Late start can't slow Chaffee in 58-15 romp

It was a perfect night to be a Red Devil.

The conditions were ripe with plenty of heat as host Chaffee was in its element.

In fact, the start of the Red Devils' game against visiting Grandview was pushed back an hour to allow the temperature to drop a bit, but that was no help to the Eagles.

The Devils didn't wait long turn up the dial and wield their fork in a season-opening 58-15 thumping of Grandview.

Chaffee scored six touchdowns in the first half and forced Grandview to punt six times in building a 44-7 lead by intermission. Chaffee piled up 308 yards of offense and ran back two punts for touchdowns in the opening 24 minutes.

"Before the game, coach [Charlie Vickery] said we got to start out fast and get 'em wore out, and we went from there," said senior receiver Layton Tenkhoff, who provided the game's first points midway through the first quarter when he hauled in a 25-yard pass from junior quarterback Peyton Montgomery on the Red Devils' first possession.

The scoring drive traveled 77 yards in nine plays, and the Devils had an 8-0 lead when Montgomery ran in the conversion.

"I honestly think we were in better shape than them," said senior running back/receiver Charlie Montgomery, who had one of Chaffee's first-half punt returns for touchdowns. "That played a big role in it, especially with our no-huddle."

"They were breathing hard," Tenkhoff added.

Chaffee' up-tempo offense churned out five first downs on its second possession, which covered 84 yards in eight plays. Peyton Montgomery completed three passes on the drive, which ended when junior Thomas Robbins took a handoff, went through the right side of the line and cut back on a 15-yard scoring run. Montgomery hit Tenkhoff with the conversion pass for a 16-0 lead with 1:50 left in the first quarter.

Grandview's Tyler Billingsley is brought down by Chaffee's Corey Kirchdoerfer, Trevor Morehead and D.J. White during the second quarter Friday, Aug. 30, 2013 in Chaffee, Mo. (Fred Lynch)

Grandview closed the gap when Cody Ramsey pulled in a 58-yard pass from Tyler Billingsley behind the Chaffee secondary to account for the bulk of the Eagles' 92 yards of total offense in the first half. Billingsley added the PAT to cut the lead to 16-7 with 22 seconds left in the quarter.

"We got burnt that one time, but I thought after that we played pretty well," Vickery said.

Grandview intercepted Montgomery on a pass tipped twice on the Red Devils' next possession, but the bottom quickly fell out on the Eagles, who took over at their own 25 and lost two yards in three plays.

The ensuing punt was taken on the run by Charlie Montgomery at the Eagles 49, and he weaved his way through traffic down the left sideline and into the end zone. Montgomery had missed last year's victory against Grandview with a high ankle sprain that hampered him the entire season.

"On that kickoff return, that's the old sophomore. ... He's a stronger version," said Peyton about his older sibling who was Chaffee's leading receiver in 2011 but fell short of his sophomore totals as a junior.

"It felt good to be back in the groove again, so far," Charlie said.

The Red Devils were in a groove, too, at that point of the game.

Grandview, which did not pick up a single first down on its four second-quarter possessions, soon punted after Montgomery's TD return. This time senior Devon Yahn returned it 64 yards for a touchdown. Peyton Montgomery's PAT gave the Red Devils a 31-7 lead with 7:00 left in the second quarter.

Peyton Montgomery showed his elusive running ability with touchdown runs of 22 and 34 yards on Chaffee's final two possessions of the half.

"I thought we played real hard and what we prepared," Peyton Montgomery said. "They said, 'Play every play like it's your last,' and that's what we did."

That rang true for Montgomery.

Montgomery's 34-yard scramble, where he first went right and cut back across the field to score in the left corner of the end zone, proved to be his final play at quarterback for the night. The touchdown came with no time remaining on the clock, and his kick gave Chaffee a 44-7 lead at intermission.

"He can scramble," Tenkhoff said. "For sure. He showed that tonight."

The weary Grandview defense was no match for a maturing quarterback now in his third season as a starter.

"He's gotten a lot faster than last year," Charlie Montgomery said. "He's a good scrambler."

Peyton Montgomery finished the half, and his night, with five carries for 89 yards. He also completed 8 of 13 passes for 126 yards.

"We've just got to make sure he doesn't run too much, because we've got to keep him healthy," Vickery said. "That was the whole idea the second half -- try to keep as many people as healthy as we can. I'm just glad to get the win."

Senior Jimmy Golden and freshman Brennen Miller took care of the quarterback duties after the intermission as Chaffee's key personnel watched from the sideline.

"We don't get that a lot [big leads] here, but I'm glad we got the young freshman in," Peyton Montgomery said.

Chaffee did not attempt a pass in the second half, which started with a running clock.

Grandview's starters did manage to score, but Chaffee retaliated with a safety, a 12-yard scoring run by senior Austin Shaffer and a 54-yard interception return by Tyler Golden.

Chaffee had 392 yards of total offense on the night, while Grandview was held to 138. The Eagles had just 20 yards rushing on 23 attempts.

"I think we had the worst rushing defense in the conference [last year]," junior tackle Trevor Morehead said. "We just really wanted the emphasis on stopping the run and just having a good team flow and movement to the ball and gang tackling, and pretty much just getting everyone involved in the defensive process."

Jimmy Golden led Chaffee's ground attack with 14 carries for 91 yards.

Chaffee will attempt to revenge a loss from last year's 3-7 campaign when it visits St. Pius next week.

Chaffee 58, Grandview 15

Grandview 0 7 8 0 -- 15

Chaffee 16 28 0 14 -- 58

First Quarter

C -- Layton Tenkhoff 25 pass from Peyton Montgomery (P. Montgomery run), 7:04

C -- Thomas Robbins 15 run (Tenkhoff pass), 1:50

G -- Cody Ramsey 58 pass from Tyler Billingsley, :22

Second Quarter

C -- Charlie Montgomery 49 punt return (C. Montgomery run), 8:55

C -- Devon Yahn 64 punt return (P. Montgomery kick), 7:00

C -- P. Montgomery 22 run (kick failed), 4:02

C -- P. Montgomery 34 run (P. Montgomery kick), 0:00

Fourth Quarter

G -- Billingsley 1 run (Cody Ramsey pass), 10:30

C -- Safety, Billingsley tackled by Tyler Bollinger, 5:31

C -- Austin Schaffr 12 run (kick failed), 3:35

C -- Tyler Golden 54 interception (kick failed), 2:40

G C

First downs 8 16

Rushes-yards 23-20 39-265

Passing yards 118 127

Passes 7-17-1 8-13-1

Punts 7-28,4 2-40,0

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-0

Penalties-Yards 4-25 9-80

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Grandview, Cody Vargo 6-7, Billingsley 15-12, Ramsey 1-(-5), Josh Craig 1-6; Chaffee, Jimmy Golden 14-91, C. Montgomery 21-5, P. Montgomery 5-89, Cole Hanna 5-14, Robbins 3-26, Logan Chapman 2-24, Shaffer 1-7, Devon Nanny 1-(-3), Tyler Bollinger 1-10, Brennen Miller 4-(-3).

PASSING -- Grandview, Billingsley 7-17-1-118; Chaffee, P. Montgomery 8-13-1-126

RECEIVING -- Grandview, Vargo 2-9, Ramsey 4-70, Sam Smith 1-39; Chaffee, C. Montgomery 2-31, Tenkhoff 3-66, Hanna 1-(-2), Yahn 1-24, Travis Hall 1-8.