Crystal City overpowers Chaffee's defense

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Crystal City's air attack proved too powerful for Chaffee's defense Friday night.

The Hornets' short passes quickly turned into big gains as Crystal City rolled to the 40-20 victory.

"We just did little short plays and we have athletes on our team," Crystal City quarterback Neal Slabby said. "Pretty much we just want to get the ball to them and let them run. ... We wanted to get the ball immediately out there so they could make a move on them, make them miss."

Chaffee defensive back Mike Rutherford credited Crystal City's blocking for springing loose the receivers.

"They were running little bubble screens and their receivers would come out and block us and we couldn't get off the blocks, me in particular," he said.

Slabby passed for 301 yards and completed 17 of his 19 attempts. Eight of his completions went for at least 15 yards.

"I think it was just a lot of short passes to set everyone up," Chaffee's Jordan Yahn said. "Then they end up on a couple deep passes that they throw. You've got to be disciplined and patient and always do your position. Let the short passes come and make a play and don't get beat deep."

Crystal City's spread offense was considerably better than Grandview's, which Chaffee (1-1) faced in the opening week. The Hornets were able to complete the short passes Friday that Grandview failed to convert. Crystal City's receivers also did a better job of creating plays after catching the ball.

"We just have to do a better job of tackling," Chaffee coach Charlie Vickery said. "We didn't get lined up right a couple times. We weren't as aggressive as we should have been on the short game. We stepped back a little bit and played the zone."

Chaffee defensive back Andrew Terhune said the Red Devils worked on Crystal City's routes for the last two weeks in practice but struggled with the Hornets' speed.

"Basically you have to play your zone and watch where you think the ball is going," Terhune said. "If they catch it, you try to turn them inside to your help."

Crystal City used its running game to complement its passing attack. The Hornets ran 20 times for 200 yards, including Todd Werne's 90-yard scoring jaunt early in the second quarter.

"We're a spread team and they tried to pack it in," Slabby said. "When they pack it, we throw it out. We get those people out of the box, we just run it up the middle and get massive yards."

While Chaffee's defense struggled with the pass, the Red Devils' offense found luck going to the air. Yahn, the team's sophomore quarterback, tossed a pair of touchdowns and finished with 157 yards and no interceptions.

"I'm feeling more comfortable," he said. "I've been getting the nerves out. I've been throwing more in practice."

Yahn's favorite target was Rutherford. The junior receiver finished with seven catches for 118 yards, including a 55-yard touchdown.

"He's just throwing it where I can get it, throwing it away from the defenders," Rutherford said. "We throw a ton in practice. We stay after practice."

Vickery said he would like to decrease the number of passes his team throws -- it went to the air 26 times -- but was pleased with Yahn's performance.

"Jordan is getting better," Vickery said. "He's a sophomore. He can throw the ball. He's getting better every week. We're working on it more."

Yahn also had success running the ball. He led the team with 17 carries for 93 yards. His biggest gain came on the final play of the game when he broke through the line and danced around would-be tacklers, diving toward the corner of the end zone for a 36-yard touchdown as time expired.

"I think it's a great deal of importance for me to run the ball just as much as pass it," Yahn said. "It opens us up short and deep. It opens up our running game too, inside and outside."

The Red Devils travel to Festus to play St. Pius in Week 4.

Crystal City 7 14 13 6 -- 40

Chaffee 0 0 7 13 -- 20

First Quarter

CC -- Jacob Duncan 30 fumble recovery (Neal Slabby kick), 8:03

Second Quarter

CC -- Todd Werne 90 run (Slabby kick), 11:43

CC -- Slabby 5 run (Slabby kick),: 13

Third Quarter

CC -- Anthony Klos 12 pass from Slabby (Slabby kick), 7:43

C -- Trevor Cannon 7 pass from Jordan Yahn (Yahn kick), 2:44

CC -- Werne 1 run (kick failed),: 54

Fourth Quarter

C -- Mike Rutherford 55 pass from Yahn (Yahn kick), 5:45

CC -- Stacey Thorton 17 pass from Slabby (kick failed), 3:14

C -- Yahn 36 run,: 00

CC C

First downs 18 19

Rushes-yards 20-177 39-200

Passing yards 301 181

Passes 17-19-1 16-26-0

Punts 0-0 2-75

Fumbles-Lost 3-3 3-2

Penalties-Yards 4-20 8-55

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Crystal City, Ryan Jurkowski 6-27, Neal Slabby 8-29, Todd Werne 6-121. Chaffee, Nathan Cicardi 9-29, Daniel Lawson 2-6, Jordan Yahn 17-93, Cody Enderle 5-34, Zach Dannenmueller 2-(minus 4), Tyson Estes 1-2, Trevor Cannon 2-40, Team 1-0.

PASSING -- Crystal City, Neal Slabby 17-19-301-1. Chaffee, Jordan Yahn 13-23-157-0, Andrew Terhune 1-1-17-0, Zach Dannenmueller 1-1-8-0, Trevor Cannon 1-1-(minus 1)-0.

RECEIVING -- Crystal City, Jacob Duncan 5-87, Anthony Klos 4-47, Stacey Thorton 4-73, Daniel Rothweiler 5-89. Chaffee, Mike Rutherford 7-118, Zach Dannenmueller 3-21, Nathan Cicardi 1-12, Trevor Cannon 2-11, Jordan Yahn 2-7, Daniel Lawson 1-12.