Scott City wins title despite 28-22 loss

SCOTT CITY — The Scott City football team didn't quite know how to act Thursday night.

On one hand, the Rams lost their final regular-season game as visiting Festus St. Pius pulled off a 28-22 upset.

On the other hand, a touchdown on the game's last play allowed the Rams to win their first district title since 1999.

"It's bittersweet," senior quarterback Cody Page said. "You don't like to end the regular season with a loss.

"But we got the district championship. It's been a long time since Scott City did that."

Added senior Matt Bradley: "I got mixed feelings. To fall short is heartbreaking. But we won the district and we'll get to play another game at home."

Scott City, 4-5 overall, finished Class 2 District 2 play with a 2-1 record.

St. Pius (2-8) and Crystal CIty (3-7) also ended the district round-robin 2-1.

In three-way district ties, a points differential is used to determine the champion based on a maximum of plus-13 or minus-13 for each district game.

Scott City finished at plus-20, with St. Pius plus-14 and Crystal City plus-5.

The Rams will host District 1 runner-up Malden on Wednesday night in the regional round of the playoffs. Scott City beat Malden 14-6 in the season opener.

"It's great to have another home game," senior running back Jacob Campbell said.

But it almost didn't happen.

Although the Rams already had locked up at least the second playoff spot from the district the previous week, had Thursday's final score ended 28-16 — which is what it was in the closing seconds — the Rams would have finished second based on the points differential and would have played on the road Wednesday.

With all the Scott City players knowing exactly what they needed, they drove 65 yards in the game's final 1 minute, 33 seconds after St. Pius had scored with 1:39 left.

Two 15-yard penalties on St. Pius aided the cause, including a facemask that moved the ball to the Lancers' 10 with 2 seconds remaining and left time for one more play.

Page hit Bradley along the left sideline and Bradley needed to bull his way past several defenders over the final few yards to the end zone.

"Cody placed the ball in a perfect spot and I had just enough room to work with," Bradley said. "I knew I had to punch it in."

In a cruel twist of fate, Scott City's late touchdown kept St. Pius out of the playoffs.

Had the Lancers finished off a 28-16 victory, they would have ended plus-20 in points, compared to plus-14 for the Rams. So St. Pius would have captured the district title.

Scott City still would have gotten into the playoffs by virtue of its win over Crystal City last week.

But since St. Pius lost to Crystal City earlier, the Lancers are left out despite having a better points differential than the Hornets.

"It's nuts," Scott City coach Ronnie Jones said.

While unhappy with the loss, Jones wasn't about to diminish the program's first district crown this decade.

"The kids wanted to win it," Jones said. "We're able to play another day, and we'll be here Wednesday night."

St. Pius, which led most of the way, hurt Scott City with its spread offense featuring quarterback Tyler Hoog and speedy wide receiver Julian Selsor.

That duo hooked up on touchdown passes of 65, 57 and 25 yards. Selsor caught five passes for 167 yards, while Hoog completed 15 of 24 passes for 240 yards and four touchdowns.

"We have problems when people spread us out," Jones said.

Much of Scott City's offense was provided by Campbell, who rushed for 186 yards on 13 carries. But Campbell had just three carries for 6 yards in the second half as St. Pius controlled the ball for much of the final two periods.

"We spent most of the time [in the second half] on defense," Campbell said. "They controlled the clock."

Campbell scored on a 2-yard run in the second quarter, and Bradley's 2-point conversion run gave the Rams their only lead of the night, 10-8. Scott City got its first points of the game on a safety.

St. Pius went ahead 15-10 at halftime, and Scott City played catch-up the rest of the way.

Page hit senior Adam Holmes with a 78-yard touchdown pass midway through the fourth quarter to pull Scott City within 22-16.

St. Pius came back with a long drive to go up 28-16 in the late going, setting the stage for Scott City's last-play touchdown that didn't result in a victory, but still was very important.

St. Pius87013—28

Scott City010012—22

@z_agate_no tab_no indnt_bld ld:First Quarter

SP — Dan Keeney 29 pass from Tyler Hoog (Hayden Smith pass from Hoog)

Second Quarter

SC — Safety, Hoog tackled in end zone

SC — Jacob Campbell 2 run (Matt Bradley run)

SP — Julian Selsor 65 pass from Hoog (Hoog kick)

Fourth

SP — Selsor 57 pass from Hoog (Hoog kick)

SC — Adam Holmes 78 pass from Cody Page (run failed)

SP — Selsor 25 pass from Hoog (kick blocked)

SC — Bradley 10 pass from Page (run failed)

SPSC

First downs136

Rushes-yards34-12039-209

Passing yards24093

Passes15-24-14-11-2

Punts4-304-25

Fumbles-Lost4-16-2

Penalties-Yards8-7519-145

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — St. Pius, Hoog 17-47, Dean Navratil 14-34, Selsor 2-46, team 1-minus 7. Scott City, Campbell 13-186, Caleb Gray 8-41, Josh Trapp 6-17, Page 4-0, Bradley 1-minus 1, Austin Brawley 2-minus 1, team 5-minus 33.

PASSING — St. Pius, Hoog 15-24-1-240. Scott City, Page 4-11-2-93.

RECEIVING — St. Pius, Selsor 5-167, Navratil 5-15, Smith 2-20, Keeney 1-29, Corbin Sohn 2-9. Scott City, Holmes 1-78, Bradley 1-10, Brawley 1-6, Caleb Anderson 1-minus 1.