Scott City football team beats St. Vincent for first win

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- In game during which each team committed four turnovers, combined for 18 penalties and was completed in a driving rain, Scott City was the last team standing.

That is, pretty much all the Rams but sophomore quarterback Ty Wilthong.

Wilthong got a lift to the victorious on-field team huddle by teammates Levi Buckner and Noah Hahn, who each took a side as the quarterback hobbled along with a bad right ankle.

The pair also helped their signal-caller through the rain to the locker room.

Wilthong had stood tall earlier in the game, throwing a pair of second-quarter touchdown passes to fellow sophomore Braden Cox as the Rams overcame an early seven-point deficit to record their first win of the season, a 26-7 triumph.

Wilthong later directed the Rams to a 69-yard scoring drive in the third quarter before injuring his right ankle on the final play of the period.

"I think he'll be alright," Cox said. "Hopefully he'll come back next week and be good."

Scott City coach Jim May didn't seem overly worried about the seriousness of the injury, which led to a parade of Rams taking snaps in the fourth quarter that didn't hinder Scott City from adding a 4-yard touchdown run by Jake Elders midway through the period.

"I just think [Wilthong] sprained his ankle a lit bit and B [Braden Cox] was cramping. B is usually our backup quarterback and he was cramping, and instead we just lined up with two running backs and tried to chip away and run the clock out," May said. "I challenged the offensive linemen. I told them we wanted to go down the field and score, and we did. That was big thing for us."

Cox, who was the Scott City starting quarterback as a freshman last year, stepped in for a few plays before yielding to senior Caleb Sykes for most of the snaps. Sykes used the opportunity to take direct snaps and run off tackle over a worn down St. Vincent defense. He ran nine times in the period for yards to finish with a game-high 136 yards.

Sykes called the arrangement "makeshift."

"I told coach May the past three years, 'Put me at QB, and he finally did," Sykes said.

Sykes did not attempt a pass in the deteriorating weather conditions.

"Everybody thinks they're a quarterback," May said. "All the offensive linemen want to play quarterback. Hopefully we'll get healthy and be ready to go."

It wasn't all fun and games for the Rams, who committed turnovers on three of their first five possessions of the game, not to mention having their punt blocked after taking the game's opening kickoff.

Scott City quarterback Ty Wilthong looks to pass against St. Vincent during the third quarter Friday, Aug. 29, 2014 in Perryville, Missouri. (Fred Lynch)

"It was a little sloppy out there at first, but we have a lot of young kids and sometimes it takes a while for them to settle down," May said.

The second turnover proved costly.

St. Vincent punter Cole Steinbecker pinned the Rams deep by rolling a 44-yard punt out of bounds at the Scott City 6. On the next play, Indians defensive end Trevor Leible hit Wilthong near the goal line. The ball popped loose and was recovered by defensive lineman Nick Mingione inside the 1.

The Indians, who struggled running the ball all night, amassing 51 yards on 23 attempts, needed two plays find the end zone. Whistler's 2-yard run was followed by Steinbecker's PAT for a 7-0 lead with 15 seconds left in the first quarter.

That was the pinnacle of the night for St. Vincent, and an ugly second quarter dragged on for 50 minutes and appropriately brought the onset of rain.

The teams combined for five turnovers in the period, including three interceptions thrown by Whistler. St. Vincent also committed seven penalties for 50 yards in the first six minutes of the quarter.

Scott City did its share with two penalties for 25 yards in the first half of the period and contributed an interception and a fumble to the mess.

However, the Rams were able to seize control of the game amid the chaos, scoring after two of the Indians' interceptions.

Dylan Keller made the first of the three second-quarter interceptions for Scott City, giving the Rams their best field position of the game at that point at the St. Vincent 37.

Two runs and an encroachment penalty on the Indians' defense moved the ball to the 19. Wilthong then connected with Cox on a slant over the middle and the 6-foot-2, 188-pound receiver turned upfield and split the defense, ultimately carrying a defender into the end zone to cut the lead to 7-6 with 9:26 left in the second quarter.

St. Vincent interceptions and Scott City slants over the middle became a recurring theme.

