Tigers hand Pirates rare NCMC loss by ending 26-year drought with one-point victory

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. — For the Hannibal football team, it was a game of what-ifs.

For Kirksville, it was a game of emphatic statements.

The Tigers notched their first victory against the Pirates since 1998 by grinding out a 16-15 victory Friday at Spainhower Field.

“We earned some football fans tonight,” Tigers coach Gregg Nesbitt said.

The Tigers, ranked sixth in Class 4, handed fourth-ranked Hannibal its first North Central Missouri Conference loss since Oct. 9, 2020, in the process.

“It’s a surreal feeling,” Tigers senior running back Jace Kent said. “I don’t think I’ve seen this many people at a game ever. This is crazy.”

The red zone and turnover troubles that plagued the Pirates in losses to Jefferson City Helias and Troy Buchanan reared their ugly heads again. The Pirates turned the ball over twice in Kirksville territory, once on a fumbled quarterback-running back exchange at the edge of the red zone on the Pirates’ first drive of the game and again on a fourth and goal with 5:30 left in the second quarter when Kirksville freshman linebacker Blake Nesbitt picked off Waylon Anders’ pass at the goal line. 

“We feel like we let another one slip because of the mistakes we made,” Pirates coach Jeff Gschwender said. 

With the game scoreless, 11 seconds left in the first quarter and the Pirates backed up at their own 13-yard line, senior running back Mike Ferreira bounced a run to the left side and fumbled as he tried to break a tackle, setting up the Tigers at the Hannibal 16-yard line on a drive that ended in a Beckett Lyons 25-yard field goal.

The Pirates also lost Ferreira for the rest of the game. His right leg got twisted as he went down, and he was unable to stand under his own power. The training staff helped Ferreira off the field, and he never returned.

In stepped junior Landyn Essig and sophomore Darrion Washington to split the carries normally toted by Ferreira, and both Essig and Washington did their part to keep Hannibal well within striking distance.

With the Pirates trailing 9-0 as they got the ball for the first time in the second half, Essig ripped off a 32-yard run on third and 6 that set up a Waylon Anders touchdown on a quarterback sneak two plays later. Essig knocked through the extra point to trim the Pirates’ deficit to 9-7.

With 5:17 left in the fourth quarter and the Pirates in desperate need of a score to keep their hopes alive, Washington gave the Pirates a spark when he plunged in for a 2-yard touchdown run that cut the Tigers’ lead to 16-13. Washington ran in the two-point conversion to get the Pirates within a point.

“I feel like we really got our energy back, and it was time to go,” Washington said.

When the Tigers got the ball back, their death-by-a-thousand-cuts offense iced the game. Kent ran for 8 yards on two consecutive third-and-1 plays, and his 11-yard run immediately following the latter third-down conversion sealed the Tigers’ first win over the Pirates in nearly three decades.

“Lady Luck doesn’t always ride with you, but she did tonight,” Gregg Nesbitt said. “The kids earned it. We ended it with the ball in our hands and just grinded it out.”

Kirksville fashioned three drives of 10 plays or more, two of which ended in the Tigers’ only touchdowns. The Tigers’ first touchdown drive consumed 5:23 of the final 5:25 of the first half and ended in a Ryder Lyons 2-yard touchdown pass to Carter Pinkerton that gave Kirksville a 9-0 halftime lead. Lyons connected with Kent on a 21-yard toss on fourth and 13 to extend that drive three plays earlier.

After Anders’ touchdown, the Tigers marched 67 yards on 10 plays and ate up 6:09 before Kent raced 18 yards to the end zone on fourth and 1 to make it a 16-7 game with 10:19 left in the fourth quarter.

“They beat us up front and wore us down a little bit in the second half,” Gschwender said. “They put together some really long, time-consuming drives. That’s tough to handle, and it wears your guys out.”

Even though Hannibal came up one point short, the plays Essig and Washington made confirmed what Gschwender already knew about the Pirates’ running back room.

“I’ve said it from the beginning of the year, we’ve got some good running backs,” Gschwender said. “We’ve got four or five dudes who can carry the ball pretty well. I thought Darrion and Landyn stepped in and did an outstanding job in the second half when Mike went down.”

The Pirates (3-3, 2-1 NCMC) return to Porter Stadium to host Moberly next Friday.

“One, we’ve got to get healthy. Two, the turnovers,” Gschwender said of the keys to the week that follows. “We just have to clean some stuff up. We’ve got to get some more reps from some of our other guys that we’re going to need rotating in and out. We’ll be ready to roll.”

The Tigers (6-0, 3-0 NCMC) will prepare for a road date with Mexico in Week Seven.

“The sky’s the limit,” Gregg Nesbitt said of his team’s potential. “They’ve gained a lot of confidence. At this point, I think I’ll have to go to work on keeping everybody even keel.”