Grizzlies pull away, claim 8th straight KJCCC crown

Fort Scott Community College defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul (9) tries to tackle Butler running back Tywon Hubbard during the second half of play at Galen Blackmore Stadium in El Dorado Saturday night. The No. 3-ranked Grizzlies defeated the fourth-ranked Greyhounds, 24-7. (Fort Scott Community College photo/Kathleen Hinrichs)

EL DORADO -- No matter how outstanding a defense is, it can't help a football team win without support from its offense.

Fort Scott Community College's defense gave the Greyhounds their best chance to beat Butler in recent memory here Saturday night as the third- (Butler) and fourth-ranked teams in the NJCAA faced off at Galen Blackmore Field.

But Butler's defense adjusted to Fort Scott's plan of attack about midway through the second quarter and the Grizzlies' offense eventually found ways to score in a 24-7 win that gave them their eighth consecutive Jayhawk Conference championship.

"I think our kids played outstanding and, when I say that, I say they played hard and gave themselves the opportunity to win," Fort Scott head coach Jeff Sims said. "Everybody's proud of the season we've had so far and the things we've done. I think we've made strides towards beating Butler, but I don't know that we're totally there yet."

The Greyhounds (6-1 KJCCC, 8-1 overall), who suffered their first loss of the season, now have to prepare to face an improved Hutchinson team (4-3, 6-3), which will come into a Region VI Playoff semifinal game at 1:30 Sunday at Frary Field fresh off a 17-0 win at No. 14 Garden City (4-3, 6-3) to earn the third seed in the playoff field.

Fort Scott had the ball first and drove 43 yards before Lucas Halsey's 36-yard field-goal attempt fell short of the goalpost. However, Arvel Nelson intercepted Butler's Press Taylor on the Grizzlies' (6-0, 8-1) second play from scrimmage and returned it to the five-yard line. Jasmin Hopkins scored from there on a shovel pass from Zac Dickey with 10:10 left in the first quarter.

Butler running back Randall Bell fumbled the ball to the Greyhounds -- David Garrett recovered -- on the Grizzlies' first play after the kickoff. But this time, the 'Hounds were held to a three-and-out but Derek Helton's punt pinned Butler back on its own 10-yard line.

After running three plays on their first two drives, the Grizzlies held the ball for over seven minutes on a 15-play drive that ended when Taylor scrambled into the end zone with 1:14 left in the first.

The teams traded punts. Then Fort Scott looked as if it was going to have another productive drive. The 'Hounds started at their own 16 with just over 11 minutes to go in the first half. Then, after seven plays, they were at their own 43.

At that point, the moment after they had run their 26th offensive play with just over eight minutes to go, Hopkins had 81 yards on the ground and Dickey was five of seven passing, although the completions were short for a total of 27 yards. Fort Scott had 112 yards in offense.

The rest of the night, Hopkins gained only 18 more yards, Dickey completed just one of his last 13 passes and Fort Scott gained only 58 yards on 39 plays.

"The one thing about Butler is that they hang in and wear you down," Sims said. "

There's no excuses for our kids. They played very, very hard."

Despite the sudden fade by the offense the defense was able to maintain the 7-7 tie into the half as the 'Hounds allowed only 104 total yards in the half. And on the second play of the third quarter, Bell fumbled again and LeVonte David recovered for Fort Scott at its own 39.

Bell would redeem himself for his two lost fumbles midway through the third when he broke up the middle for a 58-yard touchdown run with 9:56 on the clock to put Butler in front, 14-7.

Coryell Judie stopped Butler's next drive with an interception but the Greyhounds had to punt.

Early in the fourth quarter, Butler's Logan Ortiz made a 26-yard field goal to make it a 17-7 lead. Taylor snuck the ball over the goal line for the final score of the contest with 1:49 remaining.

"We didn't get the big play and they got the big play," Sims said. "They had a 58-yard run. We tried to fake a punt to get a big play. We tried a trick offense we'd worked on a little bit. We tried to go down swinging and our kids played hard and did what we asked them to do."

Butler finished the night with 309 total yards, 267 of them on the ground as Bell rushed for 152 yards on 18 carries and backup Tywon Hubbard gained 106 on 17 rushes. Fort Scott finished with just 170 total yards, only 37 of those in the air.

The regular season showed that the Greyhounds have risen a step above the other six football teams in the Jayhawk Conference. But it also showed that Butler is still a step above that.

"In all aspects, I think we still need to improve -- as a coaching staff and as far as the depth of our players," Sims said. "We have good players but a lot of our guys haven't been redshirted to they haven't been able to grow that maybe a Butler team has. As far as my players go, I'm not disappointed in the way they played at all."

Hutchinson has won four straight games after a 2-3 start -- one of those losses was Highland's only conference win. The Blue Dragons appear to have found their identity as an extremely-run-oriented team after then-starting quarterback Terry McKinnon left the team after Hutch lost to Fort Scott in week five. Beating Garden City on the road is no small feat most seasons, so it may well be that Hutchinson will be a dangerous test on Sunday.

"Everyone keeps talking about playing (Butler) again," Sims said. "We're playing Hutch this week and they're very, very good and they're on top of the world right now whereas our guys are down a little bit. So we're going to have to do a great job of coaching to let these guys know that they have to come back to work again and that there's a regional championship at stake.

"The true mettle of how good of a football program we are right now is how we play if we get a chance to play Butler again. We're a lot farther away from Butler if we don't handle Hutch and get a chance to play Butler on a neutral field. If we don't respond this week, they I'll be more disappointed than I am right now."