FOOTBALL FRIDAY: Tigers at Independence -- Bulldogs riding the roller coaster

When Independence has won a game this season, the Bulldogs have won big. In their three victories this season, Indy has outscored their opponents 109-31.

The bad news for the Bulldogs is that when they lose, they lose big. Granted, one of their losses is to Pittsburg, which clinched the Southeast Kansas League championship last week, but the other was to a Chanute team that's been struggling. And Independence has been outscored in their losses, 98-26.

When Fort Scott High travels to Independence Friday night for a 7 p.m. SEK contest at Emmott Field, the Tigers will be prepared for the good Indy team. Especially since this will be the first meeting between the schools on the stadium's new FieldTurf surface, which was installed over the summer.

All time, Fort Scott is just 7-12 on fake grass but did win on Spring Hill's new artificial surface earlier this year. This will be the first season in which the Tigers have played three games on an artificial surface of any kind.

Offensively, the Bulldogs are led by running back Marquise Johnson (5' 11", 170, Sr.), who is third in the SEK in scoring this season with 9 touchdowns and a 2-point conversion for a total of 56 points. Quarterback Kyle Rinck (6' 3", 175, Jr.) stands behind an experience offensive line that includes senior Evan Speicher (6' 4", 265) and senior Shane Burchett (6' 1", 215).

The Bulldogs also have a great deal of experience back on defense, with eight listed starters returning from last year's team. Johnson and Rinck play defensive back and Speicher mans the defensive line. In addition, Jordan Mead (5' 9", 155, Sr.) is one of three returning linebackers including Max Jones (6' 1", 175, Jr.) and Noah Stroble (6' 2", 175, Jr.).

Fort Scott and Independence are two of just three SEK teams that have outscored their opponents for the season. Pittsburg has outscored theirs by an average of 43 points per game. The Tigers have a winning margin per game of 8.3 points and Indy is at 1.2 points per game.

The Tigers do a good job of getting out to a lead. They've outscored their opponents 34-7 in the first quarter this season and 145-104 overall. Fort Scott allows the second-fewest points per game of any SEK team (20.8).

Chase Brown is the Tigers' leading rusher for the season with 351 yards and 5 touchdowns. Carter Young follows with 217 yards and 3 TDs. Fort Scott is averaging 185 yards on the ground per game.

Mason Knopp has thrown for 440 yards this season and 5 touchdowns. He's only been intercepted twice. He has completed only 44 percent of his passes but a lot of that is the fault of Pittsburg's defense, which allowed Knopp to complete just 2 of 16 passes. Remove that game and his completion percentage improves to 55.6 percent.

Alex Fink has caught the most passes, 14, for the most yards, 246, and the most scores, 3. That doesn't include the fact that he intercepted 2 Prairie View passes last week for over 90 return yards.

Brody Southwell has made all his placekicks this season, going 3 for 3 on field-goal tries and 16 for 16 on extra points. His 25 points is second among league kickers to Pittsburg's Nick Powers (30 points) and 11th among all scorers.

With Pittsburg clinching its 32nd Southeast Kansas League title last week, this game is for a chance to finish as high as second.