NCR Tigers: Welcome

A big thanks to James Clayton and Jake Tyler for representing our team at the Optimist Day last Saturday. Both of these players have been leaders for our team all season long.

 Sure gonna miss you guys next season :(

You've heard the ole saying, "saved the best for last." That's exactly what the NCR Tigers did on Saturday as we put together our best team performance of the season with a 46-25 whipping of the Police Cubs. The win gave us a final record of 4-2-1 on the season and gave us a 3rd place finish in the League standings. Let's see how it all went down.

The Police Cubs got the ball and wasted no time getting on the scoreboard. Their quarterback scampered 53 yards on their second play from scrimmage and just like that they had a 6-0 lead. After their exta point failed our offense went to work. It didn't take long in this one to see they would not be able to shut down our high-powered offense. James Clayton took the hand-off from Tatum Lomon and outran everyone for a 60-yard touchdown to tie the game at 6. James also converted the extra point and with less than a minute gone in this one we had a 7-6 lead.

          On the Cubs next series of downs, Conley Bone sacked the quarterback for a 10-yard loss and it looked like our defense may stop them. But on the very next play, their quarterback once again darted 70 yards for another touchdown to give the Cubs a 12-7 lead. After their missed extra point our offense would once again take the field. Once again James Clayton took the hand-off and weaved his way around the Cubs defense for a 60-yard TD run. James got great blocking from Jordan Fenner and our offensive line on the play to help spring him free. Cade Grant was stuffed in the back-field on the extra point, but we still held a slim 13-12 advantage.

          The Cubs would then use some clock on their next possession before scoring. Our defense stepped up and made things awfully tough on them at times in this possession. Jackson King saved what looked to be a sure touchdown on the first play of downs and then our defense as a whole tightened up. Good plays from Cody Fudge, Conley Bone, Jake Heston and Jake Tyler were all a part of the effort. Nick Martin would sack their quarterback for a 5-yard loss and Cody once again made a nice play to make it 4th and long from our 34-yard line. That's when they quarterback broke free on a roll-out and scampered 34 yards for his third touchdown of the game. They converted the extra point and took a 19-13 lead with 3:28 left in the 2nd quarter.

          As we had done the previous two series, our offense would score on the first play from scrimmage. This time Tatum Lomon would fake out everyone on a naked bootleg and rumble and stumble 60 yards for a TD. James converted the extra point and we held a 20-19 lead. The Cubs would then strike quickly on their next possession. After a great play by Jake Tyler, their next snap would result in a 63-yard touchdown scamper to give them a 25-20 lead with 2:02 left in the half. Our next possession would start out with a broken play in the back-field, but then James would take off once again for another 60 yard touchdown run. After we converted the extra point we held a 27-25 lead with 43 seconds left in the half. Our defense would hold the Cubs and not let them break one before the half. Jake Heston made a huge play right before the buzzer sounded and this one would be close at the half.

          We knew we now had the advantage, as long as they could not stop our offense and they had shown no signs of doing that all game. James wasted no time getting us points back on the baord as be took the first hand-off of the 3rd quarter and raced 60 yards for his 4th touchdown of the game. We failed on the extra point and the score remained 33-25. This is when our defense really started to take over in this one. We had a couple of huge plays from Conley Bone and Jackson King to force the Cubs in a 4th and long. Their quarterback rolled out and slipped down on the muddy field and the ball went back to our offense.

          It looked as if we were about to put the final nail in this one, when something happened that hasn't happened to us all year long on offense.... we fumbled. James broke one up the middle and was in open field on his way to the end zone when the ball just popped out of his hands. The Police Cubs jumped on it and got the ball back at their own 27-yard line. Our defense quickly picked James up as they refused to let the Cubs get much going. After a few short gains, Jake Tyler and Chad Sutton both made nice plays. Jake Heston would then sack the quarterback for a 5-yard loss and the ball went back to our offense with less than a minute left in the 3rd quarter.

          We wasted no time in locking this victory down as James weaved in and out of the Cubs defense and used good blocking from Jordan Fenner and Cade Grant to score his 5th touchdown of the game. This time it would be a 27-yard run. Tatum Lomon then dropped back and completed a pass to Jordan Fenner for the extra point to make the score 40-25 with 18 seconds left in the 3rd quarter. Our defense refused to let them get anything going. After a few short gains, Jackson King and Josh Hannan both made nice plays and Conley bone would finish it off with yet another solo tackle. On 4th and 5 the Cubs tried a pass that fell incomplete and the ball went right back to our offense.

              Jordan Fenner started the drive off with a short run and Lomon was supposed to look for Fenner on a pass play, but found James open instead. James caught the ball and outran everyone for a 55-yard touchdown to end this one at 46-25. The win was our 3rd in a row and now that we are finally clicking on all cyclinders, the season comes to an end. But it sure did end on a great note and we couldn't be prouder of the kids. We finish the year at 4-2-1 and in 3rd place in the League standings. I look forward to seeing everyone get their well deserved awards for a great season at our team party. See you all there!

Rushing stats:

James Clayton       6 carries    268 yards    5 TD's

Tatum Lomon         2 carries     59 yards      1 TD

Jordan Fenner       1 carry        1 yard        Converted extra point

Tatum was 1 for 1 passing for 55 yards. One touchdown pass to James Clayton.

