Late call, game goes to Hayti football team in matchup with Scott City

SCOTT CITY -- Unlike the NFL, there are no red flags in high school football.

The call on the field always stands.

So when the officials signaled a touchdown when Hayti sophomore Dayon Moore hauled in a 5-yard scoring pass from fellow sophomore Maurice Farr with 5 minutes, 36 seconds remaining in the back of the end zone to break a tie, there was no recourse for a doubtful Scott City sideline.

The only rebuttal available to the Rams was their play on the field, and the Rams were silent on that front.

Scott City's following drive ended on downs, and Hayti tacked on an insurance touchdown for a 28-14 victory for the SEMO South Conference victory.

The controversial catch, made after Moore broke left from the middle of the field to the back left side of the end zone, was lofted over junior defensive back Isiah Berry, who appeared to have Moore blanketed. If nothing else, he had one of the best views.

"I thought he was out as soon as he caught it," Berry said. "I was standing out of bounds."

Farr ran for 83 yards on nine carries in the game, but he was not elusive in his stance on the play.

"Yes sir, he was in bounds," Farr said with a smile.

Opinions on the catch seemed to depend upon the sideline perspective, resembling a partisan political issue.

"From where I was at, and my [coach keeping stats down near the goal line] said he was out of bounds," Scott City coach Jim May said.

Hayti coach Neal Cruce was standing about 53 yards away from the Scott City vantage point.

"He was in from our view," Cruce said.

Cruce even consulted with the officials.

"I asked the ref. I said, 'It looked like from my angle he got both feet down.' I said, 'Was that pretty legit?' And he said, "That was one of the best high school catches I've seen.' He was able to get his right foot down, and he went ahead and tried to get the second foot down just to see if he could get it down. Yeah, that was a big play."

May was not hanging the loss on the tie-breaking touchdown, which capped a 53-yard drive.

"That's the way it is. He called him in bounds so it's a touchdown, and when we got the ball back we had to do more with it than what we did," May said.

The Rams (3-4 overall, 2-3 conference) also had their own fourth-and-goal play to lament.

It came after a series of events broke the Rams' way at the start of the second half.

The Rams trailed 14-6 at halftime but pulled even just 16 seconds into the third quarter.

Rams junior Nick Bickings took the opening kickoff of the second half on a bounce at his own 15, ran wide to right sideline and broke containment. He went untouched on the 85-yard touchdown return, his second in three games, and sophomore quarterback Braden Cox ran in the 2-point conversion for a 14-14 tie.

Scott City's defense forced a three-and-out on the ensuing possession, and Hayti punter Elijah Jones, kicking from the Hayti 46, uncorked his second shank of the night. However, this one, fluttered out to the right side and was taken on fly by junior Hunter Copeland around midfield.

"It just came my way and I caught it," said Copeland, who added he had never fielded a punt before. "I thought it hit my people up front. They had good [pressure] on it and he shanked it."

Copeland looked like he might score, but he was taken down at the Hayti 9.

"He was just over there covering the slot and it came to him and he caught it and took off down the sideline," May said. "I wish he would have got all the way in."

The Rams' offense attempted to cover the remaining nine yards on four running plays. The first two by senior Caleb Sykes moved the Rams to the 4. A keeper by Cox moved the ball to the 2, and he picked up only a yard on the following fourth-down play.

"We couldn't get it through. Almost had it. No excuse, we should have had it. That's how it goes," said Cox, who finished with a team-high 55 yards rushing on 21 carries. "They played better defense than we played offense."

The Rams punted on their next possession, which set up the go-ahead touchdown drive by Hayti (3-4, 2-3) that traveled the 53 yards in eight plays. The big play was a 33-yard run by Farr that moved the Indians to the Scott City 6.

While Scott City mostly plodded for its 104 yards of rushing on 39 carries on the game -- Sykes had 17 carries for 52 yards -- the Indians broke off some big runs at critical times in amassing 237 yards on 37 carries.

The Rams took an early 6-0 lead after forcing Hayti to punt on its opening possession and taking possession in Indian territory. The Rams covered 49 yards on 13 running plays and two encroachment penalties by the Indians. Sykes and Cox accounted for all of the carries, with Cox scoring from 2 yards out with 1:43 left in the first quarter.

The Rams' offense would not score again.

"Our coaches usually give us a good game plan the first drive," Cox said. "I guess [Hayti] settled in and knew what we were going to do better than we could run it."

Hayti needed less than three minutes to retaliate, needing to cover only 48 yards after the Rams failed to recover the on-side kick that followed their score.

The Indians converted on a fourth-and-4 at the Scott City 42, and two plays later Farr broke loose on a 34-yard run that moved the ball to the 1. Freshman Devante Robinson scored on the next play and Jamal Brooks ran in the conversion for an 8-6 Hayti lead with 11:20 left in the second quarter.

The first of two first-half interceptions by Hayti set up its second score. Moore, the nephew of Hayti graduate William Moore, a defensive back with the Atlanta Falcons, intercepted a Cox pass at the Scott City 40.

Five plays later Robinson scored on an 18-yard run up the middle for a 14-6 lead with 5:58 left in the half.

Scott City finished with 174 yards of offense.

"I would have liked to see us get 200 yards rushing as a team," May said. "That's what we needed to do to win, and we fell short of that."

Hayti 0 14 0 14 -- 28

Team 6 0 8 0 -- 14

First Quarter

SC -- Braden Cox 2 run (run failed, 1:43

Second Quarter

H -- Devante Robinson 2 run (Jamal Brooks run), 11:20

H -- Robinson 18 run (run failed), 5:58

Third Quarter

SC -- Nick Bickings 85 kickoff return (Cox run), 11:44

Fourth Quarter

H -- Dayon Moore 5 pass from Maurice Farr (run failed), 5:36

H -- Cedric Fields 16 run (Farr run), 1:18

H XC

First downs 15 14

Rushes-yards 37-237 39-104

Passing yards 43 70

Passes 6-10-0 8-19-2

Punts 4-27.0 2-30.5

Fumbles-Lost 3-0 0-0

Penalties-Yards 8-48 1-5

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Hayti, Elijah Jones 4-2, Fields 11-91, Farr 9-83, Robinson 7-45, Jamal Brooks 6-12, Team 2-5. Scott City, Caleb Sykes 17-52, Cox 21-55, Noah Hahn 1-(-3).

PASSING -- Haytie, Farr 6-10-0-43. Scott City, Cox 8-19-2-70

RECEIVING -- Hayti, Jones 2-11, Moore 2-12, Jamerial Cody 1-20, Fields 1-0. Scott City, Drew Short 2-21, Isiah Berry 2-15, Dylan Keller 1-8, Austin Spriggs 3-22.