Scott City opens season with 14-6 win over Malden

SCOTT CITY -- Senior Jake Campbell participated in his first football game in four years Friday night. But he looked liked he had been playing the sport his entire life.

Campbell, who joined the team after not playing since eighth grade, started to heat up running the football after the Malden defense prevented Scott City from picking up a first down until late in the second quarter.

Campbell carried the ball 14 times, dashing for 94 yards, and senior Austin Brawley made two interceptions to help the Rams to a 14-6 home victory in their season opener.

"Every single one of my best friends play football," Campbell said. "I've always focused more on my other two sports -- basketball and baseball. But I just decided this year that I don't want to have any regrets when I get out of high school and wish I did it [played football]. So I just decided to do it."

With time ticking down in the third quarter and Malden leading 6-0, Campbell broke for a 15-yard run, which put his team in the red zone. The Rams eventually would score on the drive early in the fourth quarter to take a 7-6 lead and never looked back.

Campbell was a lineman when he played in junior high school, so this was his first game ever as a running back. Both he and senior Caleb Gray, who rushed 13 times for 57 yards, lined up in the backfield.

Campbell said he didn't expect to receive as many handoffs as he did.

FRED LYNCH ~ flynch@semissourian.com Scott City quarterback Cody Page passed to Josh Schuenemeyer, who made the reception during the second quarter Friday against Malden in Scott City.

"I had a couple locker room jitters, but I ran the ball so much in practice and coach [Ronnie] Jones is a great coach and he tells me what to do, so I listen to him," Campbell said. "I just did exactly what he said and it ended up working out for us."

Campbell said his team had difficulty running in the first quarter because of Malden's defensive line.

"They had a strong front line and they were shooting gaps, so when we were trying to run our dives, they were in the holes and I had nowhere to go," Campbell said.

Jones said his offensive line struggled Friday because he was without two starters. They were being disciplined for reasons he declined to explain, and he refused to give the names of the two starters. He said they would be in the lineup next week.

FRED LYNCH ~ flynch@semissourian.com Scott City defenders Josh Schuenemeyer (10) and Josh Trapp sacked Malden quarterback Kaleb Loughary in the third quarter Friday at Scott City.

"Malden was physically whipping us on the line," Jones said. "There was no secret. They weren't doing anything fancy. They were just lining up and overpowering us on the line. Anything we got, we had to work for. That was the deal there.

"In defense of our line, we had some young ones in there. And Malden is not a bad football team. And they are going to win a lot of games."

The game went scoreless until late in the third quarter.

The Green Wave drove 36 yards on six plays as Ryan Cain scored a touchdown with 4:39 remaining in the third quarter to give Malden a 6-0 lead. He pounded his way through on a second-and-goal play from the 1-yard line.

Malden's Andy Matthews was brought down by Scott City's Ben De Los Santos during the first quarter.

A mishandled snap prevented Malden from converting its extra point, and the score remained 6-0.

After the teams traded punts, the Rams got the ball back with 1:32 left in the third quarter. They put together an eight-play, 56-yard drive that ended with quarterback Cody Page scoring on a quarterback keeper on third-and-goal, inches from the goal line. He punched it in to make it 6-6 with 10:44 left. Alex Eichhorn then drilled the extra point through the uprights to give the Rams their first lead at 7-6.

Eichhorn, a sophomore, is in his first year of kicking field goals and extra points.

"I was feeling a little bit of pressure, but I just pulled it together, kicked it and it went in," he said. "I wasn't hoping for it [that pressure situation], but it happened and I just pulled through it."

With 4:47 remaining and the Malden offense on its own 36-yard line, Brawley came away with an interception for the Rams.

"They had a very good quarterback," Brawley said. "He threw some pretty good balls. A couple times they got me on short routes. I'm glad none of their receivers burnt me tonight. That second interception, I was going to read the short route that they had been running on me all night, but luckily it went off his [the receiver[']s] hands and I had my eyes on it the whole time. I bobbled it and was able to come down with it."

Scott City followed Brawley's interception with a touchdown when Gray ran in for the score with 9 seconds remaining in the game.

"Defense can only do so much, and our running backs like Jake and Caleb ran the ball extremely well," Brawley said.