Pirates deny 'Hounds end zone twice in final 5:00

INDEPENDENCE -- Jeff Schibi's 49-yard touchdown pass to Andre Simmons with 5:02 left in a Jayhawk Conference football contest here Saturday night gave Independence the lead and the Pirate defense held Fort Scott Community College out of the end zone on two drives inside the 25-yard line after that to hold on for a 20-16 victory at Emmot FIeld.

Schibi, a freshman from Parsons, came off the bench to throw for 195 yards and two touchdowns. This production was badly needed as the Pirates couldn't run the ball -- Fort Scott's defense held the Pirates to minus-24 yards on the ground on 32 carries as only one Indy rusher gained positive yards.

The loss put a bit of a damper on the young season after the Greyhounds' thrilling 18-17 victory over Navarro (Texas) at Frary Field in last week's season opener, made possible by a last-second blocked field goal by Mack Cole. Independence, meanwhile, apparently gained confidence from how they played at Cisco (Texas) last week, even though it was a 10-0 loss.

"Independence is a good football team," Fort Scott head coach Jeff Sims said of the Pirates, who have had three consecutive three-win seasons. "Coach Ward has done a good job. We watched them on film and knew that they were faster and better than they've been in the past, from what I had heard. When I watched them on film, they were a good football team. Cisco is the 12th-ranked team in the country and they had a good season last season.

"I was really nervous going into this game because our kids knew that Navarro was going to be tough but the reputation of independence made them a little lackadaisical when I knew we were going on our first road trip and we were feeling good about ourselves."

Nicholas Adams returned the kickoff after Indy's go-ahead score 32 yards to the Pirates' 48-yard line. Quarterback Greg Cross -- who had an up-and-down night as he went 11 of 32 for 232 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions -- found Adams for a 19-yard gain on the first play. On second-and-10, Cross found Aaron Sexton for seven on the right sideline.

Dominique Parker dropped Cross' third-down pass and Indy defensive back Michael Chapman knocked away a fourth-down pass intended for Anthony Riley with 4:15 to go.

Because Indy couldn't gain anything on the ground, the Pirates had to punt the ball back and the Greyhounds took over at their own 36 with 3:12 to go. A pass interference penalty on Indy's Marvin Trimble gave the 'Hounds a first down on the 50-yard line. Cross scrambled for 11 on the next play. On second-and-10 at the 39, Riley caught a pass that was tipped by an Independence linebacker for a gain of 28 to the Indy 11 with 2:12 left.

Indy linebacker Kyle Nelson knocked down a screen pass on first down. A second-down pass was incomplete. Cross tried to hit Riley in the end zone on third down but couldn't connect. Linebacker Michael McJunkins sacked Cross for a loss of nine on fourth down with 1:53 to go. Because Fort Scott had already used all of its time outs, the Pirates were able to run out the clock.

"Our kids put in the work this week," Sims said. "They had a good week of work. When it comes down to a game like this, the coaches have to put them into a position to win and we didn't get it done and the coaching staff will do a better job and try to get us into better shape next week."

Independence's first victory of the season put it at 1-0 in the conference and 1-1 overall. Fort Scott fell to 0-1, 1-1.

It looked as if it would be Fort Scott's kind of night when the Greyhounds scored just two plays into the contest. Cross' pass intended for tight end Danny Pestock went through his arms but bounced into Adams' and he ran the rest of the way for a 63-yard scoring play just 48 seconds into the contest. Jared Oshel's PAT kick was wide left, however, and the score remained 6-0.

But then the game settled into a defensive mode, especially as both teams had trouble establishing the run -- Fort Scott gained only 83 yards on the ground all night on 45 carries with 53 of those gained by Cross on scrambles. In part because of this inability to gain yards on the ground, the two teams combined for 23 punts on the night.

However, this wasn't all offensive ineptitude. Both teams' defenses were making plays. The Greyhounds recorded six sacks on the night for 45 yards in losses. Cole had 3 1/2 sacks himself for 20 1/2 yards.

"I felt like our defense played hard," Sims said. "They made some really big-time plays. But as the game goes on, the offense needs to execute. Twenty points, that's nothing. We have to score points in the second half. That's a whole-team thing. The defense has to keep them down there. Offense has to execute and put the ball in the end zone."

Independence's first score came from its defense as Fred Leak returned an interception 35 yards with 4:25 left in the first half. Josh Wheatley's PAT kick put the Pirates up 7-6.

A Demetrious Warmble interception set up Indy's next score, which came on Schibi's first snap of the contest after replacing starter Sam Lamur. His pass to Adrian "Boo" Holiday went for 32 yards into the right side of the end zone for the six points with 3:04 left in the half. The PAT kick failed, so Indy's lead was 13-6.

The Greyhounds were able to put together a scoring drive and get a 32-yard field goal from Oshel with 1:01 left. Indy's Robert Claiborn returned the ensuing kickoff 24 yards but fumbled at the 50 and Oshel recovered for the 'Hounds.

Cross found Sexton for 42 yards on the first play to get the ball to the Indy 10. On second down there, Cross hit Riley for the go-ahead score with 29 seconds in the half. Oshel's kick made it 16-13.

