Schaefer shines in Rams' loss

Garett Schaefer wished his monster performance had come in a victorious effort.

But Scott City's junior tailback, who rushed for 202 yards on 24 carries during Friday's 35-13 loss to visiting East Prairie, said he believes the winless Rams still will turn out to be a solid team.

"We're a real young team, but we're improving week by week," Schaefer said. "We're staying very positive. We're just trying to get better."

Scott City coach Jim May, in his first season at his alma mater, also believes the Rams are capable of turning around things.

May garnered encouragement from the fact the Rams were more competitive Friday than during their first two games, when they fell behind by wide margins at halftime during lopsided losses to Malden and Portageville.

This time Scott City trailed 15-0 at the break and made it 15-6 in the third quarter but could get no closer.

"It's tough getting your butts whipped every game. But we were better this week," May said. "Slowly but surely we're going to get there. We're young. We see flashes, but then we shoot ourselves in the foot."

East Prairie, which had won its first two games for the first time in 15 years, improved to 3-0. The Eagles are 2-0 in the SEMO South Conference.

Scott City is 0-3, with all of the losses coming in SEMO South play. The Rams have been outscored 120-27.

But you can't blame Schaefer for the latest defeat. He scored both Scott City touchdowns, on runs of 16 and 63 yards.

"It's my best game this year by far," said Schaefer, who gained 149 of his yards in the second half. "I had some good games on JV last year. ... Our line did a really good job."

Schaefer, who is not very big, displayed his breakaway speed on his 63-yard touchdown jaunt in the fourth quarter that pulled Scott City within 28-13.

Schaefer made a nice cutback move just past the line of scrimmage to avoid several defenders, then outraced an East Prairie player down the sideline.

"I ran track against some of those guys. They're pretty fast, but I'm a little faster," Schaefer said with a smile.

Schaefer had his first 100-yard varsity performance last week during a 35-0 loss to Portageville when he gained 105 yards on 22 carries.

"He's a good back," May said. "He's a fast back and he runs hard. He's doing what I thought he could do."

Other than Schaefer, however, Scott City mustered little offense. The Rams finished with just 215 yards.

Still, the Rams could have been right in the thick of things had it not been for some early mistakes.

Scott City dug itself an early hole by having a punt blocked out of the end zone for a safety for the second straight week.

East Prairie tacked on two first-quarter touchdowns after that -- coming within 20 seconds of each other thanks to a Scott City turnover -- to lead 15-0.

That was the halftime score. Scott City got on the board first in the third quarter, on Schaefer's 16-yard run, to make it 15-6, but East Prairie answered with a touchdown and remained in control the rest of the way.

"We're still making too many mistakes," May said. "We had the special teams mistake and we had some turnovers."

Two of East Prairie's touchdowns came after short drives of just 32 and 10 yards following Scott City turnovers.

Scott City came up with four turnovers of its own, but all three were in its own territory, including three deep. So those East Prairie miscues primarily halted potential scoring drives for the visitors rather than produce good field position.

Senior Wyatt Martin and sophomore Austin Atchley intercepted passes for Scott City, while juniors Wade Keesee and Hunter Griffith recovered fumbles. Keesee also had a sack.

For East Prairie, junior tailback Aaron Miller rushed for 125 yards on 18 carries and scored three touchdowns. Miller scored on runs of 8 and 35 yards, in addition to catching a 32-yard TD pass from junior quarterback Connor Scott.

Scott City plays its third straight home game in Week 4 when Fredericktown visits. Schaefer said the Rams are not about to throw in the towel.

"We're going to keep working hard," he said.

East Prairie 15 0 7 13 -- 35

Scott City 0 0 6 7 -- 13

First Quarter

EP -- Safety, Scott City punt blocked out of end zone, 6:45

EP -- Zach Shipman 30 run (kick blocked), 3:39

EP -- Aaron Miller 32 pass from Connor Scott (Caleb Williford kick), 3:19

Third Quarter

SC -- Garett Schaefer 16 run (run failed), 6:12

EP -- Miller 8 run (Williford kick), 1:11

Fourth Quarter

EP -- Williford 6 pass from Scott (kick blocked), 8:45

SC -- Schaefer 63 run (Alex Eichhorn kick), 7:40

EP -- Miller 35 run (Williford kick), 3:24

EP SC

First downs 13 10

Rushes-yards 37-237 42-173

Passing yards 115 42

Passes 10-19-2 3-8-0

Punts 1-36 4-30

Fumbles-Lost 2-2 6-3

Penalties-Yards 5-40 4-35

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- East Prairie, Miller 18-125, Shipman 11-82, Scott 8-30. Scott City, Schaefer 24-202, Brandon Deprow 6-14, Ben De Los Santos 2-10, Eichhorn 1-minus 6, Jamie Scholz 4-minus 36, team 5-minus 15.

PASSING -- East Prairie, Scott 10-19-2-115. Scott City, Scholz 3-6-0-42, De Los Santos 0-1-0-0, Schaefer 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING -- East Prairie Williford 7-56, Mikey Russell 2-27, Miller 1-32, Scott City Eichhorn 2-37, Schaefer Deprow 1-5.