Chaffee football team rides sophomore quarterback to victory

HILLSBORO, Mo. -- Welcome to varsity, Peyton Montgomery.

The Chaffee sophomore threw four touchdown passes and ran for another in his first varsity start Friday night to lead the Red Devils in a 36-14 victory at Grandview.

Montgomery thrived instead of buckling in pressure situations. He completed 19 of 24 passes, including 12 of 13 in the first half and 19 of 21 before his final three passes fell incomplete, including one dropped in the end zone. He finished the night with 342 yards passing.

"He's good," veteran Chaffee coach Charlie Vickery said. "He's a really good player. Sometimes he tries to do too much, but that's OK. That's a young kid trying."

Montgomery did just the right things Friday in a game that turned on a few key plays.

He threw a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage, although it wasn't as simple as it sounds. He engineered a 99-yard drive to help avoid a momentum swing. And he directed two second-half touchdown drives to put away the game.

He did that against a Grandview team that was trying to celebrate opening night on its new artificial turf field, which was built with funding from a bond issue passed in 2011.

Not a bad start for a player who completed one varsity pass last year -- a 9-yarder in a loss to Valle Catholic.

"I always get a little nervous, but tonight I was especially," Montgomery said. "But after I got that first throw out of the way, I knew we were going to be good."

Technically, Montgomery didn't even line up at quarterback for the first play; freshman Jordan Wilburn did. Wilburn was supposed to hand off the ball to Montgomery for a pass -- a trick play dubbed the "Grandview Special." The snap was low, however, and Wilburn and Montgomery were scrambling to pick up the ball off the turf. Montgomery did, rolled right and threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Layton Tenkhoff, who had set up the drive with an interception and 30-yard return on the previous play.

It was a big night for Tenkhoff, too. The 6-foot-1 junior had two interceptions and caught two touchdown passes, the other on a 52-yard pump-and-go play on Chaffee's second drive.

"We knew the previous play they bit [on the fake], so we thought we'd try it again, and he threw another perfect pass," Tenkhoff said.

Grandview sliced the lead to 14-7 with a series that epitomized the night. An 85-yard kickoff return was wiped out by a penalty, the ensuing drive was hindered by a Grandview penalty and helped by a Chaffee penalty and it took nine plays but shaved only 3 minutes, 4 seconds off the clock.

"Sloppy," Vickery said about the night. "Especially in the second half, I think both teams got tired. We got the win -- that's good -- it just took forever to do it."

With penalties -- 23 in all -- and 60 passes, the game lasted just shy of three hours.

Grandview had 11 first downs in the first half to Chaffee's eight, but the Eagles also had 10 penalties for 70 yards.

Grandview a one-win team last year in Mike Genge's first year, was a formidable threat Friday.

The Eagles marched inside Chaffee's 10-yard line midway through the second half, set up at midfield by a Chaffee fumble. A motion penalty on fourth-and-goal from the 2 proved costly when quarterback Curtis Kellar came up a yard short in his bid to reach the end zone for the tying touchdown.

Chaffee opened the following series with a short run, then Montgomery missed a connection with Tenkhoff on a pass that nearly was picked off.

"To be honest, at that point, I was thinking we were going to have to punt," Montgomery said. "A fumble or safety could have changed the whole momentum of the game, but you've got to stay positive in your head. Jimmy [Golden] made a big play for me. I threw a 12-yard out, and he did the rest."

Montgomery hooked up with Golden for what turned out to be an 82-yard pass play on a third-down play-action pass. The ball was stripped from Golden at the end of the play, but Tenkhoff recovered at Grandview's 14-yard line. Four plays later, Montgomery fired to Golden for a 9-yard touchdown and a 20-7 lead, which Chaffee held at halftime.

The Red Devils opened the second half with a 77-yard scoring drive. Montgomery's 35-yard pass to Golden set up his 5-yard scoring run on the next play.

Grandview closed within 28-14 on the ensuing drive, but the Eagles weren't as productive in the second half after racking up 200 yards in the first half. They finished with 294 yards.

"We knew they were going to do a lot of quarterback keeps and runs and counters, so we mainly just focused on their quarterback because he's their best athlete," said Golden, who also had an interception in the second half. "We've got to work on open-field tackling and wrapping up. We were hitting, but we've got to wrap up."

Chaffee's final scoring drive included a 23-yard run by Montgomery after he picked up a bad pass. It was capped on the opening play of the fourth quarter when Montgomery threw a 28-yard TD pass to first-year player Cody Johnson -- one of three seniors on the roster -- who was running a similar pattern to Golden just a few steps deeper.

While Peyton Montgomery was sharp, Vickery said Chaffee opened the season without one of its best offensive threats in junior running back Charlie Montgomery, Peyton's older brother.

The Red Devils will play their home opener Friday against Festus St. Pius, which lost its opening game.

Chaffee 14 6 8 8 -- 36

Grandview 0 7 7 0 -- 14

First quarter

C -- Layton Tenkhoff 40 pass from Peyton Montgomery (kick failed), 9:31

C -- Tenkhoff 52 pass from Montgomery (Montgomery run), 3:08

Second quarter

G -- Christian Murphy 2 run (Kyle Ramsey kick), 11:43

C -- Jimmy Golden 9 pass from Montgomery (kick failed), 1:25

Third quarter

C -- Montgomery 5 run (Tenkhoff pass from Montgomery), 8:37

G -- Murphy 2 run (Ramsey kick), 6:14

Fourth quarter

C -- Cody Johnson 28 pass from Montgomery (Montgomery run), 11:57

C G

First downs 16 16

Rushes-yards 34-115 28-152

Passing yards 342 142

Passes 19-24-0 23-36-4

Fumbles-lost 3-1 0-0

Punts 1-48 2-52

Penalties-yards 11-67 12-85

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing -- Chaffee, Devon Yahn 3-17, Peyton Montgomery 12-45, Thomas Robbins 6-26, Jimmy Golden 7-32, Logan Chapman 3-0, Devon Nanny, 2-(-2), Team 1-(-3), Grandview, Christian Murphy 13-63, Curtis Kellar 12-73, T.J. Churchwell 3-16.

Passing -- Chaffee, Peyton Montgomery 19-24-342-4; Grandview, Curtis Kellar 23-36-142-0.

Receiving -- Chaffee, Cody Johnson 2-34, Layton Tenkhoff 7-144, Devon Yahn 5-25, Travis Hall 1-11, Jimmy Golden 4-128; Grandview, Travis Evans 1-9, Kyle Ramsey 8-45, T.J. Churchwell, 7-57, Christian Murphy 5-24, Justin Conn 1-7.