Tigers prevail on Homecoming, 31-14

Saturday, October 10, 2015
Fort Scott's Carter Young (36) readies to evade the effort of Independence's Aaron Medlock (2) during play at Frary Field Friday night. Young rushed for 99 yards and two touchdowns in the Tigers' 31-14 Homecoming victory. (Kenny Felt/Special to the Tribune)

The defense took care of things early. The offense made things work in the second half. And Fort Scott High finished with a 31-14 victory over Independence in Southeast Kansas League play on Homecoming at Frary Field Friday night.

Independence's offense held the ball for 5 1/2 minutes on its opening possession but wasn't able to advance to midfield. A bad snap to the punter resulted in a big tackle for a loss that gave Fort Scott's offense the ball at the Independence 29-yard line.

But a couple of penalties on the possession forced the Tigers (3-1 SEK, 5-1 overall) to settle for Brody Southwell's 52-yard field goal attempt, which fell short.

Brody Southwell (15) and Vince Tome tackle Independence's Levi Kemp during Friday night's game at Frary Field. (Kenny Felt/Special to the Tribune)

After a scoreless opening quarter, Fort Scott took over at the Independence 27 after Marcus Stepps' 33-yard punt return. It took just 5 plays for the Tigers to score as Carter Young plunged in from 3 yards out with 6:10 on the clock. Southwell converted the extra point to make it 7-0.

Stepps returned another punt 12 yards, allowing Fort Scott to begin its next drive at its own 39. Young broke a couple of tackles on a 21-yard run on the second play to move the ball to the Independence 40. Quarterback Kaleb DeLaTorre found Stepps two plays later for a 15-yard gain to the 26. The drive stalled but Southwell kicked a 28-yard field goal to make it 10-0 with 40 seconds left in the half.

At halftime, Independence (3-2, 4-2) had just 48 yards of total offense and 23 of those came on its opening drive. Fort Scott had 128 yards, with 100 coming on the ground.

"That first series, (the defense) had an alignment problem, one or two, and then we got adjusted to what they were doing," Fort Scott head coach Bob Campbell said. "I thought our defense played really, really well. They kept us in the game early on when our offense was struggling and we were shooting ourselves in the foot with penalties and mistakes."

The Tigers received the second-half kickoff and drove 61 yards over the course of 6 minutes, 34 seconds. DeLaTorre to Southwell for a 19-yard gain to the Independence 24 was a highlight of the drive was a highlight as was the next play, a Young carry to the 10 using his blockers.

Three plays after that, DeLaTorre lunged in from 3 yards out to make it 17-0.

Independence used the rest of the quarter on its scoring drive, which used 15 plays to cover 72 yards in 5 minutes, 20 seconds. Bulldog quarterback Colan Snodgrass found John Easley on a 9-yard scoring pass on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Yes, one possession for each team the entire third quarter.

And the Tigers went right back at it on their next possession, using nine plays and 4:36 to score. Southwell's leaping catch over an Indy defender gave Fort Scott a first down at the Bulldogs' 16. Two plays later, an Independence pass-interference penalty put the ball at the 6 and Young went in for his second touchdown on a 3-yard run two plays later. The extra point extended the Fort Scott lead to 24-7 with 7:14 remaining.

On the second play of Indy's next possession, Snodgrass found Evan Kleiber on a pass play. But the Tigers forced a fumble, which Southwell recovered on the east sideline with 6:21 left in the game.

Nothing came of the Tigers' possession and they punted the ball back to Independence. A penalty canceled out a Tiger interception. Then a couple of plays after that, Will Schable broke up the middle for a 48-yard touchdown run with 2:27 remaining that brought the Bulldogs within 24-14.

Indy tried an onside kick but Vince Tome recovered for the Tigers. Fort Scott had to punt the ball back but the Bulldogs were forced backward by penalties on the ensuing possession. The first two plays were passes broken up by Young and Southwell. Then two holding penalties and a delay of game led to fourth-and-40 at Indy's own 4. Stepps stepped in front of Snodgrass' pass and returned it to the 9. This time, the play stood.

On the next play, DeLaTorre weaved through the Indy defense for his second score with 1:49 remaining.

Fort Scott squibbed the kickoff, not wanting Independence to get a chance for a long return. The ball bounced off one of the Bulldogs' front line and straight up. When it landed, De'Vonte Robinson recovered it for the Tigers.

Independence had no time outs left and Fort Scott kneeled out the clock.

Fort Scott finished with 258 yards in total offense to 183 for Independence. Young gained 99 yards on 22 rushes. DeLaTorre completed 9 of 14 passes for 95 yards.

Stepps caught the most passes, 4 for 26 yards. Southwell had the most receiving yards, 52 on 3 receptions.

The Tigers will play at Chanute Friday. It's not only a league game but also the first contest in Class 4A-Division I District 4 play. The Blue Comets (1-3 SEK, 1-5 overall) fell to Parsons, 27-20, in double overtime Friday night. Donte Gress scored the winning touchdown for the Vikings (2-4, 2-4).


TIGER BOX

INDEPENDENCE.......... 0 0 0 14 -- 14

FORT SCOTT....... 0 10 7 14 -- 31

Team stats Ind. FS
First downs 8 16
Rushes-yards 30-121 45-163
Passing yards 62 95
Total offense 183 258
Passing 10-21-1 9-14-0
Sacked-yards lost 0-0 0-0
Punt returns-yards 0-0 3-24
Kickoff returns-yards 4-56 4-68
Interception returns-yards 0-0 1-3
Punts-avg. 3-38.3 3-30.3
Fumbles-lost 2-1 0-0
Penalties-yds. 8-55 11-75

Scoring plays

Second quarter

FS -- Young 3 run (Southwell kick), 6:10 [5, 27, 1:58]

FS -- FG Southwell 28, :40 [10, 51, 3:27]

Third quarter

FS -- DeLaTorre 3 run (Southwell kick), 5:21 [11, 61, 6:34]

Fourth quarter

In -- Easley 9 pass from Snodgrass (Janasek kick), 11:55 [15, 72, 5:20]

FS --Young 3 run (Southwell kick), 7:14 [9, 65, 4:36]

In -- Schabel 48 run (Janasek kick), 3:37 [4, 80, 1:13]

FS -- DeLaTorre 9 run (Southwell kick), 1:49 [1, 9, :05]

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Independence -- Schabel 15-96, Jones 9-26, Shaffer 3-13, Snodgrass 2-minus 1, Medlock 1-minus 13. Fort Scott -- Young 22-99, W.Tourtillott 8-29, DeLaTorre 7-25, Fewell 5-17, team 3-minus 7.

PASSING: Independence -- Snodgrass 10-21-1-62. Fort Scott -- DeLaTorre -- 9-14-0-95.

RECEIVING: Independence -- Kleiber 4-30, Kemp 3-14, Shaffer 2-9, Easley 1-9. Fort Scott -- Stepps 4-26, Southwell 3-52, Hudiburg 2-17

MISSED FIELD GOALS: Fort Scott -- Southwell 52 (Short).