FOOTBALL FRIDAY: Tigers vs. Coffeyville -- Tigers look to contain Tornado

Friday, September 26, 2014

Fort Scott High faces off against Coffeyville at 7 p.m. tonight at Frary Field in a battle of Southeast Kansas League rivals. Both teams come into the contest off losses. The Tigers were shut out 41-0 at Pittsburg. Coffeyville fell 24-12 at Chanute.

There are two things that Chanute's "upset" of Coffeyville last Friday showed.

First, the Blue Comets (1-2) aren't as bad as their record would indicate. Their losses came to Columbus and Bonner Springs, which are a combined 5-1. Columbus is one of three teams still unbeaten in the CNC -- the others are Colgan and Frontenac.

Bonner Springs' lone loss was by a touchdown (35-27) to Eudora in their season opener.

Eudora is 1-2 but their losses are to Louisburg and Paola.

And one of Paola's losses is to Spring Hill.

And one of Spring Hill's losses is to Fort Scott.

Funny how that works, eh?

Second, by allowing just 12 points to the Golden Tornado (1-2 SEK and overall), the Blue Comets showed that Pittsburg isn't the only team that's figured out how to contain an offense which has most of its key components back from last year's Class 4A State runner-up team which became the first in Southeast Kansas League history to score 600 points in a season.

And Fort Scott's defense? Well, it's safe to assume that Pittsburg's going to score a lot of points on a lot of teams this season. But in their other two games, the Tigers (1-1, 2-1) have given up just 13 points, all via the pass, which isn't considered Coffeyville's offensive strength.

The Golden Tornado's strength is in its running game, powered by seniors LaDarrius Johnson (5' 8", 170), Destin Downing (5' 8", 175) and Jamal Logan (6' 1", 220). Johnson rushed for 1,756 yards and 25 touchdowns last season while Downing ran for 1,100 yards and 23 scores. This season, Johnson is second in the SEK in scoring with 4 touchdowns while Logan and Downing each have found the end zone 3 times.

Those three also form the core of what looked to be a formidable defense going into the season. They allowed 55 points to Pittsburg in their season opener but in their other two games, they've allowed a much-better 18.5 points. Fort Scott's offense, even after being shut out by Pittsburg, still averages 19 points a game and the Golden Tornado have no one to key on since six backs are all capable of giving the Tigers a good night on the ground. Chase Brown has rushed from the fullback spot more often than any other Fort Scott player and his ability to push the ball up the middle could open up the outside for the slotbacks later in the game.