Cardinals blow out Whirlwinds to advance to 8-man state championship game
Nov. 26—The North Andrew Cardinals are moving on to the 8-man state championship game after defeating the Archie Whirlwinds 60-22 on Friday night.
It was senior running back Hayden Ecker who led the way for the Cardinal offense. Ecker scored five touchdowns on the night, tallying two in the first half and three in the second half.
Head coach Dwayne Williams called Ecker "a special player" post-game.
"He's a special football player, and he's even more special as a kid," Williams said. "A lot of people know about some of the tragedy he's gone through this year and the fact that he's out here every day and performing, he's a leader of this team."
The Cardinals held a 30-14 halftime lead and would not look back, as they would go on to outscore the Whirlwinds 30-8 in the second half.
"We were running the ball, we were getting big yards, we were scoring touchdowns. It was huge to be up by that much at half," North Andrew senior Aiden Miller said. "In a basic sense, our defense is full of dogs. Nothing beats them."
North Andrew will play at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri, on Thursday, Dec. 1, at 7 p.m. for a chance at their first state championship since 2016.
The Cardinals went to the state championship game in 2020 but fell to Southwest Livingston County. Sophomore quarterback Braxton Linville wasn't yet in high school when the 2020 team was the runner-up, but he does have a special connection to that team.
"It's everything to me because I was a water boy back when they went in 2020 and I could see all the pain in their eyes from losing that game. So ever since then, I wanted to come back with them. I knew I'd be on their team. I hoped for this every day," Linville said.
The Cardinals await the winner of Bishop LeBlond and Sweet Springs, who will play on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Sweet Springs, Missouri.
Jacob Meikel can be reached at jacob.meikel@newspressnow.com.
Follow him on Twitter @NPNowMeikel.
