Scott City QB Mark Panagos plays through pain, runs through St. Vincent 16-14

A week ago, Mark Panagos had to leave to season opener early because of a hamstring injury.

Just seven days later, the Scott City senior willed the Rams to a 16-14 victory over St. Vincent on Friday, Sept. 1, in Scott City.

"It was just mental," Panagos said. "I just had to get through it and push through for my team because I know they'd do the same thing for me."

Panagos accounted for both of Scott City's touchdowns. Both of the Rams' scoring drives came on the run when they were trailing the Indians and needing to make a play.

His second touchdown came on a 39-yard run in the fourth quarter to put the Rams over the top.

"I couldn't stop," Panagos said. "I had to score. I couldn't let Coach [Jim] May and my team down. It's just how much this game means to me, especially for Dom. And it being senior night, I had to get in. It was big time."

To think after Panagos injured his left hamstring last week against Dexter and couldn't finish the game, it didn't seem like he would either be back in time for Week 2 or even run the ball as much as he did.

"He wasn't even close to 100%," May said. "I wasn't even sure until [Thursday] that he was gonna play [Friday]. He's the best dude on the field at 80%."

St. Vincent took the lead in the first quarter after quarterback Christian Schaaf threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to receiver Simon Barber.

"They got an explosive offense and they throw the ball a lot," May said. "We knew we had our work cut out for us."

Panagos scored his first rushing touchdown of the game and threw to Gavin Venable to take the 8-7 lead on a 2-point conversion in the third quarter.

Scott City receiver Gavin Venable gestures after reaching the end zone on a 2-point conversion against St. Vincent on Friday, Sept. 1, in Scott City, Missouri. Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

St. Vincent capitalized on a fumble and drove to the endzone, punctuating a short scoring drive with a 1-yard rushing touchdown by Cruz Reitzel to go up 14-8 in the fourth quarter.

The Scott City defense helped keep the game close with key interceptions by Lawson Graff and Nathan Ham leading up to Panagos' heroics.

Friday was not just senior night in Scott City but also their annual Green Out Football Game, dedicated to the late Dominic Hooper, a former Ram whose organ donation saved the lives of five individuals.

"We never lost a greenout game in football," Graff said. "It's just everything to win, just playing for something greater than yourself, than your teammates."

Friday’s game marked the end of a rivalry between the Rams and Indians, one that used to carry Class 1 implications.

After Scott City made the jump to Class 2 this year and their future schedules were filled with SEMO conference matchups, 2023 became the last year these two teams would play each other for the foreseeable future.

“Unfortunately, we're not going to be continuing next year,” St. Vincent coach Tim Schumer said.

It wasn't that long ago that these two teams played in the playoffs. St. Vincent went on the road and won in the 2021 regular season, but Scott City got revenge in the postseason.

"It's a fun rivalry. It's a fun game that we looked forward to every year," Schumer said. "Since it was a non-conference game, we kind of lost out on that.”

Scott City closes out the series with an 11-3 record over St. Vincent.

"We're very similar programs, other than we're more run-heavy and they're more pass-heavy," May said. "It's always a good matchup. One of their coaches, I coached him in high school. It's a good rivalry. They're good guys, great coaches."

Scott City (1-1) travels to Hayti on Sept. 9, while St. Vincent (0-2) will host rival Perryville.