Scott City begins playoff run tonight against Lyons

Scott City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–For the 10th straight season, Scott City will be playing on a Tuesday night. And for the seventh straight season, the Beavers are playing at Darner Field. Tonight’s opponent will be the sixth different team that Scott City will host, as Lyons visits for a 7 pm kickoff in the Bi-District round of the Class 3A Playoffs.

It has been a tough week for the Lyons Lions. They won three straight games to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2009 when tragedy struck their team last week. Dylon Pavlus-Newill, a junior on the football team, lost his life last Tuesday in an accidental house fire in Lyons. Two days later, the Lions took the field at home and lost 40-7 to Hoisington to drop to 3-6 on the year. Monday night, a Celebration of Life took place, on the date that would have been his 17th birthday. Lyons has turned around a program that was 1-8 in 2014, and has wins over Hillsboro (39-6), Rice County rival Sterling (28-24) and Ellsworth (21-13) to put themselves into the playoffs. The Lions have scored and average of 16 points per game, while giving up an average of 28 points a contest in 2015.

Scott City kept the ball rolling on Thursday, with a 48-6 win at Cimarron in the District 16 Championship game. The Beavers put up 21 first quarter points, and led 34-0 at the break. Scott City rolled up 456 yards on the ground and had 533 yards of offense for the game. Cooper Griffith went over 1,000 rushing yards on the year with 20 touchdowns, and is now six tackles shy of 100 for a third straight year. Bo Hess is also six passing yards away from a 1,000 for the season with 12 touchdowns. The Beavers have given up an average of eight points a game, while scoring 40 per game through the first nine games. They’ve also limited opponents to around 150 yards per game, while racking up close to 400 a game. 

This is the first meeting between the Beavers and Lyons since 2008, when Scott City won 40-13 in the Regional round of the playoffs. Lyons won the prior meeting in 1979 21-13. In the playoffs all-time, Scott City is making their 21st apperance, and is 46-16. Their 46 playoff wins is good for eighth most in Kansas High School playoff history. Lyons is in the playoffs for the 13th time in school history, and is 4-12 all time. 

The winner of this game will take on the winner of the Norton/Marysville game on Saturday, a game that kicks off at Travis Field at 6 pm. If Scott City wins, they will host Norton or travel to Marysville on Saturday and a Lyons win would get them a home playoff game regardless of the winner of the other game.

There will be a hamburger feed benefit for the Dylon Pavlus-Newill family at Darner Field at 5 pm. Cost is $5. There will also be a free will donations collected to give to the family after the game. 

Kickoff from Darner Field is at 7 pm. Pregame coverage on Mix 94 begins at 6:30. You can also listen to the game online at https://www.westernkansasnews.com/mix94/, on Mix 94 using TuneIn Radio, and the KSKL app that’s free to download.