Scott City’s season ends in Hesston
Scott City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–For whatever reason, whenever Scott City and Hesston meet on the gridiron, it guarantees a rainy game. At Hobbs Field on Friday night, the Beavers and Swathers faced off in the opening round of the Class 3A Playoffs on a night where it rained throughout. In a defensive battle throughout, Hesston would put up two scores in the fourth quarter and advance to the Regional roudn of the playoffs with a 21-6 win over Scott City.
Hesston scored the games first points, taking advantage of a turnover. A 45-yard drive on their opening series was capped off on a Jerick Humphreys four-yard pass to Max Phillips with 8:05 left in the opening period to go up 7-0 with the Keldon Lange PAT.
That would be the only score on the board through the first three quarters, despite two long drives by the Swathers. They had a 15-play drive that came up empty at the end of the half, and a 17-play drive to open the second half that chewed up over seven minutes that saw them turn the ball over on downs.
It was 7-0 Hesston through three quarters, when Scott City rolled the dice to open the final period. The Beavers tried a fake punt at midfield, and were stopped two yards short at the Swather 42 yard line. From there, Hesston would double their score. An eight-play drive was finished on a Tim Rhodes eight-yard touchdown run with 9:44 left to give them a 14-0 lead with the Lange PAT. Scott City responded on their lone scoring drive of their own. Drew Metzger found Easton Eisenhour in the middle of the end zone from 19 yards out, after Eisenhour wrestled the ball away from the Swather defender. The Beavers would miss the two-point conversion and trail 14-6 with 6:05 left.
On the ensuing drive, Hesston would put the dagger in with 3:52 left on a shovel pass to Kason Landes, who scored from 57 yards out to make it 21-6 with the Lange PAT. Scott City had one more drive that stalled out with 2:01 left at their own 46 and the Swathers ran the clock out and ended the Beavers season 21-6.
Hesston finished with a balanced attack, putting up 347 yards of offense. Jerick Humphreys threw for 168 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Gavin Larson caught eight passes for 56 yards and Tim Rhodes rushed for 73 yards on 11 carries.
Scott City finished with 196 yards of offense. Drew Metzger rushed for 93 yards on 15 carries, and threw for 70 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Six Beavers caught at least one pass, and Reid Felker had 25 yards on two receptions. Scott City rushed for 112 yards. Adrian Garcia completed his lone pass for 14 yards.
It was the second meeting between the programs and the series is now tied at one game apiece. Scott City was in their 31st playoff appearance, and are now 57-27 all time, including 23-5 in the Week 9/Bi District Round. It’s the end of the Jim Turner era as head coach. Turner was the longest-tenured coach in Scott City football history, and ended his head coaching career with a 78-33 record in 11 seasons. He’s one of three head coaches in program history to win at least 75 games. Turner has been with the program as an assistant and head coach for 31 seasons. He ranks third all time in wins.
Scott City finishes the year at 2-7, while Hesston, the No. 3 ranked team in Class 3A is now 8-1. They’ll host Hugoton on Friday night. The Eagles blanked Lyons 53-0 and have won five of their last six games.
Coach Jim Turner Postgame
Box Score
Scott City 0 0 0 6–6
Hesston 7 0 0 14–21
Scoring Summary
1st QTR
HS 8:05 Max Phillips 4 Yard Pass from Jerick Humphreys (Keldon Lange Kick) 7-45, 3:23
4th QTR
HS 9:44 Tim Rhodes 8 Yard Run (Lange Kick) 8-58, 2:10
SC 6:05 Easton Eisenhour 19 Yard Pass form Drew Metzger (2 Pt Conv. Failed) 9-65, 3:36
HS 3:52 Kason Landes 57 Yard Pass from Humphreys (Lange Kick) 4-69, 2:13
Scott City
Rushing
Drew Metzger 15-93; Adrian Garcia 4-11; Boston Louden 3-4; Easton Eisenhour 2-4; Total: 24-112
Passing
Drew Metzger 9-20 70 1-2; Adrian Garcia 1-1 14 0-0
Receiving
Reid Felker 2-25; Easton Eisenhour 2-20; Adan Tarango 2-18; Mickey Gossman 2-10; Adrian Garcia 2-10
Total Yards: 196
Hesston
Rushing
Tim Rhodes 11-73; Nick Fry 13-63; Jerick Humphreys 19-43; Josh Duerksen 3-6; Team 3-(-6); Total: 49-179
Passing
Jerick Humphreys 18-26 168 2-1
Receiving
Kason Landes 1-57; Gavin Larson 8-56; Eli Haug 6-47; Max Phillips 2-19; Nick Fry 1-16
Total Yards: 347