A red zone stand helped Excelsior Springs secure its first win of the varsity 11-man football season.

As coach Jake Danneman recalled Monday, the Tigers led Raytown South 9-6 late in the fourth quarter, but the Cardinals were threatening to score. With Ray South facing fourth-and-short, Excelsior Springs outside linebacker Brodey Seely made a tackle in the Ray South backfield that gave the Tigers the ball on downs and allowed them to secure the three-point Oct. 3 home victory.

“Our linebackers stepped up right there at the very end of the game,” Danneman said.

Reading a Ray South guard was key to making the game-saving tackle, according to Seely.

“He didn’t block me at all,” recounted Seely, a junior. “He froze up. I saw the hole. I hit the hole and had to make the tackle.”

If Seely hadn’t made the tackle, the Cardinals would’ve scored a touchdown, he said.

Before the Cardinals made their late threat and Seely notched his game-saving tackle, the Tigers went up 7-0 in the first quarter, court…