LITTLE RIVER OUT DUELED BY WEST ELK

LOSE 72-60

By Staff

HOWARD – It just was not the ending the Little River football team was hoping for as they combined with Howard/West Elk to put 132 points on the scoreboard and run for 697 yards before West Elk was able to nip the Redskins by 12, 72-60 for the win.

With the loss, Little River closes the 2023 season with an overall record of 7-3.

“I was proud of how hard we fought,” noted Little River head coach Kevin Ayers. “Our boys left everything they had on the field as we went toe-to-toe with a very, big, fast, and athletic West Elk team.”

In between a pair of scores by West Elk in the first quarter, Little River’s Andrew Smith bounced into the end zone on an eight-yard run to trail 14-6.

The Redskins took a brief lead in the second quarter after Carter Stansbury found the end zone from two yards out and Smith connected with Blayne Baldetti for an eight-yard scoring pass, giving them a brief 20-14 advantage before West Elk scored twice on 43 and 26 yard runs to retake a 28-20 lead into the halftime break.

Andrew Smith scored again for Little River in the third quarter, but West Elk put three mor scores on the board to extend their lead to 22 points at 58-36 heading into the final quarter.

Although Little River scored three times in the final 12 minutes on a pair of runs by Smith and one by Stansbury, West Elk added two more long distance scoring sprints to reach the final 72-60 victory and shutting down the Redskin season.

Look at the stat sheet and you wonder how Little River lost as they outgained West Elk in total offense 439-404 and running the ball 354-333 while getting 10 more first downs, then you see the penalties which were very costly for the Redskins as they caught 16 flags for a negative 193 yards.

Individually, Andrew Smith closed out his Little River career by completing four-of-thirteen passes for 75 yards and a score while running for another 191 yards on 30 carries and five scores. Carter Stansbury was his near twin complement in the backfield as he ran for 166 yards on 24 carries and scored twice. Stansbury also led the Redskin defense with seven tackles while Lakin Wege recorded six and Ruxton Birdsong had four.

Coach Ayers concluded his reflections on the game talking about his seniors, “Our two seniors, Carter Stansbury and Andrew Smith played their hearts out.”

LITTLE RIVER REDSKIN FOOTBALL

at Howard/West Elk – 8-Man Division I Playoffs

SCORING > LITTLE RIVER = 6-22-8-24 = 60; West Elk = 14-20-24-14 = 72

1st Quarter >

West Elk > Scored on a 6-yard run (Conversion Failed) 0-6

LITTLE RIVER > Andrew Smith on an 8-yard run (Conversion Failed) 6-6

West Elk > Scored on a 2-yard run (2-Point Conversion) 6-14

2nd Quarter >

LITTLE RIVER > Carter Stansbury on a 2-yard run (Logan Schubert ran for 2-Point Conversion) 14-14

LITTLE RIVER > Blayne Baldetti on an 8-yard pass from Andrew Smith (Conversion Failed) 20-14

West Elk > Scored on a 43-yard run (Conversion Failed) 20-20

West Elk > Scored on a 26-yard run (2-Point Conversion) 20-28

LITTLE RIVER > Andrew Smith on a 6-yard run (Baldetti ran for 2-Point Conversion) 28-28

West Elk > Scored on a 39-yard pass play (Conversion Failed) 28-34

3rd Quarter >

West Elk > Scored on a 50-yard run (2-Point Conversion) 28-42

LITTLE RIVER > Andrew Smith on a 6-yard run (Smith ran for 2-Point Conversion) 36-42

West Elk > Scored on a 4-yard run (2-Point Conversion) 36-50

West Elk > Scored on a 45-yard run (2-Point Conversion) 36-58

4th Quarter >

LITTLE RIVER > Andrew Smith on a 2-yard run (Baldetti ran for 2-Point Conversion) 44-58

West Elk > Scored on a 38-yard run (Conversion Failed) 44-64

LITTLE RIVER > Andrew Smith on a 14-yard run (Smith ran for 2-Point Conversion) 52-64

West Elk > Scored on a 26-yard run (2-Point Conversion) 52-72

LITTLE RIVER > Carter Stansbury on a 7-yard run (Stansbury ran for 2-Point Conversion) 60-72

TEAM STATS > LITTLE RIVER West Elk

1st Downs > 24 14

Plays/Yards > 81/439 33/404

Passing Yards > 75 71

Rushing > 364 333

3rd Downs/Made > 11/7 3/3

Fumbles Lost > 0 1

Interceptions > 1 0

Penalties/Yards > 16/193 4/62

LITTLE RIVER INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS >

Passing (comp/atts/yds/td/int) > Andrew Smith – 4/13/75/1/1.

Rushing (atts/yds/td) > Andrew Smith – 30/191/5; Carter Stansbury – 24/166/2; Logan Schubert – 2/9/0; Blayne Baldetti – 1/-2/0.

Receiving (rec/yds/td) > Logan Schubert – 1/38/0; Ty Janette – 1/29/0; Blayne Baldetti – 2/8/1.

Defense (tackles/solo/assist/sacks/tfl) > Carter Stansbury – 7/1/5/0/0; Lakin Wege – 6/2/4/0/1; Ruxton Birdsong – 4/2/2/0/0; Andrew Smith – 2/1/1/0/0; Hunter Sneath – 2/1/1/0/0; Chris Norez – 2/0/2/0/0; Blayne Baldetti – 1/1/0/0/0; Kal-El Robinson – 1/1/0/0/0; Others – 8/3/5/0/0.

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