East Prairie defeats Scott City in first-round district

EAST PRAIRIE -- From the moment the East Prairie Eagles stepped onto the field on Friday night it was evident they wanted revenge on Scott City.

The Eagles suffered a heartbreaking one-point loss to the Rams in Week 3 after fighting back from a 17-point fourth quarter deficit.

East Prairie scored a touchdown with five minutes to play then converted a two-point conversion which put them ahead by one.

However, after the officiating crew discussed the play, it was ruled an incomplete pass, leaving the Eagles with their first loss of the season.

East Prairie (7-3) avenged its loss to Scott City (4-6), scoring four first half touchdowns in a 51-22 rout of the Rams in the opening round of Class 2 District 1 play at East Prairie High School.

"The theme of the week was fast, focused and revenge," third-year East Prairie coach Chad Jamerson said. "I was happy with the start because we've been notorious for a slow start, and tonight I knew we had to fulfill that objective to make this revenge possible."

Scott City attempted an onside kick to begin the game which the Eagles recovered at the Rams' 49-yard line.

On the Eagles third play of the game, running back Adrian Soto scored on a 38-yard run to give the Eagles a 6-0 lead with 10 minutes, 48 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Two minutes later, Scott City answered with a quick drive of its own. The Rams scored on a seven-play, 51-yard drive, capped by Caleb Sykes 4-yard run. Scott City quarterback Braden Cox ran in a two-point conversion to give the Rams an 8-6 lead.

"We felt pretty good running the football and looked good doing it early on," Scott City coach Jim May said.

The lead didn't last long for the Rams. Soto scored his second touchdown of the game less than two minutes later from 44 yards out.

"Offensive line made huge holes all night, props to them," Soto said. "We preached the fast start all week, and I wasn't going to let my team down."

A two-point conversion gave East Prairie a 14-8 lead, which it did not relinquish, with 7:19 remaining in the first quarter.

The Rams punted on their next drive, and East Prairie tacked on another touchdown thanks to three consecutive passes from East Prairie quarterback Brett Ellis, who found Mack Marcum from 14 yards out to give the Eagles a 22-8 lead with 10:39 remaining in the half.

"We were on the same page all night, we came right out of the gate ready to go," said Ellis, who finished 7 of 12 passing for 94 yards and three scores for the Eagles. "This is one of the only games where I can say we really came out and pounded them and pounded them, which felt great because of the way things ended last time."

With 7:19 remaining in the half, Scott City junior Isiah Berry intercepted Ellis at his own 45-yard line.

The Rams put together a promising drive led by Cox, who rushed for 27 yards and threw for 16. However, the drive stalled after Scott City failed to convert a fourth-and-2 on the Eagles' 16.

"They were stopping us on third and fourth down all night and that made all the difference," Cox said. "Their defense really got us when we needed to convert. I saw heavy pressure up the middle all night, and it's really made things difficult on our offense."

On the ensuing drive, Ellis and Marcum connected on a 29-yard pass to extend the lead to 30-8 at halftime.

Scott City received the kick to open the half. Then three plays later Soto intercepted Cox and returned it for 45 yards to the Scott City 26.

Deverence Jones carried four times for 14 yards on the ensuing drive, including a 4-yard run with 8:04 remaining in the third.

Just two plays into Scott City's next drive, Cox was intercepted again by Jones. He returned the ball to the Rams' 22 before Ellis found Marcum wide open in the end zone with 2:18 remaining in the quarter to give the Eagles a commanding 45-8 lead.

"They jumped on top of us and once that snowball gets rolling it's hard to stop," May said. "Take nothing away from them, they played great tonight. We tried a few new things that worked early on, but after that it was a matter of not picking up a blitz here or there, or a missed assignment."

The Rams scored on the following possession when Cox hit senior Austin Spriggs from 30 yards out with 55 seconds to go in the quarter and the two connected again late in the fourth quarter on a 70-yard pass to make it 51-22.

May said he was proud of his team, which doubled their win total from last year, despite the loss. The Rams will lose 11 seniors to graduation.

"They're a good group of young men that have worked their butts off for the past four years," May said. "They've come a long way and I'm proud of what they've accomplished."

East Prairie will travel to Caruthersville to play the Tigers in a district semifinal at 7 p.m. Friday.

"After three years of disappointment, we're rebuilt and ready to go," Jamerson said. "It's very satisfying to get to this point but we have a lot more to do. We've played ourselves into a good position, and I know they're a good football team, but we are too."

Scott City 8 0 8 6 -- 22

East Prairie 14 16 15 6 -- 51

First Quarter

EP -- Adrian Soto 38 run (failed two-point conversion), 10:48

SC -- Caleb Sykes 4 run (Braden Cox two-point conversion), 8:58

EP -- Soto 44 run (Soto two-point conversion), 7:19

Second Quarter

EP -- Mack Marcum 14 pass from Brett Ellis (Ellis two-point conversion), 10:39

EP -- Marcum 29 pass from Ellis (Marcum two-point conversion), 12 seconds

Third Quarter

EP -- Deverence Jones 3 run (Jones two-point conversion), 8:04

EP -- Marcum 22 pass from Ellis (Chad Housman kick), 5:52

SC -- Austin Spriggs 30 pass from Cox (Cox two-point conversion), 55 seconds

Fourth Quarter

EP -- Brian Shoffner 40 run (missed kick), 3:30

SC -- Spriggs 70 pass from Cox (failed two-point conversion), 1:31

SC EP

First downs 16 13

Rushes-yards 37-191 43-303

Passing yards 154 94

Passes 8-21-3 7-12-1

Punts 1-25 1-39

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 1-1

Penalties-Yards 4-50 5-25

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Scott City, Braden Cox 24-137, Nick Bickings 3-34, Caleb Sykes 10-20; East Prairie, Adrian Soto 14-155, Brian Shoffner 7-60, Deverence Jones 7-45, Brett Ellis 10-31, Marcus Lewis 1-0.

PASSING -- Scott City, Braden Cox 7-20-134-3, Jaiden Kaiser 1-1-20-0; East Prairie, Brett Ellis 7-12-94-1.

RECEIVING -- Scott City, Austin Spriggs 5-134, Dylan Keller 1-20, Caleb Sykes 1-5, Nick Bickings 1-(-5); Mack Marcum 6-82, Blayn Gooding 1-12.