Mount Ayr retains the rock by running the rock

The annual Battle for the Rock trophy game honoring past coaches Dave Still and Bob Daut ended with the Mount Ayr Raiders taking home the trophy with a win over Nodaway Valley/OM, just as they have the last three times the teams have played.

The Raiders blitzed the Wolverines last Friday with 35 first-quarter points en route to a 47-6 victory.

NV/OM fell to 1-6 overall and finished the Class A, District 7 slate with one win. The Wolverines close the season facing non-district foe Martensdale-St. Marys this Friday. The Blue Devils are 2-5 and have lost four of their last five games.

In topping the Wolverines, Mount Ayr won its third-straight district game and were 3-2 going into a Week 8 game with Southwest Valley. The Timberwolves are 2-3 in the district and 3-4 overall and Mount Ayr improved to 4-3 with last week’s win.

The Wolverines also honored a dozen seniors last week, including Keyin Steeve, Matthew Rudolf, Titus Hamer, Ashton Honnold, Bryan Gonzalez, Jacob Fry, Will Shilling, Wyatt Boden, Bennett Brown, Brody Brown, Remington Woosley and Parker Schneider.

NV/OM amassed 61 yards of total offense against the Raiders, with 20 yards passing and 41 rushing.

Quarterback Titan Foster passed for 20 yards, hounded all game by the Raiders’ pass rush. He was limited to just two completions on 13 attempts and threw one interception.

The ground game was led by juniors Erik Jensen and Caleb Christensen, who rushed for 41 and 24 yards, respectively. Christensen ran for a second-half touchdown.

Christensen and Steeve were recipients of passes in the game.

Defensively, Christensen had a team-leading 10 tackles with seven solo stops. Honnold had six tackles and one tackle for loss and Steeve and Rudolf each had five tackles.

Mount Ayr put together 323 yards of offense in the game with 88 passing and 235 rushing yards. Senior quarterback Jackson Ruggles passed for 85 yards on 3-of-4 completions. He was also was the top Raider rusher with 85 yards and a touchdown.

Dyson Thompson and Tate Dugan added 54 and 52 yards with Thompson rushing for three touchdowns and Dugan two. Adler Reed caught a pair of passes for 46 yards and had one touchdown.

Mount Ayr made a pair of sacks and 10 tackles for loss on defense. 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 NV drive, Mount Ayr added a Dugan two-yard score to take a 13-0 lead with 7:21 left in the first. Mount Ayr added a 65-yard Ruggles scoring run, a Ruggles 41-yard 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 took a 41-0 lead into halftime after Thompson’s third rushing score with 1:55 left before halftime. Mount Ayr extended its lead to 47-0 with 7:20 left in the third quarter on a Tate Dugan rushing score.

The Wolverines scored their only points with 4:16 left in the third quarter on a 13-yard scoring run by Caleb Christensen.

Looking ahead to the MStM game,the Blue Devils have used three quarterbacks this season, none of which have over 400 passing yards. Sophomore Cooper Hamilton has the most yards with 378 on 17 completions with seven touchdown passes. Junior Hunter Dooley has caught a team-high 13 passes for 257 yards and five touchdowns while Baker has added nine catches for 204 yards and a touchdown. The Blue Devils have rushed for 628 yards as a team, led by sophomore Brady Baker with 404 yards on 88 yards and five touchdowns. Baker has a per rush average of 4.6 yards.

Defensively, sophomore Ira Hawk leads in tackles with 57 while Baker has 50 and Jackson Johnston 45.

The Wolverines will have to contend with defensive lineman Caleb Puderbaugh, who has 34 tackles, 8.5 sacks and 9.5 tackles for loss.