CHAFFEE -- Scott City senior Nick Bickings wasted little time in having his own golden night during a golden celebration at Chaffee High School.
On the 50th anniversary celebration of the rivalry football game between the two SEMO South Division schools located just six miles apart, Bickings condensed a career game into a single quarter.
He broke loose for a 67-yard touchdown run the first time he touched the ball -- on the Rams' second offense play -- and added a 46-yard scoring run later in the first period to start the Rams on their way to a 28-14 victory.
Bickings, who had never rushed for more than 100 yards in a game at the varsity level, had 140 yards in the first quarter, and had 156 yards by the time members from the past 49 meetings could shake hands with one another at midfield during the halftime festivity.
"I loved it," Bickings said. "I can't wait until like, you know, the 75th anniversary or something like that, come out here and stand here. I beat Chaffee, that's good."
Bickings finished with 172 yards rushing on 11 carries and turned in his first high school interception in the second half.
The win on the special occasion was not lost on other players, including senior center Levi Davidson, whose father, Jamie, a 1978 Scott City graduate, was among the participants in the halftime celebration, shaking hands with former Red Devils player Robert Hinkebein, who played in the 1977 meeting won by the Rams -- also on the Red Devils' home field .
"It being the 50th anniversary of this rivalry, it is just really a great feeling," Levi Davidson said. "Me winning and him winning his last senior game against Chaffee."
The Rams came out in prime form for the celebration, scoring on their first three possessions of the game. Bickings scored the first two on nearly identical plays when he took option pitches from junior quarterback Braden Cox.
"He was the fastest person on the field, and he showed it," Cox said.
Cox, the Rams' leading rusher on the season who had 120 yards rushing on 26 carries against the Red Devils, rolled left on both plays before tossing the ball off to Bickings with a defender descending upon him.
"We knew it was coming," Chaffee coach Charlie Vickery said. "It was just on the speed option there. Our safety didn't roll up quick enough, and they did a good job of it. The thing we wanted to do is we wanted to get to No. 33 [Cox] right off the bat, and make him pitch it, which he did, and then of course they had the two big runs."
Bickings' first jaunt came with 9 minutes, 28 seconds left in the first quarter, giving the Rams a 6-0 lead.
Chaffee (2-3) responded with its longest possession of the first half, starting a drive at its own 46 and driving to the Scott City 6 before a false start on fourth down and a fumbled snap stopped the drive on downs at the 11.
Scott City covered the 89 yards in eight plays, with Bickings taking a pitch from Cox from just inside Chaffee territory and breaking free down the left sideline again.
The run pushed Bickings, who had a couple of games with about 200 yards rushing on the junior-varsity level, to 128 yards on three carries.
"He's had some big games for us at lower levels, and we have a lot of faith in him to do some things," Scott City coach Jim May said. "He's not a power runner inside a lot, but he can run inside the tackles, but when he gets on the edge, he's fast and he's pretty shifty, and he did a good job for us tonight."
Cox ran in the conversion for a 14-0 lead for Scott City with 3:52 left in the quarter.
Rams junior linebacker Caden Hillemann then recovered a fumble at the Chaffee 32 when Red Devils running back Devon Nanney lost his grip on the ball after picking up a first down on a third-down play. Scott City needed just three plays to strike for its third touchdown of the period.
Junior Ty Wilthong rotated into the quarterback position for the series and found Cox, who moved out to the slot, on a 25-yard scoring pass down the middle at the 2:31 mark. Wilthong then hooked up with Dylan Keller on the conversion pass for a 22-0 lead.
Scott City (3-2) accumulated 328 yards of offense in the first half to 62 yards for Chaffee, which committed three special teams snafus in the first half. A kickoff after Scott City's third touchdown was recovered by the Rams when it caromed off a Red Devils player with his back to the play, and Scott City twice gained possession deep in Chaffee territory when the Red Devils punter had problems -- first being ruled down when he touched his knee to the ground when fielding a low snap and later kicking the ball into the back of a blocker.
"Everything that could have gone wrong, especially that first quarter, went wrong," Vickery said. "But on the positive side, we were able to come back from that and stop the bleeding."
Chaffee used a 70-yard-plus interception return by Nanney in the second quarter to set up a 7-yard scoring run by freshman Landon Tenkhoff with 10 minutes left in the second quarter.
Scott City answered with a 5-yard scoring run by Cox on its next series. The Rams scored on four of their first six possessions in the game.
"We came out and we executed the game plan pretty well," May said. "I told them after the game that was one of our better first halves and probably our worst second half. The second half was almost unwatchable, but it's a win. We came out and did what we came to do early. I wish it would have continued the whole game, but I'll take it."
The Rams were held to 87 yards offense in the second half, which saw Chaffee score the lone touchdown on a 3-yard run by Tenkhoff with 6:46 left in the game.
For the game, Scott City had 415 yards of offense to 180 for Chaffee.
"When you're down 22-0 against your rival, you're thinking, 'OK the floodgates are going to open,' and you don't know what's going to take place, and I thought at least after halftime, really the second quarter on, I thought we played much more physical and with much more intensity," Vickery said. "I think we had some positives to build on."
Tenkhoff led the Red Devils with 77 yards rushing on 10 carries. Nanney added 47 yards on 13 carries.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for Scott City.
"We talked all week about how we need to get to 3-2 after the first half if we're going to get a winning record and win some games," May said. "This is one we had to have."
Scott City 22 0 6 0 -- 28
Chaffee 0 6 0 8 -- 14
First quarter
SC -- Nick Bickings 67 run (run failed), 9:28
SC -- Nick Bickings 46 run (Braden Cox run), 3:52
SC -- Cox 25 pass from Ty Wilthong (Dylan Keller pass from Wilthong), 9:28
Second quarter
C -- Landon Tenkhoff 7 run (run failed), 10:00
SC -- Cox 5 run (run failed), 3:18
Fourth quarter
C -- Tenkhoff 3 run (Devon Nanney pass from Tenkhoff), 6:46
TEAM STATISTICS
SC C
First downs 19 11
Rushes-yards 49-302 29-121
Passing yards 113 59
Passes 14-21-1 7-14-1
Punts-average 1-24 1-14
Fumbles-lost 3-1 5-3
Penalties-yards 7-81 8-79
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING -- Scott City, Cox 26-120, Bickings 11-172, Wilthong 8-(-2), Caden Hillemann 3-(-3), Jaden Kaiser 1-15; Chaffee, Nanney 13-47, Ryan Holderfield 2-0, Tenkhoff 10-77, Uzziah Beggs 2-13, Team 2-(-16).
PASSING -- Scott City, Cox 5-7-0-27, Wilthong 9-14-1-86; Chaffee, Tenkhoff 7-14-1-59.
RECEIVING -- Scott City, Hillemann 2-15, Cox 2- 36, Bickings 3-8, Kaiser 2-17, Dylan Keller 4-25, Isiah Berry 1-12; Chaffee, Brennan Miller 3-18, Nanney 3-25, Josh Medrano 1-9
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