Raiders earn playoff spot
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Mount Ayr whips Lynnville-Sully 38-18 in home finale
The Mount Ayr Raiders will be playing postseason football again this season.
This comes after a big 38-18 win at home on senior night over Lynnville-Sully.
The Raiders clinched at least the runner-up playoff spot with the win however, the playoff foe will have to wait. The Raiders sit at the second position in Class A District 6 at 4-1 and hold the tiebreakers over Wayne and Lynnville-Sully in the event of a tie in the final district standings.
The win saw the Raider’s record in district swell to 4-1 and overall to 5-2. This week, the Raiders will face state-ranked AC/GC in Guthrie Center before wrapping the regular season in week 8 at district-foe Martensdale-St. Mary’s.
“We reached one of our goals to make the playoffs,” said Mount Ayr football coach Ryan Victor.
“We are excited to play our game this week. It’s our last non-district game and we need to see where we are against a very good AC/GC team. We played twice last year and I thought we closed the gap between us in the second game. I am excited to see if we can close the gap even further this year,” he said.
The first quarter looked like a shoot-out would ensue after each team scored their first touchdowns within minutes of each other.
The Raiders scored the first points on their first drive. A Jackson Ruggles 2-yard run and Dyson Thompson conversion run gave the Raiders an 8-0 lead 1:06 into the game.
The Hawks would use a big play pass to get on the scoreboard first when Connor Deal connected with Jack Bowlin for a 95-yard scoring pass to set the score at 8-6. The Hawk conversion was no good, but the tone of the game was set.
Tate Dugan made a 29-yard scoring run in the second quarter. PHOTO BY COURTNEY ADAMS.
The Raiders got hot in the second quarter, scoring twice and getting a big defensive score. A safety early in the second quarter extended the Raider’s lead to 10-6. Tate Dugan followed with a 29-yard scoring run with 10:47 and Tyler Martin added a 5-yard scoring run with 6:58 left in the half to give the Raiders a 26-6 lead. The Hawks would trim the Mount Ayr lead to 26-12 at halftime after a Deal scoring pass for 8 yards to Terran Gosselink late in the half.
Neither team scored in the third quarter as the game stood at 26-12 going to the fourth. In the fourth, the Hawks made it interesting, pulling the game to within one score with 10:07 left in the game when Deal connected for his second 90-plus-yard scoring pass. This one to Gosselink for 97 yards to set the score at 26-18.
Mount Ayr wouldn’t get rattled though. The Raiders controlled the football from there, scoring two more times in the game final 6:21 on a 20-yard Tyler Martin run and later on a Tate Dugan 2-yard run to set the score at its final margin of 38-18.
“We wanted to establish our running game early and I thought we did,” said Victor. “Since week 3 we have really played physical football up front on our offensive and defensive lines and I think that has helped us a lot,” he said. The Raiders are 3-0 in those games and have not scored fewer than 38 points in the wins or rushed for fewer than 243 yards in any of the games including rushing for over 350 yards in one game.
“We want to be physical and play fast, and I think when we do that, we are a very tough football team to play,” said Victor.
Offensively, Mount Ayr had 389 yards of total offense with 92 passing and 297 rushing yards. The rushing yard total gave the Raiders the district lead at 1,632 so far with two games remaining.
The game featured the top-2 teams in the district in all-purpose yards. After the game, the Raiders led with 2,715 while the Hawks were next with 2,255. The Hawks lead the district in passing yards.
Jackson Ruggles passed for 92 yards on six completions and rushed for 62 yards on 14 carries with a touchdown. Tate Dugan led the Raider rushing attack with 97 yards on 12 carries and two touchdowns. Tyler Martin had 74 yards on 11 carries and two scores and Dyson Thompson rushed for 62 yards on 14 carries. All five of the Raiders touchdowns were rushing scores.
The Raiders are at the top of the district in total touchdowns scored. Martin caught three passes for 50 yards to lead Raider receivers.
Jackson Ruggles comes up with the ball in the Raiders 38-18 win Friday night. PHOTO BY COURTNEY ADAMS.
Defensively, Mount Ayr was led by Tyler Martin with 7 tackles and Garrett Walter with 4.5. The Raiders intercepted three passes in the game, one each from Trevin Victor, Jackson Ruggles, and Rowan Sackett. The Raiders got pressure on the Hawk offensive line, collecting three sacks, one each from Walter, Tate Dugan, and Drew Graham.
Hawk quarterback Connor Deal was starting his second game in a row after an injury to senior starter Lannon Montgomery (729 yards, 6 TD’s). Deal passed for 243 yards and three touchdowns on 11 completions in the game. He also rushed for 18 yards. Deal has played in two games and had 462 yards passing on 24 completions with five touchdown passes this season. Two Hawk receivers topped the 100-yard mark and each had 3 catches. Terran Gosselink had 121 yards and two touchdowns and Jack Bowlin had 110 yards and one touchdown.
The Raiders now get to play a game they have had on their minds for a while. The AC/GC Chargers are the foe this week, in Guthrie Center. The Chargers are ranked anywhere from the top team in Class A to anywhere in the top-3 by statewide media polls. The two teams met twice last year with AC/GC winning both contests including the second in the Class A playoffs.
