By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
ROSENDALE - North Andrew scored the first touchdown of the game, got behind at halftime and then shut out King City 20-0 over the final two quarters to earn a 28-14 win over the Wildkats on Friday night at North Andrew High School.
North Andrew won the toss and deferred to the second half. Mattox Sybert kicked off the game with a short kick, which bounced off the helmet of a King City player and was recovered by the Cardinals.
Five plays later, senior back Hayden Ekcker scored on a 23-yard touchdown run. A successful two-point try made it 8-0 North Andrew with 9:50 left in the first quarter.
After each team exchanged a turnover, King City tied the game before the end of the first. Senior quarterback Zeke Fisher ran it in for a 15-yard score and a successful two-point conversion tied the game at 8-8 at the end of one quarter.
After a North Andrew punt late in the first, King City had the ball to start the second quarter and quickly found the end zone, as senior Ty Mooney found fellow senior Samuel Derks for a 15-yard touchdown pass.
The Wildkats' ensuing two-point try failed, but King City had its first lead at 14-8 with 10:27 left in the first half.
North Andrew threw an interception on its ensuing possession, and King City would have two possessions in the final seven minutes of the second quarter, but failed to score on either one.
North Andrew got the ball to start the second half and marched 51 yards on eight plays to tie the game on a six-yard touchdown run from sophomore quarterback Braxon Linville. A run by Jacob Chittum on the two-point try gave the Cardinals a 16-14 lead with 6:52 left in the third.
"I was really proud of our guys at halftime and the adjustments they made," North Andrew coach Dwyane Williams said, "and making sure we didn't turn the ball over. We ate a bunch of clock, we had the ball, they couldn't score."
King City had five possessions in the second half, and failed to achieve a first down on any of them. Unofficially, the Wildkats had just five total net yards in the second half.
"Defensively, I'm really proud of my guys," Williams continued. "They did a nice job of adjusting to (King City's) adjustments."
North Andrew salted the game away in the fourth quarter with a long drive that ended with a turnover-on-downs on 4th and goal at the one-yard line, but that pinned King City deep and the Wildkats turned it over on downs on their final two possessions.
After the first turnover-on-downs, North Andrew took over at the King City five-yard line, and senior Andrew Goff punched it in for a five-yard touchdown score.
He scored again just a few plays later from 19 yards out, and North Andrew led 28-14 with four minutes left.
Goff had his two touchdowns on 12 carries with 85 total yards. Ecker had a game-high 161 yards on 19 carries and a touchdown. Linville had a hard earned 35 yards on 27 carries and a touchdown as well.
Ty Mooney led King City with 72 all-purpose yards and a touchdown pass. Zeke Fisher rushed for 15 net yards on eight carries with a score. King City had two turnovers and was 0-for-6 on third down.
King City is home to DeKalb next Friday, while North Andrew hosts Bishop LeBlond. The Eagles beat Pattonsburg on the road Friday 66-44.
"We know LeBlond is going to give us all kinds of looks," Williams said. "They always do every year. We just have to make sure we stay on our path and do our job. They're explosive on offense and we have to make sure we tackle well in the open field."
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