Chaffee football team improves to 3-1

FESTUS, Mo. -- The other five trips to the end zone were easy once Chaffee found its way there the first time Friday night at St. Pius.

The Red Devils scored on six consecutive possessions in a 39-7 victory that kept St. Pius winless in its last 12 games.

The Lancers (0-3) held Chaffee (3-1) out of the end zone in the first quarter and even threatened to score first before the momentum turned and the floodgates opened.

Senior running back Tyson Estes scored four touchdowns and ran for 146 yards on just 11 carries to lead the Red Devils, who racked up 232 yards on the ground. Senior quarterback Jordan Yahn added 139 yards on a 5-for-6 performance that included a 50-yard touchdown hookup with Charlie Montgomery.

"We took care of business," Chaffee coach Charlie Vickery said. "We were a little shaky in the first quarter, but once we got our feet on the ground, I thought we played pretty well. We moved the ball well."

Chaffee scored its first five touchdowns on 13 offensive plays, racking up 275 yards -- an average of 21.2 yards per play -- during one dizzying stretch. Five plays went for 29 yards or more during that stretch. Chaffee had a dozen plays of 10 or more yards in the game.

"We just kept pounding the rock inside," Estes said, "and then they started biting on the inside and then we ran the sweep to the outside. All you've got to do is make one guy miss and go."

The Red Devils punted just once, and they were penalized only three times -- twice on extra points and the other on a roughing the passer penalty late in the game.

Estes scooted 54 yards -- finding a hole in the left side and heading to the sideline -- for Chaffee's opening touchdown, which capped a two-play, 67-yard drive. Yahn's kick after the penalty made the score 7-0 with 7 minutes, 44 seconds to play in the second quarter.

The Red Devils' defense forced a three-and-out, and the offense pieced together a 51-yard drive on five plays. Jimmy Golden ran 29 yards to open the drive. Estes had three of the final four runs, including a 4-yard TD run four minutes before halftime.

After another three-and-out from St. Pius, Chaffee struck again -- this time with a two-play, 50-yard drive.

After no gain on first down, Montgomery caught a pass from Yahn down the middle and made a nifty move with the help of some downfield blocking for the 50-yard touchdown.

"When I caught it, I turned around and there was no one around," Montgomery said, "Then I saw Tyson waiting there and he gave me the 'Come on' sign."

Yahn's kick made capped a 21-0 spree that took just a little more than six minutes.

Chaffee received the kickoff in the second half, and Trevor Cannon pounced on an onside-kick attempt at the Lancers 49.

Yahn hooked up with Dannenmueller for a 45-yard gain on the next play. Estes was in for a 1-yard touchdown run two plays later.

St. Pius failed to pick up a first down on the next drive, and Estes ran 57 yards on the first play from scrimmage for the touchdown. This was the sweep right, where Estes found a large hole, eluded a tackler and outraced speedy Talon Cook to the end zone for a 33-0 lead.

Yahn had a 1-yard touchdown run for Chaffee's final score, which came with 3:44 to play in the third period. That set up the running clock.

It capped a solid night for Yahn, who had fumbled in the first quarter with Chaffee threatening to score after having driven to inside the Lancers 15.

"I kind of blamed myself at first and felt bad about it," Yahn said about the fumble. "I got my head back, and you've got to forget that and try to score the next play."

Yahn didn't have much time to dwell on it, shifting immediately into his role as defensive end for the Red Devils.

St. Pius marched from its own 7 to Chaffee's 20-yard line before stalling. Cook ran for 58 of the 73 yards on six carries, including a 32-yard gain to start the drive.

But the Lancers set up for a 37-yard field goal, and a botched connection from the snapper to the holder resulted in a 14-yard loss. That was when Chaffee began its first scoring drive.

Cook had 171 yards on 19 carries, but his production lulled as Chaffee put together its spree. Cook, who sometimes lined up at tailback, sometimes under center and sometimes in the shotgun, had 75 yards on eight carries in the game before the missed field goal and Chaffee's first touchdown. He carried only two more times for 7 yards before halftime.

"They're a difficult team because they run that offense," Vickery said.

Chaffee limiting St. Pius to just two first downs -- one was the next-to-last play before halftime -- in the five series between the Red Devils' six scoring drives.

Cook was 0 for 5 passing in the first half and finished 6 of 18 for 47 yards in the game.

"We just wanted to stop him from the bootleg," Yahn said. "That's what we had seen on tape. He's pretty quick, though."

The rest of St. Pius' rushers carried 23 times for 47 yards.

Cook scored the Lancers' lone touchdown with just 1:24 left in the game against the Red Devils' reserves. He ran 43 yards on a quarterback keeper on a fourth-and-10 play.

Chaffee, 3-1 for the first time since 1990, will host rival Scott City on Friday.

"We're going to have a good week of practice and work hard on defense," Estes said. "It's our homecoming, so all the stuff is going on that week. We can't let it get to our heads. We've got to stay focused in practice and go out there and get it done."