Raiders fall in overtime heartbreaker
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An anticipated match-up between two ranked football teams lived up to the hype last Friday at Raider Field.
For Mount Ayr fans, however, the result was heartbreaking in the home opener. The Raiders fell, by one-point, 35-34 in overtime, losing their first game of the season, to fall to 2-1 and 0-1 in district play.
The Raiders will return home Friday to play Central Decatur (2-1) in the homecoming game.
Mount Ayr came to the game ranked No. 6 in the Radio Iowa Poll while Madrid was No. 4. After the game, Madrid stayed the same, while Mount Ayr fell to No. 9.
There will be big games left in the season and the district title wasn’t decided last Friday as big games coming up. None bigger than Friday’s game with the Cardinals.
“We told the guys that they did what we wanted to do and we came up short. Responding to the halftime challenge, playing physical, and running the football. Tonight doesn’t define our season. We will fix things and be ready to play Friday,” said Mount Ayr football coach Ryan Victory.
“They (Central Decatur) are a good football team and they will challenge us. Our guys are excited to play them. We want to respond to this week’s loss and try to get our goal of being 1-0 again this week,” said Victor. The Raider’s goal of being 1-0 each week is designed to focus on the current opponent and game in from of them.
Mount Ayr had 228 yards of total offense with 10 first downs in the game. The Raiders passed for 38 yards and rushed for 190. Eight of the ten first downs for Mount Ayr were on the ground. Three Raider rushers had ten or more carries. Tyler Martin led with 96 yards on 15 carries and a touchdown. Martin is tied with Madrid’s Preston Wicker for the rushing touchdown lead in Class A District 6 now with nine rushing scores. Tate Dugan rushed eleven times for 36 yards and Jackson Ruggles rushed for 51 yards on eleven yards and a touchdown. Dyson Thompson had five carries for 19 yards and had a pair of touchdowns.
Ruggles passed for 38 yards on 4-of-5 completions. He did not throw a touchdown or an interception in the game. Thompson had two catches to lead Mount Ayr. Defensively, the Raiders were led by Martin with 12 tackles and Ruggles with 10. Martin and Kash Wasteney each had fumble recoveries and Martin had a blocked kick in the game.
Madrid had 13 first downs and 313 yards of total offense. Madrid had eleven first downs on the ground in the game and had 223 rushing yards.
Preston Wicker led the Tigers in rushing with 180 yards on 21 carries and four touchdowns. Wicker had a per-rush average of 8.6. Wicker also passed for 91 yards in seven competitions with a touchdown. Six different Tigers caught passes in the game led by Kyle Kruckenberg with three receptions and a touchdown. Defensively, Madrid was led by Wicker with 9.5 tackles and Kruckenberg with eight tackles.
It took only 11 seconds for either team to score, and for the home fans, the game started with a bang.
Madrid kicked off and Raider return man Louden Main scooted down the near sideline for a 72-yard opening kick return touchdown. As Main ran past his teammates the excitement built all the way to the East endzone and a 7-0 Raider lead.
Madrid responded with a lengthy drive, nearly running the rest of the time off the clock in the opening quarter, tying the game with a 3-yard Preston Wicker 3-yard run with 2:54 left in the quarter.
Madrid would score the only points of the second quarter on Wicker’s second scoring run to take a 14-7 lead with 6:39 left before halftime.
The Raiders would tie the score at 14 with 4:48 left in the third quarter on a 2-yard touchdown run by Dyson Thompson.
A wild fourth quarter saw the Raiders and Tigers each score twice as the game would be tied at 28 at the end of regulation.
The Raiders grabbed a 20-14 lead 34 seconds into the final quarter on Thompson’s second scoring run, a 6-yard score. The Raiders tried for a two-point conversion but failed. The six-point lead held until the 5:25 mark of the game when Madrid would score on Wicker’s third touchdown run and the PAT gave the Tigers a one-point, 21-20 lead.