AC/GC is 6-0 and the leaders of Class A District 7. They had two close games: a week 2 win over Earlham 28-21 and a week 5 win at Riverside, 50-42. AC/GC and Mount Ayr are No. 1 and No. 2 in Class A in team rushing yards and No. 5 and No. 7 statewide in any class.
Senior quarterback Jathan South has passed for 313 yards and six touchdowns and is second on the team in rushing with 788 yards on 76 carries with 15 touchdowns. Mike Fuller is the leading rusher with 792 yards on 105 carries and eight touchdowns. Joe Crawford adds 569 yards on 57 carries and five touchdowns. Crawford is the top receiver with seven catches for 93 yards and two touchdowns.
Mount Ayr 38, Lynnvivlle-Sully 18
Friday, October 4 at Mount Ayr
1 2 3 4 Final
L-S 6 6 0 6 18
MA 8 18 0 12 38
Scoring Summary:
1st Qtr (10:54) MA – Jackson Ruggles 2-yard run (Dyson Thompson run)
1st Qtr (6:12) – LS – Jack Bowlin 95-yard pass from Connor Deal (Connor Deal pass no good)
2nd Qtr (11:13) – MA – Connor Deal fumbled snap, Mount Ayr safety
2nd Qtr (10:47) – MA – Tate Dugan 29-yard run (Tate Dugan run)
2nd Qtr (6:58) – MA – Tyler Martin 5-yard run (Jackson Ruggles pass to Tyler Martin)
2nd Qtr (2:33) – LS – Terran Gosselink 8-yard pass (Connor Deal pass to Michael Spooner)
4th Qtr (10:07) – LS – Terran Gosselink 97-yard pass (Connor Deal pass no good)
4th Qtr (6:21) – MA – Tyler Martin 20-yard run (Dyson Thompson run no good)
4th Qtr (1:19) – MA – Tate Dugan 2-yard run (Tate Dugan run no good)
Individual Statistics:
Rushing: LS – Connor Deal 8-17, Gavin Fisk 7-16, Matthew Mintle 2-12, Terran Gosselink 1-7, Wyatt Mathis 1-(-10). Mount Ayr – Dyson Thompson 17-69, Jackson Ruggles 14-67, Tate Dugan 12-99, Tyler Martin 11-74, Trevin Victor 1-1.
Passing: LS – Connor Deal 11-for-28 243 yards 3 TD’s, 3 INT’s. Mount Ayr – Jackson Ruggles 6-for-8 92 yards 0 TD’s, 0 INT’s; Tyler Martin 0-for-1 0 yards 0 TD’s, 0 INT’s.
Receiving: LS – Terran Gosselink 3-121, Jack Bowlin 3-110, Michael Spooner 2-10, Matthew Mintle 2-2, Gavin Fisk 1-0. Mount Ayr – Tyler Martin 3-50, Trevin Victor 1-40, Tate Dugan 1-5, Dyson Thompson 1-(-3).
Defensive Statistics:
Tackles: (S-A-T): LS – Dawson James 11-4 15, Gavin Fisk 8-2.5 10-5, Terran Gosselink 5-2.5 7.5, Michael Spooner 5-1.5 6.5, Jack Bowlin 5-0.5 5.5, Matthew Mintle 5-0 5, Carson Maston 3-1.5 4.5, Jaiden Richards 2-0 2, Kimball Elliott 1-0.5 1.5, Ben Squires 1-0 1, Wyatt Mintle 1-0 1.
Mount Ayr – Tyler Martin 7-0 7, Garret Walter 4-0.5 4.5, Bracken Collier 2-1.5 3.5, Tate Dugan 3-0.5 3.5, Rowan Sackett 1-1.5 2.5, Dyson Thompson 1-1.5 2.5, Drayden Thompson 1-0.5 1.5, Drew Graham 1-0 1, Jaize Frost 1-0 1, Jackson Ruggles 0-0.5 0.5.
Tackles For Loss: LS – Dawson James 3, Michael Spooner 2, Gavin Fisk 2, Terran Gosselink 1
MA – Drew Graham 1, Tate Dugan 1, Garrett Walter 1, Drayden Thompson 1.
Sacks: Michael Spooner 1, Gavin Fisk 1. MA – Drew Graham 1, Tate Dugan 1, Garrett Walter 1.
Interceptions: LS – none. MA – Rowan Sackett 1-23, Jackson Ruggles 1-0, Trevin Victor 1-0.
Kicking Statistics:
Kick-Offs: LS – Dawson James 4-139 yards, Wyatt Mathis 1-57 yards. MA – Tanner Streit 5-179 yards, Tate Dugan 1-22 yards.
Kick-Off Returns: LS – Jack Bowlin 2-41, Dawson James 2-30, Gavin Fisk 1-15, Matthew Mintle 1-10. MA – none.
Punts: LS Wyatt Mathis 3-106 yards, 35.3-yard ave. MA – Tate Dugan 4-143 yards, 35.8-yard ave.
Punt Returns: LS – Jack Bowlin 1-10, Matthew Mintle 1-1. MA – Trevin Victor 3-31, Bryson Martin 2-16, Tate Dugan 1-20, Jackson Ruggles 1-17, Louden Main 1-9.
