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Tigers take on Raytown South in first district home game since ’12
It’s been five years since the Nevada Tiger football team last hosted a district playoff game. That all changed late Saturday night, however, when the final Class 4 District 6 standings were released, with the Tigers securing a No. 4 seed in the eight-team bracket.
Entering Friday’s Senior Night season-finale Nevada was sitting in fifth place in the standings, and in need of a victory over Clinton and a Raytown South loss. The stars aligned for the Tigers, with Nevada thumping Clinton 51-37, while Raytown South fell to Raytown High, 34-7.
Nevada (4-5) not only jumped Raytown South for the No. 4 spot, but nearly ascended all the way to the No. 3 seed in the district playoff bracket, finishing with 33.29 points in the standing formula while third-seeded Grandview edged the Tigers at 33.40.
Nevada and Raytown South concluded the regular-season with identical 4-5 records, but the Tigers had the superior strength of schedule, illuminated by their 36-28 victory over Class 3 powerhouse Kansas City Center in week two.
In the final season of his first stint with Nevada in 2012, Wes Beachler guided the Tigers to a No. 1 district seed, as they proceeded to pummel No. 8 seed Warrensburg, 54-29 in the opening round at Logan Field. The Tigers then fell to No. 4 seed Harrisonville the following week at Logan Field, 35-25.
“I feel like if it hadn’t been for a few injuries here and there, we’d be sitting with a 6-3 record; I don’t think many people would dispute that,” Beachler told the Daily Mail prior to Tuesday’s practice.
Beachler referenced a pair of games he said his squad should have won — the season-opening 28-20 road loss to Seneca, and the 28-27 week 8 road loss to Warrensburg. In both contests Nevada held a two touchdown advantage.
“I think we could easily be 6-3, if not 7-2,” said Beachler. “Injuries and depth definitely played a role and, hopefully over time, we can get the program’s numbers back up to where they should be for a school this size.”
The opening round matchup with Raytown South, slated for 7 p.m. Friday at Logan Field, will present a tough test for Nevada’s defense, according to Beachler.
“They have a huge overall team-speed advantage,” said the veteran coach.
Beachler compared Raytown South’s overall speed and athleticism to K.C. Center.
“I think the speed advantage goes to them,” said Beachler, “but they haven’t played a lot of teams that do what we do offensively, and are as physical as we are. But their athleticism and team-speed is going to be a handful.”
Beachler said he’s anticipating a pass-heavy attack from a Raytown South team that has started three different quarterbacks this season.
“They’re going to throw the deep ball a lot,” he said. “They’re going to try to run a lot of fades, deep posts, and deep patterns.”
Beachler said he will likely employ a nickel package, giving Nevada an extra defensive back, to counter the Raytown passing game.
“We’ll have some different looks,” said Beachler. “We’re working on some of our coverage techniques, we’ll have to change a little bit.”
While Nevada is dealing with depth issues, the Tigers are as healthy as they’ve been since early in the season.
“We are about as healthy as we’ve been since week two or three,” noted Beachler. “So other than a few nicks and bruises, we should be in pretty good shape.”
Beachler said that he does not take home-field advantage for granted.
“I think home-field is pretty important because it’s nice to not have a couple hour bus ride,” he said. “And its always fun to be at home. We usually have good crowds here, and it’s just a neat atmosphere.”