Fort Scott junior running back Chris Archie (1) follows the blocks of seniors Jerad White and Nick Wallace as junior Jonathan Hoyle (50) tries to make the play as as the No. 1 offense works against the No. 2 defense in the Red & White Scrimmage at Frary Field Friday night. Archie scored two touchdowns while working with the No. 1 offense and another one while working with the No. 2 offense. The Tigers begin their regular season next Friday at Logan Field against Nevada. -- Scott Nuzum/Herald-Tribune Photo [Click to enlarge]

FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- Fort Scott High School head football coach Don Epps said earlier in the week that he was looking to have a game-like performance from his Tigers when they held their Red & White Scrimmage. And that's what he got at Frary Field Friday night.

The main reason for having a game-like intensity was because next week's opponent, Nevada, was playing its season opener Friday night at Bolivar, Mo. This was because Missouri schools began their regular season a week earlier this year after adding an extra round of playoffs.

Nevada will have an advantage in game-readiness. Epps hopes that the Tigers can have the advantage in preparedness.

Fort Scott sophomore Kaleb Simpson eludes Kyle Slattery's attempted tackle on a rushing play at the Red & White Scrimmage at Frary Field Friday night. Simpson scored a touchdown a few plays later. The Tigers begin their regular season next Friday at Logan Field against Nevada. -- Scott Nuzum/Tribune Photo [Click to enlarge]

"Overall, we had a great effort," Epps said. "The kids worked so hard. We had great intensity. I felt like it was a game-like intensity And we're a better team because of tonight's scrimmage. We came out with no injuries and we're going to be ready to start preparing for Nevada on Monday."

The freshmen team scrimmaged first, borrowing a few junior varsity players since there are only about 20 out in that grade. Each team scored touchdowns, both of them coming near the end of periods. Freshman Jason Thorpe scored on a five-yard run for the Red as the first period came to a close. Kelsey Adams, a sophomore who was one of the JV players brought over, scored on a two-yard run as the second period expired.

Then the No. 1 varsity offense faced the No. 2 defense and scored three touchdowns. Chris Archie had the first one from 46 yards out and the last one from 12 yards. Mitchell Stoughton added the middle one on a 54-yard dash.

Other highlights of that portion of the scrimmage included a fumble recover by Gary Floyd for the White team and a long pass completion of about 40 yards from quarterback Aaron Judy to Alex Barner.

Next was some sets for the No. 2 offense against the JV defense. Quarterback Ben Gettler connected with Floyd for two long pass plays, one of 52 yards and the other for 49 yards. Also, Kyle Kelly had an interception for the White team. Archie scored another touchdown, this one from 11 yards out.

After that, it was sophomores for the most part with Trevor Swim running the offense. Caleb Simpson scored a touchdown on a two-yard run.

The scrimmage wrapped up with some work for the No. 1 defense. Sterling Braun recovered a fumble for the red team and Floyd returned an interception about 60 yards for a touchdown.

"I was really pleased with how we played across all the classes," Epps said. "The freshmen did a very good job in their scrimmage. And I thought every class did a good job of running the offense and playing defense. I was really impressed how we're able to run our entire offense with all levels (Varsity, JV, freshmen). That's a big thing, to be able to pass the ball and do a lot of positive things on offense that, in the past, maybe we haven't been able to do this early in the year.

"Overall, I'm really positive about our depth right now. It was a question mark going into the year. But our depth is getting much better as we're going on."

NOTE The freshmen game with Nevada, scheduled for Sept. 8, has been canceled. The schools will play the junior varsity contest that night, but it will begin at 5 p.m. To replace that game, the freshmen will go to Girard for a 6 p.m. kickoff on Sept. 18, which is a Thursday....