Scott City hosts Ulysses in homecoming battle

Scott City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–In one of the longest continuing rivalries in southwest Kansas, Scott City and Ulysses will do battle for the 71st time tonight at Darner Field. It’s also the 63 consecutive year the two teams will face off. For Scott City, it’s their final non-district game of the year, while Ulysses looks to improve on their record and standing in Class 4A.

The Tigers come in to Friday’s game with a 2-1 record, after a 29-6 win over the Hugoton Eagles last Friday night at Maxwell Field. It was a 9-6 Ulysses lead at the break, before they scored 20 second half points to snap a two-game skid to the Eagles. Through three games, the Tigers have averaged 348 yards of offense per game, wiht 204 coming through the air. Devin Walker, who stands 6-9, has thrown for 551 yards and nine touchdowns, with his leading target being Sloan Hayden, who’s 6-5, and has 177 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Defensively, Ulysses has given up an average of 203 yards per contest and has held opponents to a scoring average of 21 points, while scoring around 37 per game. Rick Cue has taken over as head coach, after the sudden death of Jason Kenny in late July.

Scott City has seamrolled their oppoenents through the first three games this year,winning by an average of 40-0. Last Friday night, the Beavers opened their season in front of a capacity crowd at Darner Field with a 61-0 win over the Cowboys of Goodland. They scored 28 first quarter points, and led 55-0 at the break. This year, Wyatt Hayes leads the Scott City ground attack with 453 yards and eight touchdowns, while Marshall Faurot has two receiving touchdowns and 116 receiving yards. The Beavers have averaged 277 rushing yards and 353 total yards through the first three games. Defensively, they’ve held opponents to an average of 51 yards per contest through three games. Scott City is plus-four in turnovers this year, and got an interception return from Gabe Bowers last Friday night.

Scott City has won nine of the last 10 meetings in the series, including a 42-11 win at Ulysses last year. The Beavers also hold a 39-30-1 edge in the all-time series.

Kickoff is at 7 pm at Darner Field, with a 6:30 pregame on Mix 94.5 for the Scott City Broadcast, and on KULY AM 1420 for the Ulysses broadcast. The games are also streamed online on westernkansasnews.com and on the KSKL and KULY apps.