East Prairie tags 53-8 loss on Chaffee

CHAFFEE — Homecoming wasn't sweet at all for Chaffee on Friday.

The Red Devils knew that East Prairie featured a strong running game anchored by tailback M.C. Williams, the leading rusher in Southeast Missouri.

But the Eagles came out not only running, but also throwing against the Red Devils.

And they did both well.

Williams rushed for 214 yards and four touchdowns. East Prairie quarterback Conner Scott was 6-of-9 passing for 184 yards, and fired two touchdown passes to Kaleb Williford.

East Prairie cruised to a 53-8 victory over Chaffee (3-3).

"It felt real good to be out here and get a win," Williams said. "I don't know what got into [Scott] tonight. We've been on him the whole season about throwing because we know his ability. He came out and executed well and threw the ball well. I'm very happy for him."

Chaffee was hurt by its own mistakes. It fumbled twice and quarterback Aaron Horrell threw two interceptions.

"It's just getting old," Horrell said about turnovers. "Every game it's three or four. Sometimes we can put points up on the board. Sometimes we have trouble blocking. But at some point we're going to have to start holding onto the ball and catching the ball. I think we had six dropped passes in the fourth quarter."

East Prairie took a 21-0 lead in the first 10 minutes, 27 seconds of the game. Williams had touchdown runs of 53 and 20 yards while Scott tossed a 47-yard touchdown pass to Williford during that span.

"We didn't tackle well the whole game," Chaffee coach Charlie Vickery said. "But they'd make us miss. They have two good running backs and they have a good offensive line to get off the ball. And you just can't miss tackles on a good back like that.

"We were reaching and grabbing and we just didn't tackle well. He [Williams] made us pay for it."

East Prairie (3-3) scored three more touchdowns in the second quarter to lead 39-0 at halftime.

"They didn't do anything different from what we expected," Vickery said. "But when they're running the ball so good, it makes a difference. And you can't have turnovers and give them a short field. I don't know how many turnovers we had tonight, but it was too dang many."

Williams said he felt his line made the difference.

"Our offensive line did a real good job of getting a push on the defensive linemen, and they created real good holes for me to run through," Williams said. "Our defense has been working on wrapping up, and when the running back has the ball, we've been working on stripping the ball. And it came into play real good tonight."

Horrell was 11-of-24 passing for 88 yards. He threw one touchdown, which came in the fourth quarter.

Chaffee junior running back Daniel Lawson carried nine times for 90 yards.

"That's the best I've seen him run all year," Horrell said of Lawson. "He actually lowered his shoulders. He's a big boy. He's the biggest boy we have on our team. He usually runs straight up and down. We've been working with him to try to lower his pads. Tonight he did that and ran over a few people."

Chaffee senior Collin Dannenmueller said his team must forget the loss and move on.

"He [Williams] is just unbelievable," Dannenmueller said. "There's no stopping him. There is, but we didn't do it tonight. ... We've got to focus on one week at a time. This week is over. It's time to focus on next week."

East Prairie 21 18 14 0 — 53

Chaffee 0 0 0 8 — 8

@z_agate_no tab_no indnt_bld ld:First Quarter

EP — M.C. Williams 20 run (Williams run), 5:49.

EP — Williford 47 pass from Conner Scott (Williams kick), 2:52

EP — Williams 53 run (pass failed), 1:33

Second Quarter

EP — Williams 21 run (kick failed), 11:29.

EP — Williford 50 pass from Scott (kick failed), 7:08

EP — Miller 6 run (kick failed), :32

Third Quarter

EP — Williams 18 run (Williams kick), 4:59.

EP — Miller 5 run (Williams kick), 1:17.

Fourth Quarter

C — Trenton Horman 20 pass from Aaron Horrell (Collin Dannenmueller pass from Horrell), 5:08.