Crystal City's aerial blitz sinks Chaffee

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

The Hornets passed for 301 yards and two touchdowns in their 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 at it. We kept looking at the corners all night and we looked over it in film. We wanted to get the ball immediately out there so they could make a move on them, make them miss."

Crystal City used short passes to get the ball to its receivers and let them shake-and-bake defenders to turn short passes into huge gains. Slabby completed 17 of his 19 attempts, and six of them went for at least 20 yards.

"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 (1-1) tried to rally after Crystal City opened a 28-0 lead with 7 minutes, 43 seconds left in the third quarter. Jordan Yahn tossed a pair of touchdown passes, but the Hornets kept answering the scores.

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

Yahn made the final score closer when he scored from 34 yards out on the final play of the game. He led Chaffee with 17 carries for 93 yards. He also threw for 145 yards, with 118 going to Mike Rutherford.

Chaffee used some trick plays to try to create offensive chances. The Red Devils had four players complete a pass in the game and Yahn, the quarterback, finished with two receptions.

Crystal City set the tone early when Jacob Duncan returned a fumble 30 yards for a touchdown less than eight minutes into the game. Chaffee responded with a 12-play drive that lasted 7:52 but stalled at Crystal City's 7-yard line on an incomplete pass on fourth down. Todd Werne raced 90 yards two plays later to push the lead to 14-0. Werne carried the ball five times for 121 yards.

Check out Sunday's Southeast Missourian for more on Chaffee's game.