Beavers uses air attack early to ground Hugoton

Scott City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–Through the first three games, the Scott City Beavers were beating opponents with the ground game. Yes, there would be a pass here and there, and one for a score, but it was mostly on the ground.

Friday night would be a change early for the Beavers. Scott City would score four first quarter touchdowns, all in the air, and cruise to a 35-7 homecoming win over the Hugoton Eagles at Darner Field.

The Beavers had only scored one time in the first quarter entering the game. Friday night, they would score four times. Marshal Faurot would be the recipient of a 17-yard touchdown pass from Parker Gooden with 6:11 in the first quarter to give Scott City an early 7-0 lead. The Beavers took advantage of Hugoton being offsides on fourth down earlier in the drive. Following a three-and-out by the Eagles, Scott City would score three plays later. With 3:31 remaining in the quarter, a 44-yard pass play from Gooden to Faurot would give the Beavers a 14-0 lead, after the Moses Hinojos PAT. That would not be all from Scott City. On the next drive, a four-play, 47-yard drive would be capped off by a 19-yard pass play from Gooden to Nick Nowak with 19.8 seconds remaining in the quarter to put the Beavers up 21-0. Following an Eagle fumble, Scott City took advantage of the wind at their backs one final time in the quarter. With two seconds left in the first quarter, Gooden and Faurot would hook up again, this time from 28 yards out, and the Hinojos extra point would push the lead to 28-0 Beavers after one quarter.

Penalties and turnovers would hinder both teams in the second and third quarters, as the score would remain 28-0 Scott City after three quarters. Hugoton had one series where they took it down to the Scott City 18 yard line in the second quarter, but would have a turnover on downs. The Beavers opening drive of the second half saw them run 13 plays and get as far as the Eagle 11, only to see two plays cost them 15 yards, and would have a penalty on a completion down to the four yard line.

The scoring would wind back up, as the teams would trade scores in a 16-second span. With 6:57 remaining, Wyatt Hayes punched it in from a yard out to give Scott City a 35-7 lead after the Hinojos PAT. On the ensuing kickoff, Dawson Kerbow would return the kick 85 yards for a touchdown with 6:41 left, and Leonardo Armendariz booted in the extra point to cap off the scoring at 35-7.

The 35-7 final was the same score as last years meeting, with the exception of Scott City scoring 28 second half points after a 7-7 first half. Both teams gave up their first fourth quarter touchdowns of the season.

Parker Gooden was 9-13 passing for 162 yards and four touchdowns. Marshal Faurot had three catches for 89 yards and three scores, while Nick Nowak had five grabs for 63 yards and a touchdown. Jarret Jurgens had 131 yards on the ground with 14 carries, while Wyatt Hayes added 86 yards on 13 carries with a touchdown. The Beavers rushed for 249 yards and had a season-best 411 yards of offense. It was a season-high of points with 35, surpassing the 34 at Cimarorn last week.

Hugoton was led by Dawson Kerbow, who had 51 yards rushing on nine carries. The Eagles rushed for 53 yards and finished with just 61 yards of offense, a season low. Braden Slemp led the receivers with one catch for five yards. Manny Mendoza was just 2-5 passing for 8 yards with an interception. Hugoton had a season low of points, while surrendering a season high of 35.

With the win, Scott City starts out 4-0 for the 12th time in the past 14 years, and now have won eight straight in the series, winning by an average of 38-4. The win by the Beavers improves their record in the eight years of the GWAC to 35-2.

Scott City is 4-0 overall, 2-0 in Great West Activities Conference play, and will travel to Ulysses next Friday night. The Tigers fell to Colby 51-8 in Colby on Friday. Hugoton drops to 1-3 overall, 1-2 in league play, and will host Goodland next Friday night. The Cowboys are also 1-3 overall, after a 26-14 loss at Holcomb.

Assistant Coach Todd Richardson Postgame