East Prairie shuts out Red Devils

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. -- Defense and special teams paid dividends for East Prairie on Friday night as it handed the visiting Chaffee Red Devils a 48-0 loss.

A fumble recovery, goal-line stand, interception and another fumble recovery all led to five East Prairie touchdowns as the Eagles capitalized on great field position.

Zach Shipman got things going with a 4-yard run in the first quarter to give East Prairie the early lead. A kickoff recovery by Phillip Latamondeer led to a 16-yard pass to Mikey Russell from the arm of Conner Scott to begin the second quarter. Just 16 seconds later, Aaron Miller caught a 33-yard pass after a fumble recovery by Alan Miller.

East Prairie was up 21-0 at the half.

The scoring and defense didn't stop there as an interception by Alan Miller led to a 3-yard run by Aaron Miller with 4:28 left in the third quarter. Russell recovered another fumble on an option pass that fell to the ground, which led to a 1-yard touchdown run by Scott as time expired to end the third quarter.

Fourth-quarter touchdown runs of 5 and 25 yards by Kaleb Williford and J.T. Aycock ended the game and gave East Prairie its fifth win of the season.

"We've got something on our board that says No. 1 defense, No. 2 special teams and anything we get from the offense is a bonus," East Prairie coach Jason Aycock said. "That's the way we view things. We try to really emphasize special teams and really emphasize defense. They both showed up tonight."

East Prairie forced three Chaffee turnovers that all turned into touchdowns for the Eagles.

"We just can't get any momentum early," Chaffee coach Charlie Vickery said. "We're letting the other team have it. The two fumble kickoff returns set them up and got them going."

The Eagles had 357 yards rushing on 51 carries. Aaron Miller was the game's leading rusher with 135 yards on 19 carries. Scott threw for 74 yards and two touchdowns.

Trevor Cannon led the Red Devils with 31 yards rushing. Daniel Lawson added 30 yards on the ground.