Our offensive player of the week for the final week of the season is Jordan Fenner. Jordan only had one carry for one yard in the game against Police Cubs, but what people don't understand is he has the key block on almost every running play and he is a main reason James ran wild like he did on Saturday. Jordan did catch one pass from Tatum for an extra point to give us a 40-25 lead. Jordan is an unselfish player and has been that way all year long. Great job in this game and all season Jordan. We are vry proud of you!!!

Our defensive player of the week for the final week of the season is Jake Tyler. Jake really stepped up in the game against the Police Cubs and had a great game. He made 3 solo tackles and was in on several others in the game. He and Conley both had a great game for our defense this week. Jake "the snake" is a big reason our defense has been playing better over the last three games of the season. They got some confidence and really played well the last three weeks of the season. Great job Jake, we are very proud of you!!!

I first of all want to apoligize to each player, parent and my other coaches for not being able to make the last two games of the season. I had a kidney stone that hit me Saturday morning before the McCutchen Law game and had to be taken to the hospital. The stone was way too large for me to pass and it got backed up in my kidney, so they had to perform surgery on me late Monday night. Thanks to the Lord above I have recovered and doing much better now. Look forward to seeing all of you at our team party on November 10th.

Now on to this game. We knew McCutchen had been having their struggles this season, going 0-5 to this point and had not even scored a point going into our game. We however did notice they have been improving with a few changes they had made on their team and know we better play a good game or anything could happen. Early on it looked as if anything might happen. The 49ers got the ball to open the game and on their second play raced 60-yards for their first touchdown of the season to give them an early 6-0 lead.

          Our offense struck right back at them like we have done all season long. After a couple of short gains from James Clayton, our quarterback Tatum Lomon faked out the entire 49ers defense on a naked bootleg to race 44 yards for the game tying touchdown. James converted the extra point and gave us a 7-6 lead that we would never give up the rest of the game.

          Our defense stuffed McCutchen on their next series of downs. On a 4th and long, Jackson King made a great play for our defense, which gave the ball back to us on downs. We wasted no time getting right back on the board. After Tatum rumbled for a 15-yard gain to move the ball to the 30-yard line, James did the rest on the next play. Mr. Clayton outran the 49ers defense for a 30-yard touchdown scamper. Tatum converted the extra point and just like that we held a 14-6 lead.

          Our defense would once again hold the 49ers on their next set of downs. Our defensive line, led by Cody Fudge and Wyatt Kiene would stuff McCutchen on a couple of plays. Jake "the snake" Tyler and Jackson King both made nice plays to give the ball back to our offense. Cade Grant would then score his first six points of the season as he took the hand-off and outran everyone for a 50-yard touchdown. James converted the extra point and this one was starting to get out of hand at 21-6.

          The 49ers refused to give up as their good running back, Josh Sulley scored his second touchdown of the day as he scampered 60 yards to pull the 49ers within 21-12. That would be the last points they would see for the game. Our offense then showed they can strike quick also. After a bad snap on our first play, Jordan Fenner reeled off a nice 10-yard run but it was called back due to holding. James then raced 70 yards around the right side of the defense for his second touchdown of the game to give us a 27-12 lead with 1:07 left in the 2nd quarter.

          Our defense refused to let McCutchen get anything going before the end of the half. Jackson King, Jake Tyler and Chad Sutton each had nice plays to stop anything the 49ers tried to get going and the half ended with us holding a 27-12 lead. Our offense got the ball to open the 3rd quarter and went right back to work. After little Noah Baker was stuffed for no gain, Jordan Fenner broke off a 17-yard run to move the ball to mid-field. Cade Grant then did the rest as he would once again score on a 50-yard touchdown scamper. Tatum converted the extra point and this one was in the bag at 34-12.

          Our defense would once agin hold McCutchen without scoring and would give the ball back to our offense. We put together a 5-play 35 yard drive capped off by a Jordan Fenner 10-yard touchdown run to make the final in this one 40-12. It was a good win for our kids and moved us to 3-2-1 on the season with a big game for 3rd place in the League with the Police Cubs looming next.

          Our rushing stats in this game included:

Cade Grant          3 carries    113 yards       2 TD's 

James Clayton     4 carries     111 yards       2 TD's

Tatum Lomon       3 carries     56 yards        1 TD

Jordan Fenner    3 carries      37 yards        1 TD

Our offensive player of the week for week 6 of the season is Cade Grant. Cade, who was recently moved to the running back position had a good game versus McCutchen Law. Cade had 3 carries for 113 yards and scored 2 touchdowns. He also did a real good job blocking in the game. He is only a 1st grader and will be one of our main running backs next season. We wanted to give him a little taste of what it will be like and so far he has done a great job. Good job this week Cade, we are very proud of you!

We could not come up with just one player that really stood out on defense in this game. As a whole the entire NCR defense played a really good game. The 49ers tried running the ball up the middle a lot and our D-Line did a good job of stuffing them on most plays. So we are naming that entire group our defensive players of the week for week 6 of the season. Great job to the following players: Canton Duncan, Cody Fudge, Wyatt Kiene, Thomas Cooley and Nick Martin. Congratulations for being named our defensive players of the week!

To see any of our old game stories or previous "Players of the Week", click the link above to enter the NCR News page.