Strong start pushes Wray past Scott City
Wray, Colo. (westernkansasnews.com)–It couldn’t have been any worse of a start for Scott City on Friday in Wray. The Eagles would use a snowball effect on the Beavers early on, as Scott City couldn’t overcome a slow start in a 42-14 loss to the No. 1 team in Class 1A in Colorado at Powell Field on a beautiful Friday night of football.
The game started with Wray returning the opening kickoff back for a touchdown, as Casey Midcap took the kickoff back for 95 yards, and Diego De Leon’s extra point gave the Eagles a 7-0 lead, just 15 seconds into the game. Going back to last year, it was the third straight game in which Scott City was involved in a game that had the opening kickoff returned back for a score. After the Beaver went three-and-out, Wray converted two long third down pass plays, including a 62-yard pass, to set up their first score. Samuel Meisner scored from three yards out with 6:18 remaining in the opeining quarter to give Wray a 14-0 lead with the De Leon PAT. Two plays after a turnover, the Eagles scored on a Midcap 15-yard run wiht 4:22 remaining in the opening quarter to extend the lead to 21-0 with the De Leon extra point.
On their next drive, Wray (3-0) used a 13-play, 75-yard drive for their fourth score of the half. It would come on a 4th and 12 play, as Midcap found Austin Collins a yard deep in the end zone go give them the 28-0 lead with the De Deleon PAT. Scott City would put together their first scoring drive of the night on a nine-play, 75-yard drive. On third down, Camden Vulgamore would scramble and score from 18 yards out with 3:20 left before the break to pull to within 28-7 with the Jackson Rumford extra point. Wray would not be done yet. The Eagles would score late in the first half on another fourth down play. From the Scott City 24 yard line, a 4th and 16 play saw Midcap hit Aaron Tena from 24 yards out to extend the Eagle lead to 35-7 with the De Leon kick.
Wray scored one more time in the third quarter on their opening series of the second half. A four-play drive saw Collins score from 10 yards out wiht 9:05 left in the third quarter to make the score 42-7 with the De Leon extra point kick. Scott City (1-1) responded with a 65-yard kick return by Cayden Couchman that set the Beavers up at the Eagle 22. Five plays later, Couchman found the end zone from five yards out with 7:38 left to pull to within 42-14 with the Rumford PAT.
Scott City had two drives in to the red zone, but a pair of turnovers ended their scoring threats.
Wray rolled up 386 yards of offense, as Casey Midcap went 15-21 passing for 225 yards and two touchdowns. Aaron Tena ended up with seven receptions for 95 yards and a touchdown reception. Midcap rushed for 84 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown, as the Eagles had 161 yards rushing.
Scott City got 205 yards passing from Camden Vulgamore on 11-21 passing, and had three interceptions. Jackson Rumford had 99 yards receiving on five receptions. Vulgamore added 63 yards on 12 rushes and a touchdown. The Beavers ended up wiht 145 yards rushing and 350 yards of offense.
With the loss, Wray won their second-ever meeting in the series, and won against the Beavers for the first time since 1995. Scott City leads the series 3-2, as they are now 10-2 against schools from Colorado.
Scott City returns home to host Hoisington on Friday. The Cardinals gave up a late touchdown to fall 28-24 to Hesston at home, dropping them to 0-2 on the season. Wray will be at Brush, Colorado on Friday.
Coach Jim Turner Postgame
Scoring Summary
Scott City 0 7 7 0–14
Wray 21 14 7 0–42
1st Quarter
WR 11:45 Casey Midcap 95 yard Kickoff return (Diego De Leon Kick)
WR 6:18 Samuel Meisner 3 yard run (De Leon Kick) 7-84, 3:28
WR 4:22 Midcap 15 yard run (De Leon Kick) 2-15, :56
2nd Quarter
WR 8:33 Austin Collins 22 yard pass from Midcap (De Leon Kick) 13-77, 4:35
SC 3:20 Camden Vulgamore 18 yard run (Jackson Rumford Kick) 9-75, 5:13
WR :58 Aaron Tena 24 yard pass from Midcap (De Leon Kick) 7-62, 2:22
3rd Quarter
WR 9:05 Collins 10 yard run (De Leon Kick) 4-72, 1:31
SC 7:30 Cayden Couchman 5 yard run (Rumford Kick) 5-22, 1:27
Scott City
Rushing
Camden Vulgamre 12-63; Kelton Cook 8-40; Cayden Couchman 6-27; Kevin Wiebe 4-19; Griffin Edwards 1-(-2); Matthew Wheeler 1-(-2); Total: 32-145
Passing
Camden Vulgamore 11-21 205 0-3
Receiving
Jackson Rumford 5-99; Kevin Wiebe 4-88; Cayden Couchman 1-21; Matthew Wheeler 1-(-3)
Total Yards: 350
Wray
Rushing
Casey Midcap 13-84; Samuel Meisner 9-47; Austin Collins 7-23; Aaron Tena 4-7; Total: 33-161
Passing
Casey Midcap 15-21 225 2-0
Receiving
Aaron Tena 7-95; Austin Collins 6-62; Wyatt Fonte 1-62; Austin Hendrix 1-6
Total Yards: 386