Scott City shuts out Concordia
Scott City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–Scott City came into Friday’s home game still looking to put their their first complete game of the year. Standing in the way was a Concordia team who had been improving week by week, winning three of their last four games.
The Beavers would put together their best effort of the year, and it started on the opening drive. A balanced offense, coupled by a smothering defense helped Scott City snap a two-game losing streak in a 31-0 win over the Concordia Panthers on Senior Night at Darner Field.
Scott City would set the tone right away on offense. An 11-play, 66-yard drive in just under five minutes, would be capped off by a nine-yard touchdown toss from Parker Gooden to Hunter Yager to take the 7-0 lead, after the Alexis Reyes PAT.
The Beavers would tack on two scores in the second quarter. Their first came on a fourth down play by Gooden, who went straight up the middle from 33 yards out with 8:05 left in the first half. Reyes booted in the extra point to make it 14-0. Late in the first half, Scott City would score for the second time through the air. Parker Gooden would find a wide open Jackson Lewis from 44 yards out with 1:07 left before halftime to extend the lead to 21-0. Gooden had acted like he was going to run, and stayed behind the line of scrimmage before tossing it downfield.
After holding the Panthers on their opening series of the second half, Scott City would strike quickly after starting deep in their own territory. A four-play, 83-yard drive Gooden hook up with Loren Faurot on a 63-yard touchdown pass with 6:52 left in the third quarter to go up 28-0 after the Reyes PAT. That would be their longest play from scrimmage this year.
Alexis Reyes would cap off the scoring in the fourth quarter with a 21-yard field goal with 6:50 remaining to make the score 31-0. Scott City’s defense would stop Concordia twice down the stretch, and avoid their first three-game losing streak in a season for the first time since 1995.
After throwing just one touchdown pass through the first seven games, the Beavers would convert three through the air. Parker Gooden was 9-13 passing for 177 yards and three touchdowns. Loren Faurot had two catches for 72 yards and a score and added 36 yards on the ground. Gooden rushed for 78 yards on 11 carries and a touchdown. Jackson Lewis had two catches for 50 yards and a touchdown. The Beavers rushed for 218 yards and finished with 395 yards.
Concordia finished with only 120 yards, all on the ground. Hunter Schroeder finished with 69 yards on 19 carries, while Wyatt Trost had 36 yards on 14 carries. They were a combined 0-6 passing.
With the win, Scott City improves to 4-0 in the series, and is now 13-1 all-time against members of the NCKL. They also avoided a third straight district loss in the same season for the first time in program history.
The win pushed Scott City into the second place spot in district play, which guarantees them to host a playoff game next Friday night. After improving to 6-2, they will take on Holcomb, who was shut out at Hugoton 22-0 on Friday. Holcomb is 4-4 on the year, and will finish as the third place team in District 7. Colby will host Nickerson, Scott City hosts Holcomb, Beloit travels to Larned and Concordia will head to Hugoton. Concordia is 4-4 on the season, as is Hugoton.
Despite a three-way tie and having the second most points in District 7, Larned is the second place team in the district, because they defeated both Nickerson and Holcomb, and Holcomb defeated Nickerson earlier in the year.
Assistant Coach Landon Frank Postgame
