Raiders rock Central Decatur, 54-14
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Coming off of a tough loss at Madrid, the Mount Ayr Raider football team did not want to drop their second district loss last Friday at Central Decatur. There, the Raiders used a big first half and dominated the line of scrimmage to rack up a lot of yards on the ground in a 54-14 drubbing of the Cardinals.
A year ago, the Cardinals beat the Raiders in Mount Ayr on their way to the playoffs.
The Raiders beat Wayne and Nodaway Valley by a combined score of 85-12 in the first two weeks. The Cardinals came into the game coming off of a loss to North Mahaska in their district opener.
The Raiders used a big first half to capture a 54-14 win to move to 3-1. Central Decatur fell to 0-2 in district play and 2-2 overall. Mount Ayr is home against North Mahaska while the Cardinals will play at Martensdale-St. Mary’s Friday.
“We needed this win after the way we played the week before in our loss,” said Mount Ayr coach Ryan Victor. “We wanted to answer with better play this week to how we played the week before,” he said.
Victor said that it was important to not let one loss (Madrid), before two losses.
“We didn’t want to let a loss to Madrid become two losses. Then you are going in the opposite direction. We can’t live in the past and we have to keep going on the path of our goals. We are excited to see where we get,” said Victor.
The Raiders marched down the field on their opening possession and scored the first points of the game. A Dyson Thompson 19-yard run and Tyler Martin two-point conversion run gave the Raiders an early 8-0 lead. On their second drive, it was more of the same and the drive had the same result. With 8:25 left in the first quarter, Dyson Thompson scooted into the endzone for the second time from 19 yards out to set the score at 14-0. Another Martin conversion run extended the Raiders lead to 16-0.
In the early second quarter, Tyler Martin crossed the goal line from eight yards out seven seconds into the quarter. A conversion pass from Jackson Ruggles to Tate Dugan made the score 24-0 Raiders. On the next Cardinal drive, the Cardinals crossed the 50-yard line only to see the Raiders get a turnover when Rowan Sackett picked off a pass and he returned it 14 yards into Cardinal territory. Shortly after, the Raiders turned that interception into points on a 5-yard Jackson Ruggles 5-yard run to set the score at 30-0. The conversion run was no good with 9:29 left before halftime.
On the ensuing Cardinal drive, the Raiders defense produced another turnover. Cardinal quarterback Asher Norman was hit by Trace Knapp and stripped of the ball. Tate Dugan would pounce on it at the 10-yard line to set up the Raiders with a first and goal with 8:46 left before halftime. Martin would go in from 3-yards out for his second rushing score of the first half to extend the Raiders lead to 36-0 with 7:22 left before halftime.
On the ensuing drive, the Cardinals tried to pass the ball downfield, only to see Raider Jackson Ruggles intercept the ball and run it back for a touchdown from 31 yards out. The score gave the Raiders a 42-0 lead with 7:09 left before halftime.
Martin would add his third rushing score later in the quarter to give the Raiders a 48-0 lead, one they would take to halftime.
On the first Cardinals drive of the second half, the Raiders intercepted the Cardinals again and it was Ruggles again who would get an interception return for a touchdown. This one from 45 yards out to put the score 54-0 Raiders.
Central Decatur would score the final points of the game with touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters to set the final at 54-14.
Mount Ayr had over 300 yards of total offense. Quarterback Jackson Ruggles passed for 61 yards and a touchdown on four completions and rushed for 61 yards and another touchdown.
Tyler Martin had 51 yards on the ground and 3 touchdowns while Dyson Thompson led Raider rushers with 69 yards on 11 carries with a touchdown. Four different Raiders caught a pass with Thompson catching a 19-yard pass for a score.
Defensively, Mount Ayr was led by Rowan Sackett with 5 tackles.
Offensively, the Cardinals struggled in the game totaling 157 yards of total offense with 49 passing and 108 rushing yards. Cord Hamilton was a bright spot for the Cardinals in the game, rushing for 89 yards on 16 carries with a pair of touchdowns. Asher Norman passed for 49 yards on seven completions. Norman threw four interceptions in the game. Nash Dykes led the Cardinals with four receptions. Defensively, The Cardinals were led in tackles by Mason Allen with 7 and Nash Dykes with 4.
“What could go wrong, did,” said Central Decatur football coach Jon Pedersen.
“Our effort was good, Mount Ayr just was the better team Friday. We have four more opportunities that are guaranteed. We will go out and prepare the same and see what we can do,” he said.
The Raiders will return home to host North Mahaska on Friday for a district game with the Warhawks.
North Mahaska is having a fine season and is 3-1 coming into the game and is 2-1 in district games having beaten Martensdale-St. Mary’s and Central Decatur. The only district loss was to rival Lynnville-Sully in week two, 33-20.
North Mahaska has a two-way quarterback in senior Lucas Nunnikhoven. Nunnikhoven has passed for 611 yards on 39 completions with eight touchdown passes. He has also rushed for 320 yards on 36 carries for seven touchdowns and an 8.9-yard per-rush average.
Two other Warhawks have rushed for over 100 yards with juniors Charlie Goemaat with 200 yards on 43 carries and three scores and Gage Ries with 143 yards on 17 carries and two scores. As a team, North Mahaska has rushed for 774 yards with a 6.5-yard average.
