Hayti football team dispatches Chaffee in second half

HAYTI, Mo. -- The Chaffee football team made its first 3-0 start in 42 years look like an attainable goal for nearly three quarters.

But an explosive Hayti football team blew up that notion in a matter of minutes.

Hayti broke a deadlock with two touchdowns in the final minute of the third quarter and improved its own record to 3-0 with a 26-6 victory Friday.

The Red Devils, who dropped their 13th consecutive game to Hayti, had to settle for a 2-1 start to their 2011 season and the belief that more wins are in the immediate future.

"We know we can play with anybody," said Chaffee senior running back Tyson Estes, who led the Red Devils with 94 yards rushing on 23 carries. "We have to stay focused. I think we came in at halftime and I think we were a little too excited. We had guys talking like we had just won the Super Bowl."

Chaffee's Charlie Montgomery tries to run away from Hayti defender Cedric Harris during the first quarter Friday in Hayti, Mo. The Indians defeated the Red Devils 26-6. (Fred Lynch)

Chaffee throttled Hayti in the first half, something that the Indians' previous opponents -- East Prairie and Malden -- were unable to accomplish. Hayti had scored at least 40 points in its first two wins and came into Friday's contest averaging more than 9 yards per rushing attempt.

But Hayti was lucky to be clinging to a 6-0 lead at halftime. Chaffee had entered Indians territory on all four of its first-half possessions and, with the exception of one questionable 64-yard pass play, had defused the Indians.

The Indians collected 20 yards rushing in the first half on nine carries. Junior quarterback Karnard Humes, who entered the game averaging more than 10 yards per rush attempt, had just 9 yards on five carries.

"The first half we dominated them, but the game is four quarters," said Chaffee senior receiver Zach Dannenmueller, who scored the Red Devils' lone touchdown in the third quarter.

Chaffee ran twice as many offensive plays and had 121 yards rushing in the first half. The Red Devils ran 32 offensive plays to Hayti's 15 and had 144 yards on offense to 107 for the Indians.

Chaffee's Zach Dannenmueller catches a touchdown pass as Hayti's Cedric Harris defends during the third quarter Friday in Hayti, Mo. Check out more photos from the game at semoball.com.

"Coach was like, 'Guys, they came to play. They're still in the game,'" Humes said. "We weren't having it, so we did our job."

"We were making some mental errors early, and they were keeping us out of the game offensively," Hayti coach Justin Peden said. "They did a heck of a job keeping us off the field. Hats off to Chaffee here because they played a real hard, tough ballgame. They're a good squad. They kept us out of our flow, definitely."

The lone scoring of the first half came on a 1-yard run by Demetrius Luster with 3 minutes, 31 seconds left in the second quarter. The touchdown came one play after Jerome Thomas took a short pass from Humes and turned it into a 64-yard gain down the right sideline. Thomas appeared to step on the sideline a couple times near midfield, but the play stood.

Chaffee continued its strong play into the third quarter. Hayti took the kickoff and eventually was stopped on downs at the Chaffee 20.

The Red Devils then managed to finish a 13-play drive with a touchdown. Chaffee had seen drives of 11 and 13 plays end on downs in the first half.

The third-quarter drive almost was thwarted when Chaffee faced a fourth-and-11 play at the Hayti 29. But senior quarterback Jordan Yahn lofted a pass over a defender near the goal line and into the arms of Dannenmueller. The kick failed, but the score was tied 6-6 with 4:06 left in the quarter.

Hayti responded by scoring on its next three possessions.

"I thought it was going to be a close game the whole game," Yahn said. "They started to pull away at the end, and it was all downhill from there."

The Indians first assembled an eight-play, 57-yard drive to take the lead for good. Humes scored on a 9-yard run and then ran in the conversion for a 14-6 lead with 47 seconds left in the period.

Six of the eight plays were rushes.

"We called the same plays," Peden said. "It's just that our guys started to focus a little bit more and they were ready to go. We're doing a lot more conditioning this year, and I think we had some legs and were able to finish the game."

Hayti struck again just 21 seconds later. One play after cornerback Keenon Norris stripped Chaffee receiver Charlie Montgomery of a reception, Hayti's Robert Clay broke free for a 38-yard scoring run for a 20-6 lead.

"After they took that ball, we held our heads down," Dannenmueller said. "We should of held our heads up."

Yahn was intercepted on Chaffee's next possession, and Hayti covered 63 yards in 11 plays, taking a 26-6 lead when Luster pulled in a 19-yard pass from Hume with 4:55 remaining.

Hayti averaged nearly nine yards per rush attempt in the second half, totaling 197 yards on 22 carries after halftime.

"The second half, I think we gave them the ball a little too much," Chaffee senior linebacker Trevor Cannon said. "They got a rhythm and it was hard to stop them then."

Humes led the Indians with 75 yards rushing. Hayti finished with 353 yards, while Chaffee totaled 301 yards.

Humes completed 9 of 14 passes for 136 yards. Yahn was 12 of 20 for 144 yards.

"We got a lot of positives out of tonight," Chaffee coach Charlie Vickery said. "No. 1 they realized they can play with very good teams. We were in it until right there at the end."

Chaffee 0 0 6 0 -- 60

Hayti 0 6 14 6 -- 26

Second Quarter

H -- Demetrius Luster 1 run (pass fails), 3:31

Third Quarter

C -- Zach Dannenmueller 29 pass from Jordan Yahn (kick fails), 4:06

H -- Karnard Humes 9 run (Karnard run), :47

H -- Robert Clay 38 run (run fails), :26

Fourth Quarter

H -- Luster 12 pass from Humes (pass fails), 4:55

C H

First downs 18 15

Rushes-yards 40-157 31-217

Passing yards 144 136

Passes 12-20-1 9-14-0

Punts 1-31 2-41.5

Fumbles-Lost 2-1 0-0

Penalties-Yards 2-10 7-53

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Chaffee, Charlie Montgomery 7-45, Tyson Estes 23-94, Jimmy Golden 6-7, Dannenmueller 2-5, Yahn 2-6; Hayti, Humes 12-75, Dylan Riddick 7-44, Jeremy Jones 3-(-2), Terrance West 1-3, Keenon Norris 3-43, Luster 2-3, Jermel Covington 1-12, Clay 1-38.

PASSING -- Chaffee, Jordan Yahn 12-20-1-144; Hayti, Humes 9-14-0-156

RECEIVING -- Chaffee, Dannenmueller 2-44, Golden 1-(-8), Montgomery 5-46, Layton Tenkhoff 1-8, Estes 2-28, Alex Davie 1-26. Hayti, Jerome Thomas 3-84, Riddick 2-5, Maurion Newbill 2-34, Norris 1-1, Luster 1-12.