Crystal City knocks off Scott City football team

A bad start put Scott City into a hole it could not climb out of Friday night.

The result was a seventh straight loss that eliminated the Rams from playoff contention.

Scott City fumbled the opening kickoff, leading to a short touchdown drive by Crystal City and the visiting Hornets rolled to a 49-21 victory.

"We put our defense in a bad way all the way through," Scott City coach Jim May said. "You can't fumble the opening kickoff."

The Rams fell to 1-8 overall and 0-2 in Class 2 District 2 with one game remaining.

That's a far cry from the high hopes the Rams had entering the year, which were fueled even further by an impressive start.

Scott City suffered a season-opening overtime loss to a solid Malden squad, then routed St. Vincent in Week 2.

The Rams haven't come close to tasting victory since, their smallest margin of defeat being 14 points.

"It's baffling to me. It's not gone at all like I thought it would," May said. "We haven't been able to put a complete game together."

On the other end of the spectrum, the Hornets (6-3, 2-0) nailed down a playoff berth with their fourth straight win and will play Herculaneum on Thursday for the district title.

Crystal City has been able to overcome the loss of star quarterback Neil Slabby, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the opener.

"That was tough, the first week. I'm proud of them," Crystal City coach Kenny Weik said. "Except for penalties tonight, we did a good job."

The Hornets were penalized 14 times for 140 yards, but that did little to slow down their spread offensive attack that piled up a whopping 537 yards.

Junior quarterback Nick Rothweiler, who has had a strong season in place of Slabby, completed 27 of 35 passes for 359 yards.

Rothweiler accounted for all of Crystal City's first-half touchdowns, throwing for three and running for one, as the Hornets led 28-7.

"He's done a good job," Weik said.

Scott City couldn't have scripted a worse start by fumbling the opening kickoff, and Crystal City recovered at the Rams' 31-yard line.

It took the Hornets just four plays to score, with junior Stacey Thornton grabbing the first of his two touchdown receptions.

"It went bad from the opening kickoff," Scott City senior Corey Rogers said.

And it never got much better.

The Hornets scored on their next two possessions to lead 21-0.

Scott City finally gave its fans something to cheer about when senior running back Garett Schaefer ripped off a 61-yard touchdown run on the final play of the first quarter.

Crystal City then had two straight drives deep into Scott City territory that came up empty, once on a fourth-down sack by junior Heath Pobst and once on an Austin Atchley interception.

The Rams failed to capitalize and Crystal City scored another touchdown late in the half to lead 28-7 at the intermission.

"We had some chances," May said.

Scott City never got closer than 21 points in the second half as the Hornets built leads of 35-7 and 42-14.

A 35-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Jonathan McFall to sophomore Travis Phillips accounted for Scott City's second touchdown.

The Rams threatened to make things semi-interesting after Schaefer's 33-yard touchdown run with 5 minutes, 52 seconds left in the fourth quarter cut the Hornets' lead to 42-21.

Scott City recovered an onside kick and drove inside the Crystal City 10-yard line but junior Austin Helwig ended what little suspense might have been left with a 100-yard interception return to complete the scoring.

"The kids played hard," May said.

Rogers said the Rams were determined to keep battling because they knew what was at stake.

"We had to win to stay alive [in the playoff race]," Rogers said.

Scott City finished with 271 yards of offense, led by Schaefer with 137 yards rushing on 18 carries. He has nearly 1,300 yards this season.

McFall, seeing his most extensive action of the season in place of senior starter Jamie Scholz, threw for 100 yards. He completed 10 of 28 with three interceptions.

"Jamie's done a good job, but we just wanted to give him some time," May said about McFall.

Rogers caught six passes for 53 yards to lead Scott City's receivers.

The Rams will try to end their season on a positive note Thursday when they host St. Pius, which like Scott City is 1-8 overall and 0-2 in the district.

"We're going to play hard and try to put a complete game together for our seniors," May said.

Crystal City 21 7 7 14 -- 49

Scott City 7 0 0 14 -- 21

First Quarter

CC -- Stacey Thornton 6 pass from Nick Rothweiler (kick failed), 10:23

CC -- Thornton 9 pass from Rothweiler (Austin Helwig pass from Rothweiler), 5:21

CC -- Rothweiler 5 run (Ben Linderer kick), 0:09

SC -- Garett Schaefer 61 run (Schaefer kick), 0:00

Second Quarter

CC -- Logan Jett 7 pass from Rothweiler (Linderer kick), 2:45

Third Quarter

CC -- Landon Prater 5 run (Linderer kick), 4:57

Fourth Quarter

SC -- Travis Phillips 35 pass from Jonathan McFall (Schaefer kick), 10:05

CC -- Prater 23 run (Linderer kick), 7:43

SC -- Schaefer 33 run (Schaefer kick), 5:52

CC -- Helwig 100 interception return (Linderer kick), 2:55

CC SC

First downs 23 12

Rushes-yards 29-178 25-161

Passing yards 359 110

Passes 27-35-2 11-34-3

Punts 1-40 4-32

Fumbles-Lost 4-2 1-1

Penalties-Yards 14-140 4-35

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Crystal City, Prater 11-74, Rothweiler 11-58, Thornton 3-34, Joey Sousan 3-14, team 1-minus 2. Scott City, Schaefer 18-137, Alex Eichhorn 6-19, McFall 1-5.

PASSING -- Crystal City, Rothweiler 27-35-2-359. Scott City, McFall 10-28-3-100, Jamie Scholz 1-6-0-10.

RECEIVING -- Crystal City, Thornton 7-88, Helwig 6-99, Jett 5-37, Colby McCreary 4-74, Justin Morris 2-27, Prater 1-21, Josh Steller 1-7, Anthony Klos 1-6. Scott City, Corey Rogers 6-53, Phillips 2-42, Schaefer 2-5, Austin Atchley 1-10.