Rock Trophy stays with Raiders

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By Ryan
Stonebraker

GREENFIELD, Iowa – The annual ‘Battle for the Rock’ trophy game ended how the previous three match-ups had been, a Mount Ayr win. Last Friday, the Raiders blitzed Nodaway Valley on the road with 35 first quarter points in a 47-6 victory in Greenfield that kept the trophy in Mount Ayr.
Mount Ayr won its third straight game in district 7 and are 3-2 going into their week 8 district game against Southwest Valley. The Timberwolves are 2-3 in district 7 and 3-4 overall while the Raiders improved to 4-3 overall with the win over Nodaway Valley, which fell to 1-6 overall and finished the 2025 District 7 season with a 1-5 record. The Wolverines will play their week 8 contest at non-district foe Martensdale-St. Marys on Friday.
“We prepared well last week with energy at practice,” Mount Ayr head coach Ryan Victor said. “We have had them buy in and get better at their craft. We felt good about what the result would be.
“I was happy with how we took advantage of their miscues. It gave us a good start and we didn’t let up.  We talk about taking advantage of opportunities that are presented and we were able to overwhelm them up front.”
Mount Ayr had 323 yards of total offense in the game with 88 passing and 235 rushing yards. Jackson Ruggles passed for 85 yards on 3-of-4 completions. The senior quarterback was also the Raiders top rusher with 85 yards and a touchdown. Dyson Thompson and Tate Dugan added 54 and 52 yards rushing respectively. Thompson rushed for three touchdowns and Dugan two scores. Adler Reed caught a pair of passes for 46 yards and had one touchdown.
Defensively, Mount Ayr had a pair of sacks and 10 tackles for loss. Rowan Sackett and Bracken Collier led in tackles with five each and Logan Worthington had four. The three linemen also combined for seven tackles for loss.
The Raiders scored the first points of the game with 8:25 left in the opening quarter on a 2-yard scoring run by Thompson. After a Wolverine turnover on the ensuing drive, Mount Ayr added a Dugan 2-yard score to take a 13-0 lead with 7:21 left in the quarter. Mount Ayr would add a 65-yard Ruggles scoring run, followed by a Ruggles 41-yard scoring pass to Reed, and a Thompson 24-yard score over the final 4:55 of the quarter to take a 35-0 lead into the second quarter.
Mount Ayr would take a 41-0 lead into halftime after Thompson’s third rushing score with 1:55 left before halftime. Mount Ayr extended their lead to 47-0 with 7:20 left in the third quarter on a Dugan rushing score. Nodaway Valley would score its only points in the game with 4:16 left in the third quarter on a 13-yard scoring run by Caleb Christensen.
The Wolverines will play Martensdale-St. Marys Friday. The Blue Devils are 2-5 and come into the game having lost four of their last five games including a 54-20 loss to Madrid.
Nodaway Valley had 61 yards of total offense in the game with 20 passing and 41 rushing yards.  Titan Foster passed for 20 yards and was hounded all game by the Raiders pass rush. Foster was limited to two completions on 13 pass attempts and threw one interception. The Wolverines ground game was led by juniors Erik Jensen and Caleb Christensen. Jensen rushed for 41 yards and Christensen 24 yards and a touchdown. Both Christensen and Keyin Steeve caught passes in the game.
Defensively, Christensen had a team-leading 10 tackles with seven solo stops. Ashton Honnold had six tackles and one tackle for loss and Keyin Steeve and Matthew Rudolph each had five tackles.
Mount Ayr will host the Southwest Valley Timberwolves this week. SW Valley comes into the game with a 3-4 record. The Timberwolves starting quarterback, senior Wyatt Mendenhall, was injured earlier this season and will not play in the game. Sophomore Wyatt Shires guides the offense after passing for 502 yards on 35 completions with three touchdown passes and four interceptions. Senior Cael Hogan is the top rusher with 262 yards on 70 carries and three touchdowns. Senior receiver Gavin Wetzel leads in catches with 26 and receiving yards with 494 and has four touchdown catches.  Defensively, Southwest Valley is led by Wetzel with 39.5 and Hogan with 32.
“We want to continue to improve and play for each other,” Victor said. “They (SW Valley) have a quarterback that can make plays. He also can run and we will need to control the line of scrimmage.”

