Raiders beat Shenandoah to open 2025
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By Ryan Stonebraker
MOUNT AYR – The Mount Ayr Raiders had a battle on their hands for their 2025 season opener. The Raiders hosted Shenandoah in the first of eight games this fall in non-district play. The result was a 26-14 hard fought win against a physical team. Head coach Ryan Victor said he was happy they had to play a four-quarter game.
“We wanted to schedule a team that we knew would challenge us for four quarters. We could have played a team and won big, but we have a good football team this year and we need those tough games so that will give us experience in what we hope to play in those big games in October,” said Victor.
The Raiders are coming off of a playoff season and one where they expect to be in contention for another postseason run.
“That’s why we wanted to schedule them. We wanted to play a four-quarter football game. They exposed some of our weaknesses and it was good to see if we fixed them from the Creston scrimmage to the Gatorade game,” he said.
Mount Ayr established their running game early and often in the victory and rushed for 320 yards on 50 carries with a 6.4-yard per rush average. Four rushers had 45 or more yards in the game. Adler Reed rushed for 107 yards on eight carries and Jackson Rugggles rushed for 93 yards on 12 carries with each scoring touchdowns. Tate Dugan and Dyson Thompson added 69 and 47 yards. Four different Raiders caught a pass from Ruggles who had 65 yards on three pass completions and a touchdown. Dyson Thompson caught that touchdown and had 13 yards. Defensively, Mount Ayr was led in tackles by Jackson Ruggles who had 8.5 including eight solo stops. Rowan Sackett added 7.5 tackles. Reed had the only fumble recovery in the game for the Raiders.
Shenandoah had 310 yards of total offense with more passing yards than rush yards. Joe O’Rourke completed 12 passes for 195 yards and rushed for 52 yards on 12 carries and had a touchdown. O’Rourke found four different receivers with Cole Graham catching a team high six passes for 78 yards. Defensively, Hayden Rousch led the Mustangs in tackles with 9.5 while Carter Sells had 6.5, and Ethan Laughlin had 6.
Mount Ayr scored the first points of the game with 6:41 left in the opening quarter on a 13-yard Jackson Ruggles scoring pass to Dyson Thompson. The conversion pass was no good, but the Raiders led 6-0. On the ensuing Mustangs drive, Shenandoah scored on a short running play to take a 7-6 lead.
Mount Ayr took the lead back early in the second quarter on a 77-yard fumble recovery touchdown by Adler Reed to set the score at 12-7, 45 seconds into the second quarter. By halftime, the Mustangs would grab the lead going into halftime, scoring their second touchdown with 10 seconds left in the half to put the score at 14-12.
Mount Ayr would score the only points in the second half with a touchdown in each of the quarters to score 14 unanswered points to secure a big 25-14 win.
The Raiders have a stiff test this week when they play on the road at Riverside. The Bulldogs began the season ranked No. 4 in the Radio Iowa Class A football poll. However, after a week one loss to Treynor 42-8, they dropped out of the rankings. It will be the first time the two teams have met since the 2021 season. Riverside was 7-3 last season and made the playoffs. The Bulldog program has only had three seasons since 2007 with six or more wins with last year being the most recent.
Victor said that his team has to really focus this week on the task at hand as Riverside will be looking to flush their week 1 loss and get a leg up in district play.
“This is a big game. After this, we play AC/GC in week 4. Riverside doesn’t play them (AC/GC) until later, so this will be an important game in the district race. Riverside is going to be ready to play. They are physical and they have high expectations. They had a really good wrestling season last winter, and we have to prepare to be our best Friday night,” he said.
Mount Ayr was one of four district 7 teams to win their season opener last week. The others were AC/GC, Central Decatur, and Southwest Valley. Mount Ayr will continue their short two-game road trip next week in week 3 when they play at Pleasantville. The Raiders are back home on September 19 when state ranked AC/GC is in town.
Scoring Summary:
1st Qtr (6:41) – MA – Jackson Ruggles 13-yard pass to Dyson Thompson (Jackson Ruggles pass no good)
1st Qtr (6:06) – SHEN – Aiden Buttry 8-yard run (Teagan Bruck kick)
2nd Qtr (11:15) – MA – Adler Reed 77-yard fumble recovery (Drayden Thompson run no good)
2nd Qtr (0:10) – SHEN – Joe O’Rourke 2-yard run (Teagan Bruck kick)
3rd Qtr (5:21) – MA – Jackson Ruggles 52-yard run (Tate Dugan run no good)
4th Qtr (6:56) – MA – Adler Reed 85-yard run (Drayden Thompson run no good)
Individual Statistics:
Rushing: S – Joe O’Rourke 12-52, Aiden Buttry 7-32, Zane McManis 6-31, Lulus Major 1-0. MA – Tate Dugan 16-69, Jackson Ruggles 12-93, Dyson Thompson 12-47, Adler Reed 8-107, Drayden Thompson 2-4.
Passing: S – Joe O’Rourke 12-for-32 195 yards, 0 TD’s, 0 INT’s. MA – Jackson Ruggles 3-for-9 65 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT; Drayden Thompson 1-for-1 6 yards, 0 TD’s, 0 INT’s.
Receiving: S – Cole Graham 6-78, Zane McManis 3-55, Treyvein Thompson 2-64, Hayden Roush 1-(-2). MA – Tate Dugan 1-32, Adler Reed 1-20, Dyson Thompson 1-13, Jackson Ruggles 1-6.
Defensive Statistics:
Tackles (S-A-T): S – Hayden Roush 7-2.5 9.5, Carter Sells 4-2.5 6.5, Ethan Laughlin 4-2 6, Levi Rystrom 2-2.5 4.5, Zane McManis 2-2.5 4.5, Aiden Buttry 4-0.5 4.5, Cole Graham 2-2 4, Lukus Major 3-1 4, William Berning 0-2.5 2.5, Treyvein Thompson 1-1 2, Quinten Gough 1-1 2, Matthew Moutray 1-0.5 1.5, Joe O’Rourke 1-0 1, Charles Liles 0-0.5 0.5, Beau Sample 0-0.5 0.5, Owen Nokes 0-0.5.
MA – Jackson Ruggles 8-0.5 8.5, Rowan Sackett 7-0.5 7.5, Tate Dugan 3-1 4, Tanner Streit 3-1 4, Bracken Collier 2-1 3, Trace Knapp 2-0.5 2.5, Drayden Thompson 1-0.5 1.5, Dyson Thompson 1-0.5 1.5, Bryson Martin 1-0 1, Tate Larson 1-0 1, Ben Curry 1-0 1, Adler Reed 0-0.5 0.5, Nathan Roemer 0-0.5 0.5, Drew Graham 0-0.5 0.5, Logan Worthington 0-0.5 0.5.
Sacks: S – none. MA – none.
Tackles for loss: S – Levi Rystrom 1, Aiden Buttry 1, Hayden Roush 1, Ethan Laughlin 0.5, William Berning 0.5. MA – Bracken Collier 2, Jackson Ruggles 1.
Fumbles: S – Hayden Roush 1, Aiden Buttry 1. MA – Adler Reed 2.
Interceptions: S – Treyvein Thompson 1-0 yards. MA – none.
Kicking Statistics:
Kick-Offs: S – N/A. MA – N/A.
Kick-Off Returns: S – N/A. MA – N/A.
Punts: S – Joe O’Rourke 4-168 yards, 42.0-yard ave. MA – Drayden Thompson 1-8.
Punt Returns: S – N/A. MA – Tate Dugan 3-91 yards, 30.3-yard ave.
