Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, September 27, 2012

Members of the Mount Ayr Communty Raider football team for 2012 include

Front row from left: Grant STAATS, Ethan McGILL, Ben SAVILLE, Dawson KNAPP, Trevor ANDERSON, Jacob BEAMGUARD, Dylan DOMAN, Wyatt JACKSON and Logan STARK.

Second row, from left: Zane SICKELS, Erik FREED, Noah LARSEN, Cody STACKHOUSE, Shane SWANK, Nick WURSTER, Cameron YOUNG and Jay BLAIR.

Third row, from left: Lincoln MARTIN, Lew KNAPP, Coach Brad ELLIOTT, Coach Tanner RINEHART, Coach Derek LAMBERT, Coach Delwyn SHOWALTER, Coach Nathan WEEDA, Matt POORE and Mason MERCER.

Fourth row, from left: Rhett MURPHY, Trevor GOODING, Levi MARTIN, Riley WEEHLER, Caleb SCHNOOR, Kyle DOLECHECK, Jacob TAYLOR and Connor GILES.

Fifth row, from left: Blake BUTLER, Casey PAXSON, Hagan WILLIS, Joe RICKER, Tucker WINEMILLER, Lincoln LUTRICK, Zach VANDERFLUGHT, Quency VOS and Jake RICKER.

Back row, from left: Ryan PARROTT, Braydee POORE, Jed McCREARY, Tyler TRIGGS, Johnathan TRIGGS and Jacob SOBOTKA.

  Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa

These Mount Ayr Raider senior football players completed an undefeated regular season and captured the district championship. Pictured are (front, L-R) Zane SICKELS and Dylan DOMAN; (back, L-R) Shane SWANK, Johnathon TRIGGS, Braydee POORE and Levi MARTIN.

Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, November 08, 2012

Above, this group of Raider seniors hoist the quarter-final qualifier trophy at the end of the game at St. Albert Friday night. The Raiders finished with a record of 11-1, an accomplishment never before attained in the history of Mount Ayr football.

Seniors pictured with the trophy are (L-R) Johnathon TRIGGS, Shane SWANK, Dylan DOMAN, Levi MARTIN, Zane SICKELS and Braydee POORE.

Page 8

Their record-breaking season came to a heartbreaking end last Friday as the Mount Ayr Raiders fell to St. Albert of Council Bluffs, 28-0, in the quarter finals of the state football playoff. Despite the lopsided score, the game actually hinged on three or four single plays.

Unfortunately, one of those plays occurred in the first minute of the ball game. After receiving the opening kick off, Mount Ayr had the ball with a first down at their own 15-yard line. A third-down pass went out to the right flat to Erik FREED. St. Albert's Tucker CULJAT and FREED battled for the ball, but CULJAT was able to wrestle the ball from FREED'S hands and scamper into the end zone for the St. Albert touchdown. The successful PAT made the score 7-0 with only 46 seconds gone in the first quarter.

Despite the shock of the early touchdown, on their next drive the Raiders showed why they belonged in the quarter finals.

After receiving the kickoff, Mount Ayr started a drive that would ultimately take them to the St. Albert three-yardline. After a short gain on first down and an incomplete pass on second down, Cody STACKHOUSE tallied the first Raider first down with 10:30 to go in the first quarter. Two plays later, quarterback Jake SOBOTKA connected with STACKHOUSE on a pass to the right, and STACKHOUSE rumbled to the St. Albert 45-yardline. On the next play, SOBOTKA carried the ball to the Falcon 27. Four plays later, facing a fourth-and-one, SOBOTKA carried the ball for a first down at the St. Albert five-yard line with 5:20 to go in the quarter. STACKHOUSE pushed the ball to the Falcon three, but a procedure penalty gave the Raiders a second-and-goal at the eight.

After no gain on second down, SOBOTKA lofted a third-down pass into the end zone to Braydee POORE. POORE and two defenders battled for the ball, which eventually fell incomplete.

Now facing a fourth-down-and-goal at the 11, again SOBOTA fired a pass into the right corner of the end zone to Braydee POORE, but that pass also fell incomplete.

St. Albert took over possession at their own 11 yard line. Amazingly, St. Albert ran their first offensive play with just 3:23 left in the first quarter.

A procedure penalty on first down pushed the ball back to the St. Albert six-yardline, and from there the Raider defense took over.

Three straight plays for no gain or short losses forced the Falcons to punt the ball back to the Raiders with 1:47 left in the first quarter.

The Raiders took over at the St. Albert 40-yard line. After an incomplete forst down pass, a procedure penalty on second down pushed the Raiders back five yards. After a short loss on a SOBOTKA keeper and a short completion to Shane SWANK, the Raiders punted the ball back to St. Albert, who took over at their own eight-yard line as the first quarter ended.

The second quarter began much as the first quarter had begun.

