'Hound defense controls bowl

COPPERAS COVE, Texas -- All season long, Fort Scott Community College's football team's results were determined by how well its defense played. And once again, the Greyhounds were boosted by their defense in a 31-14 victory over Blinn (Texas) -- which earned this bid after beating then-No. 1 Navarro in the Southwest Junior College Football Conference Championship Game -- in the Heart of Texas Bowl here Saturday afternoon.

The 14th-ranked Greyhounds (9-2) allowed 92 yards on Blinn's first drive of the day, which resulted in a Reggie Brown touchdown that put the Buccaneers (9-3) ahead 7-0.

The rest of the day, the 'Hounds allowed 78 total yards, 31 of which came on the Bucs' last possession as they tried to get a touchdown to salvage some pride before time expired.

It was a defensive slugfest all around as the two teams combined to average 2 1/2 yards per play on 123 plays. Fort Scott won despite having just 132 total yards, including only 63 on the ground.

The defense gave Fort Scott's offense excellent field position most of the day as the longest Greyhound scoring drive was 35 yards. Meanwhile, the 'Hound defense turned away Blinn on five drives that started in Fort Scott territory.

The result was Fort Scott's first bowl win since winning the 1970 NJCAA National Championship when the Greyhounds won in the Shrine Bowl. Since then, the Greyhounds were 0-9 in bowl games, including a 1999 Mineral Water Bowl loss to Blinn and a loss in the 2006 Heart of Texas Bowl to a Kilgore team that entered its conference playoffs with a 3-6 record.

Blinn's second possession began right at midfield after a Fort Scott turnover. But it took just to plays for the 'Hounds to get the ball back when Arvel Nelson intercepted a pass by Terrance Cain.

The Greyhounds got on the board in the second quarter when Luke Halsey hit a 22-yard field goal. On the ensuing Blinn possession, defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul intercepted a screen pass and ran it back 35 yards for a touchdown to make it 10-7.

Fort Scott never trailed again. The defense forced Cain to throw incomplete passes on third and fourth downs to end a possession that started at the Greyhounds' 27-yard line.

Later in the period, after Fort Scott recovered a blocked punt at the Blinn 8-yard line and on the first offensive play, quarterback Zac Dickey lobbed a pass to 6' 4" receiver Brandon Kinnie in the back of the end zone. Kinnie won the jump ball over his shorter defenders to make it 17-7 with 1:33 left in the half.

The 'Hound defense set up another score before halftime after recovering a bad snap at the Blinn 16. Five plays later, Dickey hit C.J. Fondren for a five-yard scoring strike to make it 24-7 with 33 seconds left.

Blinn managed to drive into field goal position just before the break, but a 39-yard attempt failed.

There was no scoring in the third period -- in fact, not much ball movement at all. Derrick Stewart picked off Cain to end a drive late in the period.

Blinn's Johnathan Mathis recovered a Fort Scott fumble early in the final stanza, setting up Mike Hayes' 13-yard touchdown run with 10:33 left in the game. But the 'Hounds answered late in the contest when Dickey threw to Fondren at the tail end of a flea-flicker for a score from 25 yards out with 1:24 left for the final score of the contest.

Dickey completed 12 of 21 passes, three of those for touchdowns, but had only 69 yards in the air. Kinnie caught six of those for 30 yards and Fondren caught four for 40.

Jasmin Hopkins struggled on the ground as Blinn focused on him. He finished with 61 yards on 25 carries.

Cain completed 18 of 37 passes for 136 yards but had those three interceptions. The Buccaneers gained only 34 yards on the ground on 29 rushes. The Fort Scott defense had five sacks for 37 yards in losses.

NOTES -- This was just the second bowl win for FSCC in 11 tries....

Fort Scott had 48 total yards at halftime even after scoring 17 points on offense. But their three scoring drives started at the Blinn 32-, 8- and 16- yard lines, so they didn't have a long way to go when they had the ball….

Fort Scott's first three possessions began at the Blinn 46, the Blinn 40 and its own 47 but resulted in two punts and a lost fumble….

Kinnie returned the opening kickoff 46 yards and the kickoff after Blinn's first score 54 yards….

Blinn had minus-15 yards rushing on seven carries in the second quarter….

This was Fort Scott's second win in Texas this season. The 'Hounds defeated Kilgore in the season opener, 40-20. Prior to this season, FSCC had never won a game in Texas….

Fort Scott's 18 wins over the last two seasons are its most since going 18-3 in 1973-74....

Degrees of separation: Butler defeated Fort Scott on Nov. 1. Blinn beat Butler on Aug. 28. Then Fort Scott beat Blinn Saturday….

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FORT SCOTT........ 0 24 0 7 -- 31

BLINN................... 7 0 0 7 -- 14

Scoring

First Quarter

B -- R.Brown 17 run (Hicks kick), 6:05 [18, 92, 4:00]

Second Quarter

FS -- FG Halsey 22, 11:42 [7, 27, 3:53]

FS -- Pierre-Paul 35 interception return (Halsey kick), 9:54

FS -- Kinnie 8 pass from Dickey (Halsey kick), 1:33 [1, 8, :14]

FS -- Fondren 5 pass from Dickey (Halsey kick), :33 [5, 16, :47]

Fourth Quarter

B -- Hayes 13 run (Hicks kick), 10:33 [3, 16, 1:42]

FS -- Fondren 25 pass from Dickey (Halsey kick), 1:24 [6, 35, 3:16]

Individual Statistics

RUSHING: Fort Scott -- Hopkins 25-61, Helton 1-12, Terron 2-3, Dickey 7-minus 4, Kinnie 1-minus 9. Blinn -- R.Brown 12-55, Hayes 7-27, Cain 9-minus 24, team 1-minus 24.

PASSING: Fort Scott -- Dickey 12-21-0-69. Blinn -- Cain 18-37-3-136.

RECEIVING: Fort Scott -- Kinnie 6-30, Fondren 4-40, Hopkins 2-minus 1. Blinn -- Jordan 8-51, Ransom 4-44, R.Brown 2-22, Rideau 2-15, P.Brown 1-4, Hayes 1-0.

MISSED FIELD GOALS: Blinn -- Hicks 39 (Short).