Mount Ayr 47,
Nodaway Valley 6
Friday, October 10
At Greenfield
1  2  3  4  Final
MA 36 6  6  0  47
NV 0  0  6  0  6

Scoring Summary:
1st Qtr (8:25) – MA – Dyson Thompson 2-yard run (Drew Graham kick)
1st Qtr (7:26) – MA – Tate Dugan 3-yard run (Drew Graham kick no good)
1st Qtr (4:55) – MA – Jackson Ruggles 65-yard run (Adler Reed run)
1st Qtr (2:41) – MA – Jackson Ruggles 41-yard pass to Adler Reed (Drew Graham kick no good)
1st Qtr (0:11) – MA – Dyson Thompson 29-yard run (Jackson Ruggles run)
2nd Qtr (1:55) – MA – Dyson Thompson 4-yard run (Drew Graham kick no good)
3rd Qtr (7:20) – MA – Tate Dugan 6-yard run (Drew Graham kick no good)
3rd Qtr (4:16) – NV – Caleb Christensen 13-yard run (Ashton Honnold kick no good)

Team Statistics:

MA  NV
First Downs  12     4
Rushes-yards      31-249 | 22-80
Pass C-A-I  4-5-0  2-13-1
Pass yards  88  20
Total Offense 323  100
Punts-Ave.  1-62.0  4-28.0
Return yards  25  11
Fumbles-lost  0-0  0-0
Penalties-yards 2-30  6-32.5

Individual Statistics:
Rushing: MA – Dyson Thompson 6-54, Adler Reed 5-11, Bryson Martin 5-11, Jackson Ruggles 2-85, Draydene Thompson 2-9, Trace Knapp 2-7, Nathan Roemer 2-6, Keaton Swank 1-0.  NV – Caleb Christensen 9-24, Titan Foster 7-(-6), Erik Jensen 3-41.
Passing: MA – Jackson Ruggles 3-for-4 85 yards 1 TD, 0 INT’s; Drayden Thompson 1-for-1 3 yards 0 TD’s, 0 INT’s. NV – Titan Foster 2-for-13 20 yards 0 TD’s, 1 INT.
Receiving: MA – Adler Reed 2-46, Drew Graham 1-39, Jackson Ruggles 1-3. NV – Keyin Steeve 1-12, Caleb Christsensen 1-9.

Defensive Statistics:
Tackles (S-A-T): MA – Wynston Jones 1-0.5 1.5, Rowan Sackett 4-0.5 4.5, Bracken Collier 2-1.5 3.5, Logan Worthington 1-1.5 2.5, Tate Dugan 1-1 2, Tate Larson 1-1 2, Drew Graham 1-0.5 1.5, Bryson Martin 1-0.5 1.5,  Zech Ranker 1-0 1, Tytan Gourley 0-1 1, Keaton Swank 1-0 1, Evan Wheeler 0-0.5 0.5, Dyson Thompson 0-0.5 0.5, Isac Dugan 0-0.5 0.5, Nathan Roemer 0-0.5 0.5, Trace Knapp 0-0.5 0.5, Weston Adams 0-0.5 0.5.
NV – Caleb Christensen 7-1.5 8.5, Ashton Honnold 4-1 5, Keyin Steeve 3-1 4, Matthew Rudolph 1-2 3, Erik Jensen 1-1.5 2.5, Derek Raasch 2-0 2, Parker Schneider 1-1 2, Remington Woosley 1-0.5 1.5, Bennett Brown 0-0.5 0.5, Brody Brown 0-0.5 0.5.