St.Albert pushed the ball out to their 30-yard line, but a procedure penalty moved the Falcons back five yards to their 25. On the next play Falcon senior running back Issac FINN raced 75 yards to the end zone at the 10:46 mark in the second quarter. The PAT was good, and St. Albert led 14-0, thanks to only two huge plays.

Mount Ayr began their next possession at their own 20-yardline. A penalty on first down cost the Raiders 10 yards. After a short gain and a fumbled snap recovered by Riley WEEHLER, SOBOTKA hit Brady POORE to move the ball to the St. Albert 40, but the drive stalled, forcing the Raiders to punt with 7:37 to go in the first half.

The Falcons took over at their own 20, and after a first down run of nine yards followed by an incomplete pass on second down, St. Albert was again flagged for a procedure penalty to create a third-and-six at their own 24.

An incomplete pass forced the Falcons to punt the ball back to Mount Ayr with 6:44 to go. Mount Ayr took over at their own 44-yard line, but thanks to a fumbled snap on third down the Raiders were again forced to punt. Casey PAXSON'S punt pinned St. Albert at their own 10-yard line, but a block-in-the-back penalty against the Falcons moved the ball back to their own three-yard line with 5:06 to go.

Working in the shadow of their own end zone, St.Albert ran the ball on three consecutive plays to gain a first down at their own 15. After another short gain on first down, Falcon running back Jake BENDGEN carried the ball out to the Falcon 45. BENDGEN carried again to the Raider 48 with 2:26 to go in the half.

After a short gain on first down, an illegal substitution penalty against St. Albert gave the Falcons second-down-and-12 at midfield.

Once again the Raider defense held and forced the Falcons to punt with only 57 sec-onds to go in the half. The Raiders took over on their own 15-yard line with less than a minute to play.

Thanks to a series of short gains and a St. Albert personal foul, the Raiders had a first down at their own 40 with 45 seconds left on the clock. After a short gain on first down, an eight-yard pass to STACKHOUSE on second down and a SOBOTKA keeper for no gain on third down, the Raiders faced fourth down with two yards to go with :08 to go. SOBOTKA gained the first down, and the Raiders quickly called a timeout.

With only 2.3 seconds showing on the game clock, the Raider stried for one more big play. Dropping back to pass, SOBOTKA was hit by St. Albert's 5'10" 212-pound junior lineman Sean O'NIELL. The ball popped loose, and O'NIELL grabbed the ball in mid-air. As the game clock horn sounded to in the half, O'NIELL rambled into the end zone for St. Albert's third touchdown of the game. The PAT was good, and the shocked Raiders went into half-time down 21-0.

The Raiders kicked off to St. Albert to open the third quarter. The Falcons opened at their 22-yard line and quickly marched the ball down to the Mount Ayr 17.

Penalties pushed the ball back to the Raider 24-yard line where St.Albert attempted a 42-yard field goal. The field goal was no good, and Mount Ayr took over with 5:41 to go in the quarter.

Three plays later, the Raiders were forced to punt back to St. Albert who took over at the Mount Ayr 37-yard line.

The Falcon quarterback Tucker CULJAT broke free and raced down to the Raider 22. Two more runs moved the ball to the Raider five-yard line with 3:09 to go in the third quarter. Three plays later the Falcons crossed the goal line at the 1:30 mark for their fourth touch-down of the night. The PAT was again good to make the score 25-0.

After the kickoff the Raiders took over on their own 16, and they quickly moved the ball out to the 45 as time expired in the third quarter.

Mount Ayr continued to move the ball to open the fourth quarter. After carries by FREED and SOBOTKA, the Raiders had a first down at the St. Albert 43. [Page 9] Unfortunately, the drive ended at the St.Albert 20 with an interception at the 9:48 mark.

The Raiders would not gain possession of the ball for the remainder of the game.

Despite three penalties, the Falcons were able to methodically move the ball down to the Mount Ayr five-yard line with 1:38 to go in the game. After a short gain on first down, the game ended as the St. Albert quarterback CULJAT took a knee on second and third down to run out the clock.

Jake SOBOTKA and Erik FREED led the Raider rushing attack with 41 and 21 yards respectively. SOBOTKA was 15-for-29 through the air for 157 yards. Braydee POORE gained 59 yards receiving, with Cody STACKHOUSE recording 52. Erik FREED and Shane SWANK added 25 and 21 yard respectively.

Mason MERCER led the Raider defense with nine tackles. Riley WEEHLER had seven, Zane SICKELS six and Jake SOBOTKA five. The Raiders finished as one of the last eight teams remaining in the Class 1A playoffs. Their record of 11-1 also set a school record for wins.

Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, November 22, 2012

Five Mount Ayr Community Raider football players were named to the Iowa Newspaper Associations All-State football team in Class 1A this week. They include, from left: first teamers Jake RICKER, Braydee POOR and Jacob SOBOTKA; second teamers Mason MERCER and third teamer Levi MARTIN.

Photographs courtesy of Mount Ayr Record-News

Transcriptions by Sharon R. Becker, September - November of 2012