodaway Valley is a good team, they beat us last year but it feels really good to bring it home where it belongs.” said senior Jaixen Frost.
His teammate, Jaydon Knight, felt the same and was excited to bring the trophy back.
“It didn’t sit right with us, especially the seniors and older guys that played in that game,” said Knight. “It was good to come back and settle the score. Everyone contributed tonight.”
Mount Ayr started the contest off receiving the ball off a short kick in which Drew Ehlen returned the ball to the Mount Ayr 43 to give the Raiders great starting field position.
In only a few plays the Raiders moved down the field and Mount Ayr quarterback, Jaixen Frost, found sophomore receiver, Louden Main for six points in the endzone.
The Raiders looked polished in every facet of the game except the point after where Frost was given kicking duties in which he was two-for-four on the night.
On the next Raider drive, Braydon Pierson rushed for 45 yards on the outside.
The third drive of the game for Mount Ayr saw Frost scrambling and before being brought down, launched the ball deep down the middle of the field to Pierson who hauled it in for 39 yards and was brought down at the two.
“I saw Avery Phillipe coming through the line, he’s a great defensive end and he was running at me full blast,” said Frost. “My gameplan for the day was to get away from him. I skirted around him and saw Braydon was beating his man for just a bit and said here you go make a play.”
The Raiders would go on to score off the legs of Tyler Martin.
By halftime, the Raiders led the Wolverines 41-0.
In the second half, the Raiders substituted in the junior varsity, along with the freshman class, who put up 13 points to win the contest 54-0.
The Raiders amassed 294 total yards, including 170 on the ground and 124 in the air.
Frost was nine-for-11 in the air and threw for three touchdowns.
Frost spread the ball around with five different receivers.
Pierson had the longest catch of the night with his 39-yard catch, whereas Louden Main caught three for 23 yards and two touchdowns.
Jaydon Knight caught three for 27 yards and a score, including a stylish shovel pass that went for the score.
“The line made good adjustments and we knew they were going to blitz,” said Knight. “We played the gaps where we needed to.”
On the shovel pass, Frost credits baseball for being able to make those plays.
“I think it’s because baseball season is still here so it’s a pitch to second base for me, a little easier toss for me right now.” said Frost.
Knight admitted Frost shovel passes it plenty in practice.
“In practice this man shovel passed it to me at least three times,” said Knight.
On the ground the Raiders were led by Pierson who took the ball 10 times for 88 yards and two touchdowns.
Tate Dugan also found himself carrying the ball six times for 46 yards to help the Raiders while Martin ran seven times for 35 yards and one touchdown, and Jackson Ruggles found himself in the endzone late in the game on a one-yard run.
The Raider defense held strong against the Wolverine offense that was led by Dax Kintigh under center and Boston DeVault in the backfield.
The Raiders allowed only 26 total yards with 43 through the air, while -17 yards on the ground.
The Mount Ayr defense was led by Knight who had six tackles total, while Kash Wasteney and Tyler Martin each had two tackles for a loss.
Coach Ryan Victor was pleased with the outcome of the contest, after having given up a week 1 loss to the Wolverines just one year ago in his first outing as head coach of the Raiders.
“You have to protect your house,” said coach Victor. “It’s not about disliking the guys that come to your house, it’s about dealing with them the way you should. We came ready to play. It was great.”
Coach Victor expressed there is no where better to play than Mount Ayr, as he took in the crowd before and during the game.
“There’s nothing like it. I’m a small town guy, I grew up with an atmosphere like this and when this place gets going it’s really hard to stop us,” said Victor. “Our kids feed off that energy and I think there’s only a few places better to play than this and they are probably in [Class] 5A. Our community is great and that’s really half of what this program is.”
A lot of plays were made in the contest and coach Victor reflected on some of the bigger plays.
“It makes me look a lot smarter,” said coach Victor. “A lot of people gameplan for Jaixen and then you have to gameplan for 11 guys that makes it tough. When you have to defend guys like Jaydon Knight, Drew Ehlen, Braydon Pierson, Riley Stark and now Louden Main, Tyler Martin and Preston Fleharty that makes you really dangerous. Good players make coaches look really smart and that’s exactly what they are doing.”
The Raiders hit the road this Friday as they travel east to Leon to face the Central Decatur Cardinals.
Stats
1 2 3 4 F
MA 18 23 7 6 54
NV 0 0 0 0 0
Scoring
1st Quarter
8:51 – MA – Frost to Main 4-yd pass. PAT no good.
4:40 – MA – Pierson 45-yd rush. PAT no good.
2:23 – MA – Martin 2-yd rush. PAT no good.
2nd Quarter
9:07 – MA Pierson 3-yd rush. PAT no good.
4:16 – MA – Willis tackle for loss – Safety.
4:06 – MA – Fleharty 63-yd kick return. 2pt PAT good.
2:59 – MA – Frost to Main 11-yrd pass. PAT Good.
3rd Quarter
8:26 – MA – Frost to Knight 4-yd pass. PAT good.
4th Quarter
3:23 – MA – Ruggles 1-yd rush. PAT no good.
Team Statistics
1st Downs MA NV
Total 15 3
Rushing 11 1
Passing 4 2
Penalty 0 0
Rushing
Attempts 41 22
Gained 220 69
Lost 50 86
Net 170 -17
Passing
Completions 9 8
Attempts 12 24
Percentage 75 33
Intercepted 0 0
Net 124 43
Total Offense 294 26
Punts 2 4
Average 33 37.7
Return Yards
Punt Return 24 0
Kickoff 80 70
Int. Returns 0 0
Fumble Ret. 0 0
Fumbles 1 3
Fumbles lost 0 1
Penalties 3 6
Yards lost 24 28.5
Individual Statistics
Passing
Comp Att Yds
Frost 9 11 124
Ehlen 0 1 0
Rushing
Att. Gain Avg
Ehlen 1 0 0
Fooken 2 7 3.5
Weehler 1 0 0
Pierson 10 88 8.8
Martin 7 35 5
Frost 8 3 .38
Ruggles 1 1 1
K.Dugan 5 -10 -2
T.Dugan 6 46 7.6
Receiving
Rec Yds Avg
Ehlen 1 11 11
Pierson 1 39 39
Knight 3 27 9
Fleharty 1 24 24
Main 3 23 7.6
Tackles
S A Loss
Ehlen 1 1 0
Fooken 1 1 1
Stark 2 0 1
Martin 0 0 3
Ruggles 0 1 0
T.Dugan 2 1 0
Swank 0 0 1
Knight 5 1 0
Fleharty 2 2 0
Yoder 1 0 0
Willis 0 0 .5
Barnes 0 1 .5
Wasteney 0 0 2
Mate 1 0 0
Murphy 0 0 1
Main 1 0 0
Kick-Offs
Kicks Yds
Martin 1 39
Frost 7 264
T.Dugan 1 30
Punts
Kicks Yds
Pierson 2 66
Kick Return
Returns Yds
Ehlen 1 17
Fleharty 1 63
Fumbles
Recovery Yds
Knight 1 0
Willis 1 0
Barnes 1 0
Blocked Kicks
Number Yds
T.Dugan 1 0