Seniors Asher DeBoef and Hunter Wenil lead the receivers. DeBoef has 11 catches for 226 yards and four scores while Wernil has seven catches for 157 yards and two scores. Defensively, North Mahaska is led in tackles by Alex Meland with 27.5 and Trent Hol with 22.5. As a team, North Mahaska has 18 quarterback sacks and 60 tackles for loss.
Two different Warhawks have recovered fumbles and four different players have interceptions with two having four interceptions and two of the four having returned an interception for a touchdown.
“North Mahaska is very athletic. Their quarterback is back and he is shifty and can throw. They have their No. 1 receiver back too, and they have a tailback this year. The key for us Friday is that we will have to be disciplined and will have to slow down their pass rush when we have the football. They have caused some problems defensively to some teams so far,” said Victor.
Mount Ayr 54, Central Decatur 14
Friday, September 20 at Leon
1 2 3 4 Final
MA 16 32 6 0 54
CD 0 0 6 8 14
Scoring Summary:
1st Qtr (10:45) – MA – Dyson Thompson 19-yard run (Tyler Martin run)
1st Qtr (8:25) – MA – Dyson Thompson 19-yard run (Tyler Martin run)
2nd Qtr (11:53) – MA – Tyler Martin 8-yard run (Jackson Ruggles pass to Tate Dugan)
2nd Qtr (9:29) – MA – Jackson Ruggles 5-yard run (Conversion run no good)
2nd Qtr (7:22) – MA – Tyler Martin 3-yard run (Jackson Ruggles pass no good)
2nd Qtr (7:09) – MA – Jackson Ruggles 31-yard interception return (PAT no good)
2nd Qtr (4:47) – MA – Tyler Martin 3-yard run (PAT no good)
3rd Qtr (10:26) – MA – Jackson Ruggles 45-yard interception return (PAT no good)
3rd Qtr (6:01) – CD – Cord Hamilton 1-yard run (Conversion run no good)
4th Qtr (8:32) – CD – Cord Hamilton 4-yard run (Asher Norman pass to Paxon Applegate)
Individual Statistics:
Rushing: MA – Dyson Thompson 11-69, Jackson Ruggles 8-61, Tyler Martin 8-51, Tate Dugan 3-28, Bryson Martin 3-26, Drayden Thompson 2-8, Trace Knapp 1-7. CD – Cord Hamilton 16-89, Gavin Smith 4-5, Asher Norman 2-16, Mason Allen 2-0, Michael Jessen 1-(-2).
Passing: MA – Jackson Ruggles 4-for-4 61 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT’s. CD – Asher Norman 7-for-17 49 yards 0 TD’s, 4 INT’s.
Receiving: MA – Dyson Thompson 1-19, Tate Dugan 1-15, Isac Dugan 1-14, Tyler Martin 1-13. CD – Nash Dykes 4-8, Cord Hamilton 2-6, Paxon Applegate 1-35.
Defensive Statistics:
Tackles (S-A-T): MA – Rowan Sackett 4-1 5, Dyson Thompson 3-1.5 4.5, Trace Knapp 2-2 4, Trevin Victor 3-0 3, Jackson Ruggles 2-1 3, Garrett Walter 1-2 3, Tate Dugan 2-1 3, Nathan Roemer1-1.5 2.5, Tanner Streit 1-1.5 2.5, Drew Graham 1-1 2, Jaize Frost 1-0.5 1.5, Dylan Graham 1-0 1, Cordell Clemens 1-0 1, Logan Worthington 0-1 1, Bryson Martin 0-0.5 0.5, Tate Larson 0-0.5 0.5, Kash Wasteney 0-0.5 0.5.
CD – Mason Allen 5-2 7, Nash Dykes 4-0 4, Cord Hamilton 1-2.5 3.5, Paxon Applegate 2-1 3, Wyatt Hamaker 2-1 3, Kaleb Jensen 1-1.5 2.5, Tariq Miller 2-0 2, Gavin Smith 1-0 1, Kacyn Watson 1-0 1, Keaton Schuler 0-1 1, Jeffrey Richards 1-0 1.
Sacks: MA – Tanner Streit 1, Drew Graham 1, Ben Curry 1. CD – N/A.
Tackles For Loss: MA – Jackson Ruggles 1, Jaize Frost 1, Tanner Streit 1, Drew Graham 1, Cordell Clemens 1, Ben Curry 1. CD – N/A.
Fumble Recoveries: MA – Tate Dugan 1, Drew Graham 1. CD – none.
Interceptions: MA – Jackson Ruggles 3-121 yards, Rowan Sackett 1-14 yards. CD – none.
Kicking Statistics:
Kick-Offs: MA – Tanner Streit 6-186 yards, Kash Wasteney 3-101 yards. CD – N/A.
Kick-Off Returns: MA – Jackson Ruggles 1-33, Bryson Martin 1-10. CD – Paxon Applegate 2-12, Nash Dykes 2-5, Nolan Pierson 1-10.
Punts: MA – N/A. CD – Asher Norman 1-30 yards, 30.0-yard ave.
Punt Returns: MA – N/A. CD – N/A.
