Scott City football switches gears in victory over Portageville

The Scott City football team, which was pass happy in a Week 1 loss to Malden, switched to a ground game Friday night in a 36-6 victory at Portageville.

The Rams had thrown the ball 23 times in their opener, but they attempted just two passes in the first half and only nine for the game Friday.

"We just executed what Portageville gave us," Scott City head coach Terry Flannigan said. "We saw that Portageville was playing back a little early on; we took advantage. To set up the pass, we had to establish some sort of running game and I think we accomplished that early on."

Despite the emphasis on the run, the Rams did use a no-huddle attack for the lone scoring drive of the first half, which was capped by Chris Blankenship's 1-yard touchdown plunge.

The run set up Scott City's first score of the second half, when quarterback Ethan Watkins faked a handoff to the fullback and found Blake Dirnberger wide open for a 75-yard touchdown reception.

Watkins to Dirnberger was successful again for a 29-yard pass play to make the score 23-0, which was the score after three quarters.

"We hit some big pass plays when we needed to," Flannigan said. "Portageville started to pack it in on defense, so we just took what they gave us."

Watkins was 4-for-9 passing for 123 yards and two touchdowns.

Dirnberger had the two touchdown receptions for 104 yards.

Cody Carlyle was the leading rusher for the Rams (1-1) with 16 carries for 90 yards. Blankenship had two rushing touchdowns for Scott City and ended with 48 yards on 13 carries.

Portageville fumbled the football six times -- several on the center/quarterback exchange -- and committed five turnovers.

Turnovers hurt Chaffee

After snapping its 34-game losing streak the previous week, the Chaffee football team fell 27-7 to visiting Liberty Mountain View Friday night.

Chaffee is 1-1, while Liberty improved to 2-0.

The Red Devils were done in by seven turnovers. Three drives that reached inside Liberty's 20-yard line ended in turnovers.

"That was the difference in the game," Chaffee coach Charlie Vickery said. "We really played a decent ballgame, but you can't beat anybody with seven turnovers."

Chaffee scored its only touchdown on quarterback Michael Lee's 3-yard run late in the first quarter, as the Red Devils pulled into a 7-7 tie.

Liberty moved ahead 20-7 by halftime, which was also the score after three quarters.

Chaffee rushed for 136 yards, led by Steven Atkinson's 63 yards on nine carries. The Red Devils had 198 yards of total offense.

Liberty rushed for 119 yards but threw for 174 yards.