Not perfect, but still undefeated

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- It wasn't anything close to perfect. It was just a win.

Fort Scott High took a 34-12 win over Kansas City-Wyandotte at the Maurice Green Track Complex at Washington High School here Thursday night. But although Dakotah Gettler had the best passing night by a Tiger quarterback in 10 years, it was not a great game by any means.

Fort Scott struggled with its running game all night, committed costly penalties that wiped out three potential touchdowns and seemed to lack the usual intensity.

"Our kids understand that we didn't play to our potential tonight," Fort Scott head coach Don Epps said. "No excuses. We took a step back from last week. That's a fact. We expect more out of our team."

Fort Scott fumbled the ball away on its first possession and Wyandotte got down to the 21-yard line before the drive stalled and the Bulldogs missed a 37-yard field goal attempt.

The Tigers, 2-0, took over and got on the scoreboard but had to score three times to do it. Chris Banks broke a 67-yard run into the end zone but it was called back on a holding penalty. Then he scored again, breaking three tackles on a 50-yard run. But that was called back, too.

Gettler scrambled for six yard and a late hit on Wyandotte at the end of the play moved the ball down to the Bulldogs' 33-yard line. Banks gained six later in the drive and a personal-foul face-mask penalty at the end of the play put the ball at the 14.

On the next play, Gettler rolled to his right and found Tony Karleskint for the touchdown. This score was allowed to stay on the board and Luke Halsey's PAT kick at the 4:04 mark made it 7-0.

There were five penalties called on that drive alone and 17 in the game. Fort Scott was called for nine of them for 75 yards. Wyandotte was penalized for 61 yards.

"We had too many holding calls and self-destructing, drive-enders which made it hard to get anything going offensively," Epps noted.

Although the Tigers had just scored, they were having trouble with Wyandotte's 5-3 and 4-4 defensive schemes. Fort Scott never gave up completely on the run but only gained three yards a carry on the night.

"Wyandotte played extremely well," Epps said. "They had three defensive tackles and a nose tackle who played lights out and we had a hard time handling it up front."

With Wyandotte so devoted to stopping the run, the Tigers ran more passing plays. They even put Banks in the slot as a receiver to make his speed a factor.

On their second touchdown drive, the Tigers rolled Gettler out and found room along the hashmarks. Although a big pass to Karleskint was wiped out on the second play, Banks found room for 26 yards on third-and-23 and got down to the Wyandotte 42.

Jake Lattimer found 15 yards up the middle on the next play. Then Gettler hit Karleskint for 24 yards to get the ball to the four.

The Tigers capped the drive with a four-yard TD pass from Gettler to Banks at the 9:15 mark of the second quarter. The kick was no good, so it was 13-0.

Wyandotte struck quickly with quarterback Quincy Woods finding Quentin Posey on a 77-yard touchdown pass on the second play of the ensuing drive. The PAT was no good, leaving it a 13-6 game with 8:51 remaining.

Although Wyandotte used a four-receiver set frequently, the Bulldogs did not pass effectively. That score was Woods' only completion in his first nine attempts and he finished only three of 11 for 97 yards.

"Defensively, we didn't play a bad game," Epps said. "They spread us out a lot and did a good job of taking what we gave them. They were pretty patient. We felt like we couldn't give them a short field."

Later in the half, the Tigers made a pair of defensive plays that might have prevented the Bulldogs from tying the score. Dakota Hall batted down a pass intended for Lavelle Maddox despite the fact that another Wyandotte player appeared to be holding him. On the next play, Woods fumbled and Scott Allen fell on the ball at the Wyandotte 40.

Banks scored his second touchdown of the evening on Fort Scott's first possession of the second half, taking a pitch over the right side from two yards out on a fourth-down play with 6:27 left in the third. The extra point made it 19-6.

Banks also started and capped the next scoring drive. On the first play, he came back to the ball and stole an interception from Robert Newbill turning it into a 30-yard gain to the Wyandotte 26. A roughing the passer call on the play moved the ball half the distance to the 13. Three plays later, Banks scored on a pitch to the left, making it 26-6 with 2:43 in the third.

Woods hit Posey in the end zone on a fourth-and-four play from the Fort Scott 18 with 3:17 left in the contest after Wyandotte took possession at the Tigers' 35. The PAT was no good.

Jared Cosens brought the ensuing kickoff back 29 yards to the Tiger 49. Grant Hartman gained 29 yards on the first play, which was his only carry of the night. A penalty moved the ball back to the 27 but there, Gettler hit a wide-open Cosens for the score with 2:46 remaining.

Gettler completed 14 of 22 passes for 227 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. The Tribune has no better passing night on record, which goes back to the 1996 season. The only other 200-yard passing nights on record were both accomplished by Doug Karleskint in 1997. He had 222 yards against Nevada that season and 203 versus Labette County.

Karleskint had seven receptions, the most by a Tiger since Augaio Guffin caught seven in a game against Girard in 2003. Banks had four catches for 62 yards. Cosens finished with three catches for 57 yards.

Lattimer was the leading rusher with 70 yards on 13 carries. Arrison Davis led Wyandotte's rushers with 60 yards on 15 totes.

Fort Scott finished with 370 yards of total offense and 19 first downs. Wyandotte had 245 total yards, 148 rushing, and eight first downs.

The Tigers will host Pittsburg a week from tonight at 7 at Frary Field. The Purple Dragons will be playing on the Field Turf surface at Hutchison Field for the first time tonight when they host Parsons.

Epps knows that the Tigers can't play at the level they played at Thursday night and expect to win next week.

"Overall, we have to get better," he said. "We had too many penalties in the first half again. They took points off the board and stopped drives. We have to come out next week and buckle down. We're going to watch film today since we have an extra day. We'll get better next week. We have two choices: We're going to get better or we're going to get worse. And we're going to get better."

NOTES -- At halftime, Wyandotte retired the No. 62 jersey that would have been worn this season by Antoine Thomason and presented it to his family. Thomason, who would have been a senior lineman, died at the beginning of the summer after complications from a lung infection resulted in heart trouble....

The Wyandotte roster had only 37 players on it and that included freshmen. Fort Scott's roster had 59 and that doesn't include freshmen....

The Maurice Green Track Complex is unusual in that it has a bright blue track, rather than the black or dark red ones normally seen. There are stands on only one side and the visitor's section is in the middle rather than at one end....

Fort Scott's junior varsity game against Girard that was scheduled for Monday night at Frary Field has been cancelled. Girard doesn't have enough sophomores and juniors out to field a team. The freshmen game between the two schools will still be played with kickoff at 5 p.m.

Also, the game the freshmen lost when Parsons cancelled last Tuesday will be made up Oct. 12 by playing an extra game with Pittsburg at Frary Field. Game time is 6 p.m. This means the frosh will have to play three times in eight days....