Raiders blitz Wolverines 58-6
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Aided by a 32-point first quarter, the Mount Ayr Raider football team dismantled the visiting Nodaway Valley Wolverines last Friday in the 2024 season opener for both teams.
The Raiders would take a 46-6 halftime lead on their way to a 58-6 week one win in the annual rivalry game that is played for the Battle of the Rock traveling trophy. The win by the Raiders was the third straight since the Wolverines won the trophy in the 2021 season, with a 20-16 victory.
“We were excited at how physical we were and our guys were ready to play. We were at a good level on defense and called it swarm football and we were excited to see multiple guys in on tackles. Being sound and controlled is what we saw and that gave them (NV) trouble especially running the ball,” said Mount Ayr head coach Ryan Victor.
The game started well for the Wolverines, forcing a Mount Ayr turnover on the Raider’s first possession.
Senior defensive lineman Charles Rudolph recovered a forced fumble by the Wolverines after the Raiders tried to run the football through the interior of the Wolverines line. The turnover set the Wolverines up on their first drive, but the Wolverines would have to punt without points.
The Raiders settled down and would score touchdowns on their next three possessions on touchdown passes from Jackson Ruggles to Tate Dugan for a 20-0 lead.
Nodaway Valley answered back, with a big 63-yard touchdown pass from Eli Harris to receiver Keyin Steeve. Steeve had to battle a Raider defensive back for the football, timing his jump perfectly to haul the ball in and sprint the final 30 yards untouched for the touchdown. The touchdown was the first in the first half of a game for NV since a 36-34 loss at home to Panorama on October, 14 of 2022.
The touchdown cut the Raider lead to 20-6 with 5:46 left in the first quarter.
The scoring wasn’t finished yet as Mount Ayr answered with a Ruggles 34-yard run to set the score at 26-6. On the ensuing Wolverine possession, an NV turnover led to a Tate Dugan 21-yard scoop and score to put the score at 32-6.
That would be the score after the first quarter, which took 56 minutes to complete.
A Ruggles 26-yard scoring run 24 seconds into the second quarter gave Mount Ayr a 38-6 lead. Later, after a Nodaway Valley defensive stand turned the football over back to the Wolverines, the Raider’s defense came up big.
Starting their drive inside their 5-yard line, the Wolverines would fumble the football in the endzone which was recovered by Dylan Graham for a touchdown and a 46-6 lead. That score would stand at halftime and in the second half of the game, the mercy-score running clock was activated.
Mount Ayr scored the only points in the game after halftime. Ruggles’ third scoring run in the third and a Bryson Martin scoring run in the fourth accounted for the points.
Mount Ayr had 531 yards of total offense in the game with 319 rushing and 212 passing yards.
Junior quarterback Jackson Ruggles passed for 198 yards on 7-for-8 attempts with three touchdowns and added 100 yards rushing on 12 carries and three more touchdowns.
Dyson Thompson also topped the 100-yard mark for Mount Ayr with 117 yards on 11 carries. Tate Dugan led Mount Ayr in receiving with 124 yards on four catches and two touchdowns.
Tyler Martin and Louden Main led Mount Ayr in tackles with 4 and 3.0.
For the first time since the 2022 season, a Wolverine quarterback threw for at least 100 yards. Harris completed four passes in the game with junior Keyin Steeve catching two passes for 64 yards and a touchdown. Harris eclipsed his total passing yards all of last year with his game total last Friday. Ashton Honnold led the Wolverines in rushing with 18 yards on six carries.
Garrett Welsch and Titus Hamer also carried the football in the game. Honnold and freshman Titan Foster each had receptions in the game.
Defensively, Nodaway Valley was led in tackles by Honnold with eight stops to go with three tackles for loss. Welsch had 5.5 tackles while Harris and Trent Warner each had five tackles. Warner also collected a pair of tackles for loss and the Wolverine’s only sack.
Victor said that he wants to see his team continue with their physical play this week in their battle with the Wayne Falcons. He also said there are things his team can work on heading into the match-up.
“Sometimes physicality can get you through sometimes and can win a battle. We aren’t always going to be the most physical or we will play teams that will match us. We have to be better with being us and reading our keys and shoring up our footwork. Those little things will add up to big things. Those are things we are going to work on this week,” said Victor.
“We have some high expectations and the guys do as well. We want to keep being 1-0 each week and keep getting better each week,” he said.
The Raiders will host the Wayne Falcons this week in their second straight home game to open the season. The Falcons beat Colfax-Mingo on the road, 26-7.
The Raiders beat Wayne 42-0 last year and have won five straight over the Falcons since 2008.
The Falcons graduated three all-district players from Class A District 6 last year and returned four all-district players from last year. Back are junior second-team all-district players Fisher Buckingham and Gage Swan and honorable mention players Karter Murphy and Cole Gibson.