With their backs against the wall, facing a fourth and 1 with 1:15 left in the game and yards from taking the lead, the Raiders did just that as Tyler Martin crossed the goal line from one-yard out for a touchdown. Mount Ayr went for two points and Jackson Ruggles was able to score to put the score at 28-21 Raiders.
The Tigers, however, responded, with a big return on the ensuing kick-off setting them up with a good field position.
The Raider’s defense came up with a big sack on fist down putting the ball back near the 30-yard line. Madrid recovered however, marched down the field in 49 seconds, and scored the tying touchdown with ten seconds left on a Preston Wicker touchdown pass to Kyler Kruckenberg for two yards.
The Tigers got a big play in the passing game as Wicker connected with senior Jayce Fuson on a 59-yard pass that set up the tying score. It was Fuson’s only catch of the game. The score would be knotted at 28 and the game would go to overtime.
In overtime, the Tigers got the ball first and scored. Wicker scored hit fourth touchdown of the game as the Tigers took a 7-point lead after the PAT, 35-28. Mount Ayr didn’t flinch and scored the tying touchdown on a 3rd downplay when Jackson Ruggles rushed in from the right side nearly untouched for the score from the 7-yard line.
There was no doubt that the Raiders were going to go for the win. The Raiders lined up for the win. Ruggles rolled out to the right, found Jaize Frost wide open, and fired. Madrid saw the same thing, and a Tiger defender got a hand on the pass to deflect it just enough. The ball kept going, and Frost tried to bring it in, but the pass was incomplete as both he and another Tiger defender also trying to knock it away watched as the ball fell to the ground.
“We felt like if we scored in overtime, we would go for it. We did, and unfortunately didn’t make it,” said Victor.
“In the second half, we came out better and held our own more. We weren’t happy with how we played in the first half. We came out and changed that in the second half and started getting the push we needed,” he said. Victor added that the experience of a close game, despite the loss, was very valuable to his team.
“It was good for us and our kids to be in that type of a game with a lot at stake (tough opponent, close overtime game),” said Victor.
The Cardinals will come to town looking for their first win over the Raiders since 2017. The Raiders have won the last five meetings between the two schools. Only once in those games have the Cardinals scored more than two touchdowns in. The Raiders have won 12 of the last 15 meetings between the schools.
The Cardinals have a pair of senior stars in quarterback Sam Boothe and running back Kale Rockhold. Boothe has passed for 335 yards on 26 completions with three touchdowns. He also is the second-leading rusher on the team with 183 yards with a touchdown and a 4.7-yard average. Kale Rockhold is the leading rusher for Central Decatur with 225 yards, 3 touchdowns, and a 6.4-yard average. Receivers Nash Dykes and Paxon Applegate have combined to catch 15 passes for 241 yards and three touchdowns.
Victor said that the Cardinals will present some challenges for his team and a good week of practice is key this week.
“Central Decatur has some big kids up front and some decent size. They fire off the line and have shown they can be a physical team. We will have to be ready and that starts this week with practice. We have to be ready to play,” he said.
Madrid 35, Mount Ayr 34
Team Statistics:
MA
First Downs 10 13
Rush attempts 43 43
Rush yards 190 223
Pass C-A-I 4-5 0 6-12-0
Pass yards 38 90
Total Offense 228 313
Punts-Ave. 3-41 3-23.7
Penalties 4-35 2-10
Scoring Summary:
1st Qtr (11:49) MA – Louden Main 72-yard kick-off return (Tyler Martin kick)
1st Qtr (2:54) – M – Preston Wicker 3-yard run (Kyzer Springer kick)
2nd Qtr (6:39) – M – Preston Wicker 67-yard run (Kyzer Springer kick)
3rd Qtr (4:48) – MA – Dyson Thompson 2-yard run (Tyler Martin kick)
4th Qtr (11:22) – MA – Dyson Thompson 6-yard run (Thompson run no good)
4th Qtr (5:25) – M – Preston Wicker 3-yard run (Kyzer Springer kick)
4th Qtr (1:10) – MA – Tyler Martin 1-yard run (Jackson Ruggles run)
