Green Wave washes away Scott City

SCOTT CITY — Running back Raphael Jones recently emerged as Malden's go-to guy.

Scott City's defense bottled up the little fellow, generously listed at 5 foot 6.

The problem for the Rams is that the Green Wave attacked through the air.

Malden passed for 138 yards and one score as the Green Wave beat the Rams 24-8 in their Class 2 football regional Wednesday. The Rams finished the season 4-6.

"Our coach has been stressing a lot about hitting the deep ball," Malden receiver Andy Matthews said. "We practiced that a lot after practice — me, the quarterback and the other receivers stayed to work on that real hard. Their defensive backs were playing closer up than most are, so we knew we could hit them deep."

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian.comScott City's Jacob Campbell, right, gains some yards in the fourth quarter against Malden at Scott City Wednesday.

The Rams held Jones to 42 yards on 11 carries, although he used some fancy footwork to find the end zone from 14 yards out early in the second quarter.

"Their last two games, when we saw what he was capable of, I felt like we had a good game plan against him," Scott City coach Ronnie Jones said of Raphael Jones. "He has a lot of talent, but I think it's kind of raw. He came on late. I think he's going to be a very good running back next year.

"The deal is we had some kids that kind of stepped up. They had some tendencies, some pretty good tendencies. We felt like we knew what they were going to do."

Jones did break one long run, which appeared to yield a 70-yard touchdown, but he was ruled out of bounds at the Scott City 40 for a 30-yard gain. Scott City did stop him for a loss six times on 11 carries.

"We were having our defensive ends getting outside to make him turn inside so he had more people," Scott City senior Jacob Campbell said. "Once he gets that sideline, he's one of the faster kids in the area. If he hits that sideline, he's gone, so we had to do our hardest to contain him all night long."

Scott City senior Cody Page said it was Matthews, who finished with five catches for 89 yards and a score plus five yards rushing, who really worried the Rams.

"We knew [Matthews] was going to give us a hard time," Page said. "When you're that good, there's not a lot you can do. I give him his props, he's a darn good football player."

Malden scored 17 points in the second quarter, but Scott City cut into the lead when it put together a 10-play drive in the third quarter that ended with Page hitting Ronnie Wright for a 42-yard touchdown.

"We all talked to each other and realized this is the last game if we don't get it done," Page said. "Most of us won't play football again. It was just a gut check, that's all it was."

After Scott City's defense forced Malden to punt, the Rams went back to work. They used 15 plays, including a 14-yard pass to Austin Brawley, to get to Malden's 1-yard line trailing by 11 with just over 7 minutes left in the fourth quarter.

But on second-and-goal from the 1, the Rams fumbled the snap and Malden's Travis Gregory recovered.

"It was my fault," Page said. "It was all my fault."

The Malden players were starting to sweat with the Rams knocking on the door.

"I'm not going to lie, it was scary," Matthews said. "If they score, they're one score away from being there. We knew we had to step it up. Our defensive line stood strong again and we stopped him at the line, he fumbled it and we recovered it. I was overjoyed. It was big."

Scott City's coach was left to lament what might have been if the Rams had converted.

"We had our opportunities," coach Jones said. "We just didn't get it done down here. You know, you're not supposed to mess up the snap if you're seniors on the 1-yard line. It came back and haunted us.

"I really do believe, and you never know, if we got that sucker in there down there, it might have been a different deal. At that time there were 7 or 8 minutes left in the ballgame. If we scored there, our kids, I know, really would be on an emotional high."

Scott City actually outgained Malden 285 to 170. Campbell led the Rams with 117 yards rushing on 21 carries.

"Our blockers did a lot better job in the second half," Campbell said. "We came out and were fired up after halftime. We knew what we had to do. We had to control the game."

Malden01707—24

Scott City0062—8

Second Quarter

M — Raphael Jones 14 run (Svein Hansen kick), 11:49

M — Andy Matthews 48 pass from Kaleb Loughary (Hansen kick), 9:25

M — Hansen 38 FG, 2:52

Third Quarter

SC — Ronnie Wright 42 pass from Cody Page (run failed), 3:55

Fourth Quarter

SC — Safety Matthews run out of back of end zone, 4:25

M — Jesse DeLeon fumble recovery in end zone (Hansen kick), 1:00

M SC

First downs815

Rushes-yards21-3250-204

Passing yards13881

Passes9-16-17-13-0

Fumbles-Lost2-03-2

Penalties-Yards5-254-25

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Malden, Raphael Jones 11-42, Kaleb Loughary 4-(minus 16), Ryan Cain 1-0, Andy Matthews 4-5, Patrick Wilson 1-1. Scott City, Jacob Campbell 21-117, Josh Trapp 8-34, Caleb Gray 7-27, Cody Page 7-0, Matt Bradley 5-14, Josh Schuenemeyer 1-14, Team 1-(minus 2).

PASSING — Malden, Kaleb Loughary 9-16-138-1. Scott City, Cody Page 7-13-81-0

RECEIVING — Malden, Andy Matthews 5-89, Raphael Jones 1-32, Ryan Cain 1-(minus 5), Jordan McMunn 1-0, Dee Collier 1-22. Scott City, Josh Schuenemeyer 2-24, Josh Trapp 1-1, Ronnie Wright 1-42, Jacob Campbell 1-7, Adam Holmes 1-(minus 7), Austin Brawley 1-14.