Soccer finishes home slate with 6-1 rout

Fort Scott's Weston Woodring scores the Tigers' second goal on a header from a corner kick by Roger Rodriguez during the first half of play at Ellis Park Monday afternoon. The Tigers defeated visisting Riverton, 6-1. Austin Rogers (12) scored a second-half goal for the Tigers. (Kenny Felt/Exclusive to the Tribune)

Chase Howser scored three goals and Brett Allen needed to make only three saves Monday afternoon. They and six other Tiger seniors won their final regular-season home match as Fort Scott High's soccer team routed Riverton, 6-1, in a non-league match at Ellis Park.

"I thought we played really well," Fort Scott head coach Kevin Gray said. "Especially in the second half. I thought we looked really good. It was crisp. It was a really good performance overall."

Riverton almost scored first but Allen turned away a short-range shot in the 9th minute. Not much later, Howser scored his first goal from almost directly in front of the Riverton goal.

The second goal came in the 25th minute when Weston Woodring redirected Roger Rodriguez's corner kick with his head. "Set pieces," as plays such as corner kicks and free kicks are known, have been a key to the Tigers' success this season -- both scoring on them and not allowing opponents to get goal from them.

"Set pieces are something we've really worked on this year," Gray said. "We haven't given up a single goal on a set piece all year. Not one corner kick, not one free kick. Defensively, we really pride ourselves on that. Offensively, especially at the beginning of the season, that's where all our goals have been coming from. We work on them a lot."

Riverton got its lone goal in stoppage time at the end of the first half. One of the Tigers was called for a hand ball in the goal square and Brayden Sullivan converted the penalty kick.

The Tigers (9-3) scored three goals in a six-minute stretch in the second half. Howser got his second goal at 52 minutes. Austin Rogers converted a pass from Austin Sather at 57 minutes and Howser got his final goal a minute later.

Tyler Endicott scored a header on a pass from Marcus Brennon in the 75th minute.

The Tigers have never lost to Riverton. They have outscored the Rams 40-5 in the 10 meetings in the series and Sullivan's goal was the first for Riverton against Fort Scott since 2007, the first game of the series. The Tigers won that meeting, 5-4.

Fort Scott concludes regular-season play with four straight road games, the first of which is at Columbus Thursday.

The Tigers took third place at the Coffeyville Tournament Saturday. They lost to Pittsburg in overtime, 2-1 in the first round. Rodriguez scored the only goal. Fort Scott shut out Columbus in the third-place match, 6-0. Endicott scored twice and Howser, Sather, Gage Addington, and Jonah Jones each scored once.

Goalkeepers

R -- Ethan Scibor (6 shots, 4 saves, 2 goals), Ben Root (41st min., 8 shots, 4 saves, 4 goals). FS -- Brett Allen (4 shots, 3 saves, 1 goal), Clayton Hixon (79th min., 1 shot, 1 save, no goals).

Scoring

FS -- Chase Howser (Tyler Endicott), 10th min.

FS -- Weston Woodring (Roger Rodriguez), 25th min.

R -- Brayden Sullivan (Penalty kick), 40th min.

FS -- Howser, 2 (unassisted), 52nd min.

FS -- Austin Rogers (Austin Sather), 57th min.

FS -- Howser, 3 (unassisted), 58th min.

FS -- Endicott (Marcus Brennon), 75th min.