November 21, 2009
What's Inside:
Lions fall in 11-man debut
TARKIO, Mo. — Shocked to have the football in his hands, Ryan Burke had no choice but to rely on instinct.
While the play was a blur to him, the Tarkio junior provided dramatic punctuation Friday night during the Indians’ thrilling, double-overtime victory against St. Joseph Christian, 12-6, at M. David Palmeiro Field.
On a busted, fourth-down play, the frizzy-haired running back caught the ball between the hashes, turned upfield and sprinted 18 yards to the far pylon — ending the game and bringing the home crowd to its feet.
“I didn’t even know what to do,” Burke said. “I didn’t even think about running. I can’t even talk right now.”
Tarkio (2-3) knocked off Christian — the 8-man powerhouse that temporarily moved up to the 11-man classification for the game. The Indians won for the second time in three games.
After snapping a 23-game losing streak earlier in the season against Polo, Tarkio coach Andrew Webster didn’t mind the ice bath the team gave him Friday night.
“In times past, we would have broken, but I think that kids have started to mature more,” Webster said. “It’s real exciting to see them grow as a team and as individuals.”
Playing in a constant downpour, the final score reflected the sloppiness of the conditions.
The Lions (3-2) ran the ball effectively but a plague of fumbles hampered them, while the Indians couldn’t find a rhythm out of their spread attack.
Christian rolled up more than 260 yards on the ground — including Daniel Gregory’s 182 yards — but routinely struggled to finish drives and stalled three times in the red zone. The Lions amassed 18 first downs in all but notched their only score during the second quarter on an Alex Maudlin quarterback sneak.
“We really struggled in the red zone, and all those fumbles just killed us,” Christian coach Mark Juhl said. “It was just disappointing not to finish.”
Despite the increased amount of defensive backs, Christian handled Tarkio’s multi-pronged passing attack and limited Indians’ quarterback Kyle Livengood to just five completions on 27 attempts.
But all it took was one blown coverage for Tony Baruth to haul in a 64-yard score and even the game at 6-all, two possessions and 3 1/2 minutes after Maudlin’s score.
After helping blank Christian through the entire second half and two overtimes, Livengood didn’t think his short dump-off pass to Burke would produce the game-ending score. But he sprinted down field to join the celebration as soon as Burke rumbled across the goal line.
“I knew we’d do it. We played our hearts out,” Livengood said. “This is the best feeling ever — ever.”
Already without starters Luke Mathes and David Welchert, the Lions suffered even more injuries against Tarkio. Dylan Aebersold, Cody Cornelius and Gregory all left the game at various points and did not return.
Gregory left the field on a stretcher during the second overtime but was not seriously injured according to Juhl.
In all, Christian rolled up 330 yards of total offense but put the ball on the ground eight times in all, losing three of those fumbles.
“It was a great experience,” Juhl said, chuckling. “But it would have been a much greater experience if we would have won.”
The Lions return to the 8-man realm next week against Stewartsville.
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lukepccpa September 26, 2009 at 11:51 a.m. (Suggest removal)I've got to agree with nwmobbfan before his comment was deleted. The Worth County/Mound City game was huge and deserved more than just a box score. Worth County beating Mound City upsets the conventional wisdom and has conference, district, and state playoff implications. It was certainly a much bigger game than Christian/Tarkio.
While I agree it was a huge game between Worth County and Mound City, I don't agree that just because we all know they both have conference,district and state playoff likeability that Tarkio or any other team doesn't deserve to be noticed. Maybe it was more exciting to you, but to us, our game was exciting for these boys, that go out and work their butt off everyday to play. I say wtg to the Indians on your win. After the losing streak we had, the smiles on these boys faces are priceless!!
I wasn't saying the Tarkio game didn't deserve some attention or front page coverage. I just felt the Worth County kids deserved more than just a box score for their game. After all the News Press has pushed Mound City as unbeatable all year and then they get beat and nothing was said. Way to go Tarkio on beating SJC you deserve all the press you recieved!!!
I completely understand where you are coming from. I'm very proud of Worth County on their win, and they did deserve to be reconized more, but at the same time I'm happy that our boys got reconized for their win. It's been a long struggle for our boys and like I said the smiles on their faces were priceless!! Wtg to both teams on their wins!!
I have to laugh at all the parents who always complain about their kids' school not getting the news coverage they "deserve". Let's not forget that SJCS is a St. Joseph school and the News Press is located IN St. Joseph. Also the fact that an 8-man team moved up to play an 11-man team is also a big deal, because it rarely happens. And the fact that the game was close is remarkable, it's not like what SJCS did was an easy thing to do. I know it's hard for people in Missouri to not be narrow-minded but at least try.
Yes, and people like you also make me laugh. Yes, SJCS is in SJ, and they choose to cover High School sports do they not? My point is I was happy to see our kids get noticed on their win, and what's what with that? That is not complaining. I also didn't say a word about SJCS. I said I was happy for the boys for the win. I also don't deny that it was a very close game. That's obvious. I'm there to support our team, win or lose, regardless who they play. I'm not one that goes home mad if we happen to lose a game. But I am one that is happy to see these boys happy when they win, and if you see a problem with that, then that's on you.
Actually TFan my comment was more directly aimed at the other two people commenting on here. Your comments were fine by me :)
I'm glad that Tarkio got a win and got some coverage.
But the fact is that if they weren't playing Christian, they wouldn't have made the paper. Christian isn't the first team to jump up to play 11 man.
Stanberry 8 man jumped up to play 11 man against Rockport on 09/14/09 and beat them 20-0 and there wasn't even a box score printed in the paper. Let alone an article about an 8 man team beating an 11 man team. And Rockport was 3-0 before that game.
So Christian loses to an 11 man team with a 2-3 record and gets an article. Stanberry beats an 11 man team with a 3-0 record (4-1 as of today) and doesn't get anything?
The only reason this article made the paper was that Christian was involved.