"They had two safeties and they were spread apart, so and all I had to do was go right in the middle and I was open every time," Cox said. "We were all open every time."

Isiah Berry turned in his second interception of the game on St. Vincent's next possession, and two possessions later Austin Spriggs pulled in a diving interception at his own 15 on a deflected pass with a couple minutes left in the half.

The Rams moved out to their 47 on the very next play when Spriggs pulled in a slant over the middle and turned upfield for a 32-yard gain.

Wilthong completed five more passes on the drive, the last an arcing throw to the back right corner of the end zone that was pulled in by Cox over two defenders with 10 seconds left in the half. The 7-yard completion was followed by a two-point conversion pass by the came combo for a 14-7 lead.

"It was a big momentum changer, and I think it was a big reason we came back and played hard the second half as well," Sykes said about the play. "We just kept the momentum on our side the whole time."

Scott City took control of the game in the third quarter with a 69-yard drive that ended in Sykes' 10-yard, tackle-breaking TD run down the left sideline with 3:20 left in the period. It came on the Rams' first offensive possession of the third quarter. Scott City had fumbled the punt return after stopping St. Vincent off the kickoff of the half.

Penalties and the Rams' defense pushed St. Vincent backward on its first two possessions in the second half, which started at the St. Vincent 45 and the Scott City 33.

"We made turnovers, but at the same time we got the ball back on defense," Sykes said.

St. Vincent finished with 191 yards of offense, but saw much of that output offset by 11 penalties for 106 yards.

St. Vincent coach Nathan Rowland encourages his team as they play Scott City on Friday, Aug. 29, 2014 in Perryville, Missouri. (Fred Lynch)

"We've got to shore something up because there was a lot of yellow on the field," said St. Vincent first-year coach Nathan Rowland, whose squad lost its opener 56-0 to Valle Catholic and fell to 0-2. "We're holding too much, we're reaching and not moving our feet, and we're just committing too many penalties to win games."

Scott City, using a spread offense this season after experimenting with it at the end of last season, netted 326 yards of total offense with 174 yards rushing and 152 passing.

"We don't have that power kind of team, so we just kind of try to utilize our athletes, and we've got some kids that can catch the ball and we feel we have some kids that can throw," May said. "We're going to make you play honest.

"We're a pretty good balance right now. We can do a little bit of both."

Wilthong completed 14 of 25 passes for 142 yards. He had two interceptions to go with his two TDs.

Cox led the receivers with seven catches for 60 yards.

"They've always been a traditional power run team, and even out of the spread they were able to power run, which makes it a pretty lethal combination," Rowland said.

Scott City 0 14 6 6 -- 26

St. Vincent 7 0 0 0 -- 7

First Quarter

SV -- Joe Whistler 2 run (Cole Steinbecker kick), :15

Second Quarter

SC -- Braden Cox 19 pass from Ty Wilthong (pass failed), 9:26

SC -- Cox 7 pass from Wilthong (Wilthong pass to Cox), :10

Third Quarter

SC -- Caleb Sykes 10 run (pass failed), 3:20

Fourth Quarter

SC -- Jake Elders 4 4un (pass failed), 6:09 left

SC SV

First downs 19 10

Rushes-yards 41-174 23-51

Passing yards 152` 140

Passes 15-27-2 14-33-4

Punts 2-35 2-45

Fumbles-Lost 5-3 1-0

Penalties-Yards 7-64 11-106

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Scott City, Sykes 19-136, Wilthong 9-(-2), Cox 3-21, Elders 7-23, Nick Bickings 1-3, team 2-(-7); St. Vincent, Riley Riehn 9-34, Whistler 13-18, Tyler Unterreiner 1-(-1)

PASSING -- Scott City, Wilthong 14-25-142-2, Cox 1-2-10-0; St. Vincent, Whistler 14-33-138-4

RECEIVING -- Scott City, Cox 7-60, Sykes 1-0, Austin Spriggs 3-50, Drew Short 2-20, Isiah Berry 2-22; St. Vincent, Steinbecker 5-78, Unterreiner 2-15, David Camarillo 2-37, Andrew Naeger 1-8, Kaleb Schnurbusch 1-7, Nick Cissell 2-(-1), Riehn 1-(-4)