Mesa Ridge pulls away from Scott City
Scott City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–Scott City’s home opener was a tough game on Friday night, as the Beavers played host to the Mesa Ridge Grizzlies from Colorado Springs on Military Appreciation Night. Scott City would score first, but the Grizzlies responded with 22 unanswered points in a 44-14 victory over the Beavers at Darner Field.
Following a scoreless first quarter, Scott City put the first points on the board, taking advantage of a muffed punt at the Beaver 40. An eight-play, 60-yard drive in less than three minutes saw Drew Metzger connect with Adan Tarango on a 14-yard pass with 10:51 left in the second quarter to go up 7-0 after the Pablo Solis extra point.
The score may have poked the grizzly bear. Literally.
Mesa Ridge would score on six of their next seven possessions over the next three quarters. They scored 22 points in a six-minute span, with their first coming on a 13-yard pass from Koa Dietrich to Ryan Regidor with 7:01 left in the first half. Following a Scott City penalty, Amari McBroom ran in the two-point conversion to give the Grizzlies an 8-7 lead. After an interception, Mesa Ridge took advantage of short field and got a McBroom one-yard run with 4:12 left before halftime to go up 15-7, after the Izeyah Brink-Torres PAT. Their final score of the half came on a 17-yard pass from Dietrich to Brink-Torres with 1:19 left before the break to go up 22-7 with the extra point.
Scott City would recover the opening kickoff at the Mesa Ridge 23 to start the second half. Four plays later, Metzger would rush it in from a yard out with 10:21 left in the third quarter to pull to within 22-14 following the Solis PAT. After that, the Grizzlies got a kickoff return to the Beaver 40, and scored five plays later on a fourth and 13 pass play from Dietrich to Matthew Lumpkin with 6:08 left in the third quarter to lead 28-14. The extra point was no good. Nearly three minutes later, it was McBroom sweeping his way in from 14 yards out at the 6:08 mark of the third quarter. Dietrich would find Jonathan Caban for the two-point conversion to extend the lead to 36-14.
The final score of the night came with 8:17 left on a McBroom seven-yard run, and he capped the scoring with a two-point conversion to make the final 44-14.
Koa Dietrich 13-24 passing for 218 yards and three touchdowns. He also added 49 yards on the ground on nine carries. Amari McBroom had 13 rushes for 63 yards and three scores. The Grizzlies finished iwth 151 yards and had a total of 372 yards.
Drew Metzger was 10-19 passing for 91 yards with a touchdown and two interceptiosn. Jayden West led the receiving department with 38 yards on two receptions and Metzger had 87 yards on 23 carries. The Beavers had 109 rushing yards and finished with 200 yards of offense.
This was the first-ever matchup between the programs and the first time that Scott City has faced an opponent from the Colorado Springs area. They fell to 11-3 all time against schools from Colorado.
Scott City is 0-2 for the first time since 2016 and will host Russell next Friday night. The Broncos are 0-2 on the year, following a 35-6 loss to TMP Marian. Their game was a home game played at Hoisington, due to the field in Russell still under construction. Mesa Ridge improved to 3-1 and will host Coronado next Friday.
Coach Jim Turner Postgame
Box Score
Mesa Ridge 0 22 14 8–44
Scott City 0 7 7 0–14
Scoring Summary
2nd QTR
SC 10:51 Adan Tarango 14 Yd Pass from Drew Metzger (Pablo Solis Kick) 8-60, 2:58
MR 7:01 Ryan Regidor 13 Yd Pass from Koa Dietrich (Amari McBroom Run) 10-73, 3:01
MR 4:12 McBroom 1 Yd Run (Izeyah Brinck-Torres Kick) 6-36, 1:01
MR 1:19 Brink-Torres 17 Yd Pass from Dietrich (Brinck-Torrres Kick) 4-60, :46
3rd QTR
SC 10:21 Metzger 1 Yd Run (Solis Kick) 4-23, 1:39
MR 9:20 Matthew Lumpkin 31 Yd Pass from Dietrich (Kick failed) 5-48, 1:01
MR 6:08 McBroom 14 Yd Run (Dietrich Pass to Jonathan Caban) 5-50, :38
4th QTR
MR 8:17 McBroom 7 Yd Run (McBroom Run) 5-43, 1:35
Mesa Ridge
Rush
McBroom 13-63; Dietrich 9-49; Kearney 2-17; Anderson 2-17; Williams 1-5; Jacobs 1-0; Total: 28-151
Pass
Dietrich 13-24 218 3-0; Kopenstine 1-1 3 0-0
Receiving
McBroom 2-76; Lumpkin 2-66; Brinck-Torres 6-45; Caban 1-15; Regidor 1-13; Williams 1-3; Total: 221
Total Yards: 372
Scott City
Rush
Metzger 23-87; Lopez 4-11; Garcia 5-6; Weston 5-4; Anderson 2-1; Total: 39-109
Pass
Metzger 10-19 91 1-2
Receiving
Weston 2-38; Tarango 2-29; Solis 1-12; Edwards 1-6; Garcia 1-3; Lopez 1-(-1); Total: 91
Total Yards: 200