Falcon quarterback Murphy threw for 95 yards and a touchdown on five completions and rushed for 58 yards on 11 carries and another touchdown. Buckingham led Wayne in rushing last week with 63 yards on 17 carries with a touchdown. Gibson had four catches for 73 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Mount Ayr 58, Nodaway Valley 6
1 2 3 4 Final
NV 6 0 0 0 6
MA 32 14 6 6 58
Scoring Summary:
1st Qtr – (8:34) – MA – Jackson Ruggles 74-yard pass to Tate Dugan (PAT kick no good)
1st Qtr – (6:27) – MA – Jackson Ruggles 11-yard pass to Tate Dugan (Jackson Ruggles run)
1st Qtr – (6:02) – MA – Jackson Ruggles 39-yard pass to Tate Dugan (PAT kick no good)
1st Qtr – (5:46) – NV – Eli Harris 63-yard pass to Keyin Steeve (Conversion run no good)
1st Qtr – (4:18) – MA – Jackson Ruggles 34-yard run (PAT Kick no good)
1st Qtr – (4:05) – MA – Tate Dugan 12-yard fumble recovery (Conversion pass no good)
2nd Qtr – (11:36) – MA – Jackson Ruggles 26-yard run (PAT Good)
2nd Qtr – (6:42) – MA – Dylan Graham 0-yard fumble recovery (PAT Good)
3rd Qtr – (0:20) – MA – Jackson Ruggles 1-yard run (PAT kick no good)
4th Qtr – (5:12) – MA – Bryson Martin 41-yard run (Conversion run no good)
Individual Statistics:
Rushing: NV – Ashton Honnold 6-18, Eli Harris 3-(-12), Titus Hamer 1-0, Garrett Welsch 1-(-4). Mount Ayr – Dyson Thompson 11-117, Jackson Ruggles 12-100, Tyler Martin 6-28, Tate Dugan 5-18, Bryson Martin 3-58, Evan Wheeler 3-2, Drayden Thompson 1-(-4).
Passing: NV – Eli Harris 4-for-20 100 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT. Mount Ayr – Jackson Ruggles 7-for-8 198 yards, 3 TD’s, 0 INT’s; Tyler Martin 1-for-1 14 yards, 0 TD’s, 0 INT’s.
Receiving: NV – Keyin Steeve 2-63, Titan Foster 1-16, Ashton Honnold 1-20. Mount Ayr – Tate Dugan 4-124, Louden Main 1-39, Tyler Martin 1-29, Jackson Ruggles 1-14, Jaize Frost 1-6.
Defensive Statistics:
Tackles (S-A-T): NV – Ashton Honnold 8-0 8, Garrett Welsch 4-1.5 5.5, Eli Harris 4-1 5, Trent Warner 4-1 5, Caleb Christensen 3-1.5 4.5, Keyin Steeve 4-0 4, Lawson Jackson 3-0.5 3.5, Titus Hamer 2-0.5 2.5, Bram Dahl 2-0 2, Charles Rudolf 1-0 1, Kasen Hansen 1-0 1.
Mount Ayr – Tyler Martin 2-2 4, Louden Main 3-0.5 3.5, Rowan Sackett 2-1 3, Drew Graham 1-1 2, Bracken Collier 2-0 2, Trace Knapp 1-0.5, Zech Ranker 1-0 1, Evan Weehler 1-0 1, Jaize Frost 1-0 1, Tate Dugan 1-0 1, Dyson Thompson 0-0.5 0.5, Isac Dugan 0-0.5 0.5, Dylan Graham 0-0.5 0.5, Logan Worthington 0-0.5 0.5, Kash Wasteney 0-0.5 0.5, Matthew Mate 0-0.5 0.5.
Tackles For Loss: NV – Ashton Honnold 3, Trent Warner 2. Mount Ayr – Tyler Martin 1, Jaize Frost 1, Louden Main 1, Bracken Collier 1.
Sacks: NV – Trent Warner 1. Mount Ayr – Jaize Frost 1.
Fumble Recoveries: NV – Remington Woosley 1, Charles Rudolf 1. Mount Ayr – Evan Wheeler 1, Tate Dugan 1, Dylan Graham 1, Rowan Sackett 1, Logan Worthington 1.
Interceptions: NV – none. Mount Ayr – Rowan Sackett 1-0 yards.
Kicking Statistics:
Kick-Offs: NV – Trent Warner 2-86 yards. Mount Ayr – Kellon Shaffer 7-270 yards, Trevin Victor 3-90 yards.
Kick-Off Returns: NV – Titus Hamer 4-53, Kasen Hansen 3-33, Ashton Honnold 2-14. Mount Ayr – Tate Dugan 2-14 yards.
Punts: NV – Bryan Gonzalez 5-170 yards, 34.0-yard ave. Mount Ayr – Drew Graham 1-19 yards, 19.0-yard ave.
Punt Returns: NV – N/A.
The Mount Ayr Raiders raise the trophy for the Battle of the Rock after defeating Nodaway Valley 58-6 in the home opener Friday. PHOTO BY DARLA SOBOTKA.
