Red zone unkind to Scott City football team in 39-20 loss

~ The Rams threw for 254 yards in their third consecutive loss

CRYSTAL CITY, Mo. -- Scott City's inability to find the end zone after reaching the red zone doomed the Rams.

Four Scott City drives that journeyed inside the Crystal City 20-yard line came up empty in the Rams' 39-20 loss in Class 2 District 2 action Friday. The loss dropped Scott City from playoff contention.

"It was just crunchtime," Crystal City defensive lineman Cody Pollock said. "They would get down inside our 20 and we don't want them to score so we bring up the level of our game."

Scott City's first two drives of the game stalled after the Rams earned first-and-goal. The Hornets intercepted Rams quarterback Jonathan McFall on third down to end the first drive. The second drive ended when McFall's fourth-down pass fell incomplete.

"I think we gave them too much cushion," Crystal City running back/defensive back Stacey Thornton said. "Then when we know our back's against the wall, that's when we started to fight. We just had to take over."

Scott City's next two drives ended in an interception by Thornton then a fumble.

The Rams' defense forced the Hornets to punt, and the Scott City offense again marched into the red zone. But Zach Haynes was dragged down after a 1-yard gain on fourth-and-2 from the Crystal City 16-yard line.

"It's kind of self-explanatory," Rams senior Austin Atchley said. "You're mad after that. You just want to score."

Scott City's offense finally found the end zone on its next possession. McFall carried from 2 yards out to cut the Rams' deficit to 14-7 with 1 minute, 53 seconds left in the first half.

But The Hornets answered with a 65-yard drive that ended with a Thornton leap over the pile for a touchdown with 22 seconds left in the half.

"At halftime I said we've been in the red zone three times and didn't score and turned it over twice," Scott City coach Jim May said. "We should be down 30, but instead we were down two scores and getting the ball. We had opportunities but we didn't make the most of it."

The Hornets bottled up the Rams' running game. Scott City averaged 3.4 yards on their 37 rushing attempts, and its longest run of the game was 18 yards.

"The key was just plugging up the middle with our big guys," Pollock said. "[Linemen] John Cole and Gage Seitz did a hell of a job tonight. They were forcing double teams, triple teams, you name it. Just staying around and fighting.

The Rams were forced to attack through the air with the running game stuck in neutral, and the Hornets were ready. They intercepted McFall five times in the contest.

"I ran deeper than my guy," said Thornton, who snared three of the interceptions. "They were throwing all deep routes, and my linebackers had the short routes. I just played my position and got deep."

Thornton said the Hornets picked up on McFall's tendency to remain locked in on his receiver and not look off the defense.

"Our coaches mentioned it all practice," Thornton said. "Their quarterback, where he's throwing it, he's throwing it. We were ready for it all week."

McFall did find success through the air. He completed three passes for 101 yards in the first half, which got the Rams into the red zone three of the four times they made it in the first half.

"They were playing up in man-to-man, really short coverage," McFall said.

McFall finished with 254 yards and two scores, although he noticed a defensive change in the second half.

"They dropped into a cover four, so they had all deep coverages," he said. "We just kept throwing deep for some reason."

Scott City's running game struggled to find traction, but the Hornets gained yards by the chunk on the ground. They averaged 8.6 yards on their 45 totes, and four runs went for more than 20 yards.

Thornton led the way with 181 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.

"He kind of carried them tonight," Atchley said. "We couldn't get a hold of him tonight. He's just elusive. He'll make his cuts right when he needs to and you can't really take him down very easily. It takes more than one to take him down."

Crystal City quarterback Nick Rothweiler added 154 yards rushing, including an 88-yarder with 1:44 left in the fourth quarter to seal it.

The Rams dropped to 4-5 with their third consecutive loss. May said he had a bad feeling about Friday's game during warmups.

"We didn't come out with a lot of fire," May said. "We were a little off in pregame, and I could tell it. We were trying our best to get them locked in. I don't know if it's the setting because it's so unusual here or we weren't in school today or what. Crystal City has a real good team and it has as much to do with them as it does with us."

The Rams will conclude their season Thursday when they host St. Pius.

Scott City 0 7 7 6 -- 20

Crystal City 7 14 6 12 -- 39

First Quarter

CC -- Stacey Thornton 4 run (Thornton kick), 6:26

Second Quarter

CC -- Nick Rothweiler 7 run (Thornton kick), 11:44

SC -- Jonathan McFall 2 run (McFall kick), 1:53

CC -- Thornton 1 run (Thornton kick), :22

Third Quarter

SC -- Zach Cotner 47 pass from McFall (McFall kick), 10:38

CC -- Rothweiler 4 run (kick fail), 7:28

Fourth Quarter

CC -- Alex Politte 6 run (pass fail), 8:11

SC -- Cotner 6 pass from McFall (kick fail), 4:34

CC -- Rothweiler 88 run (kick fail), 1:44

SC CC

First downs 16 22

Rushes-yards 37-127 45-386

Passing yards 254 74

Passes 12-34-5 8-17-0

Punts 0 5-145

Fumbles-lost 1-1 4-2

Penalties-yards 9-95 15-140

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Scott City, Jacob Underwood 3-2, Zach Haynes 7-22, Gordy Bradley 21-83, Jonathan McFall 2-8, Austin Atchley 3-12, Team 1-0. Crystal City, Michael Bohnert 5-12, Nick Rothweiler 14-154, Stacey Thornton 18-181, Alex Politte 6-42, Team 1-(-3).

PASSING -- Scott City, Jonathan McFall 12-33-254-5, Zach Carlyle 0-1-0-0. Crystal City, Nick Rothweiler 8-17-74-0.

RECEIVING -- Scott City, Zach Cotner 6-133, Austin Atchley 5-96, Brett Dirnberger 1-25. Crystal City, Austin Helwig 1-18, Colby McCreary 1-15, Stacey Thornton 2-1, Austin Shockley 1-14, Joey Sousan 1-12, Alex Politte 1-13, Justin Morris 1-1.