Coryell Judie made an interception of Schibi's Hail Mary pass to end the half.

Cross started the game connecting on three of his first five passes for 78 yards but was just six of 16 for 168 yards at the half. His struggles later in the first half and through the rest of the game -- he went through an 0-of-6 stretch in the first half and hit on only eight of 21 passes the rest of the game after his good start -- may have been attributed to the fact that his receivers' roles had to change after No. 1 wide-out Chad Peake suffered an injury in the second quarter and never returned.

"What I really felt hurt us tonight was we didn't hit the open receiver," Sims said. "Our timing was off. I take blame for that because the wide-outs we had open were our second and third wide-outs because Peake went down in the second quarter. I feel like I didn't do a good enough job getting those guys reps with Greg when we've been trying to get Chad reps with Greg and giving him opportunities to score."

In contrast, Schibi had a slow start despite his success on his first snap. He completed only one of his next eight passes before finishing up with an 8-of-10, 132-yard stretch.

Independence had a chance to tie the score early in the second half but Wheatley's 30-yard field-goal attempt was short at the 11 1/2-minute mark. The teams exchanged punts on the next eight possessions. The first two possessions of the fourth period ended with interceptions.

The Greyhounds return to Montgomery County Saturday but will head a little farther south as they face No. 8 Coffeyville, which improved to 1-0, 1-1 by beating Highland on the road, 26-6, Saturday.

"As a head coach, you'd like to say one week doesn't affect the next," Sims said. "But it always affects the mood of the football team. Last week, we beat Navarro and the kids came out and worked really hard this week. But as a coaching staff, we have to get better at finishing through the week. We did a good job as a team through Thursday. But we need to do a better job of getting them through Friday and Saturday. This was our first night game. It was a long day. This was the first time we traveled. And I need to do a better job of getting them ready. Because when you lose 20-16, you feel like that there's something we could have done as coaches to get four more points."

Saturday's game kicks off at 7 p.m. at Coffeyville's Veterans Memorial Stadium.

NOTES -- Fort Scott's Derek Helton punted 11 times for an average of exactly 34 yards with a long of 46. Indy's Paydon Shaw punted 12 times for a 37.8 average, including boots of 60 and 53 yards....

Fort Scott DE Kwame Jordan had 1 1/2 sacks for 11 1/2 yards. LB Tony Charles had the other sack for a 13-yard loss. Independence sacked Cross four times for 26 yards in losses....

Judie had both of Fort Scott's interceptions....

Adams led Fort Scott's receivers with 122 yards on four catches. Sexton had 55 yards on three receptions....

Only three Independence receivers caught passes: Simmons had eight for 130 yards and Holiday five for 95....

Fort Scott Community College's rushing defense has "allowed" a total of negative-37 yards rushing this season on 60 carries by the opposition. However, the Greyhounds are averaging only 2.2 yards per carry themselves it's taken them 92 carries to gain 204 yards....

Rodney Lovett has 111 yards but it's on 56 carries for an average of 1.98 yards a rush. At that rate, Lovett would need 505 carries to gain 1,000 yards....

Since Jovanni Franklin gained 118 yards on 20 carries in the Greyhounds' victory over Garden City last October, Fort Scott's starting tailback, whether it's been Franklin or Lovett, has gained only 203 yards on 101 carries and scored once, averaging 2.0 yards per carry. The Greyhounds as a team have rushed for only 392 yards on 174 rushes (2.3 yards/carry) and three scores since then, two of them by Cross....

There's a brand-new scoreboard at Emmot Field but somewhere along the way of installing it, the circuits blew on one the 25-second play clocks. You can't play a game with just one clock because the team that is facing it on the snap would have an unfair advantage, so the clocks were turned off....

Independence had only one first down at halftime and two after three quarters. They finished the game with seven....

'HOUND BOX

FORT SCOTT....... 6 10 0 0 -- 16

INDEPENDENCE. 0 13 0 7 -- 20

Scoring

First quarter

FS -- Adams 63 pass from Cross (kick failed), 14:12 [2, 65, 0:45]

Second quarter

In -- Leak 35 interception return (Wheatley kick), 4:25

In -- Holliday 32 pass from Schibi (kick failed), 3:04 [1, 32, 0:07]

FS -- FG Oshel 32, 1:01 [7, 52, 1:49]

FS -- Riley 10 pass from Cross (Oshel kick), 0:29 [3, 52, 0:23]

Fourth quarter

In -- Simmons 49 pass from Schibi (Wheatly kick), 5:02 [4, 81, 1:49]

Individual statistics

RUSHING : Fort Scott -- Cross 17-53, Lovett 24-31, Dukes 3-1, Jameson 1-minus 2. Independence -- Farrow 18-18, Maxwell 2-0, Holiday 1-minus 2, Richardson 2-minus 4, Schibi 3-minus 6, Lamur 6-minus 30.

PASSING; Fort Scott --Cross 11-32-3-232. Independence -- Lamur 4-8-0-33, Schibi 10-19-2-195.

RECEIVING: Fort Scott -- Adams 4-122, Sexton 3-55, Riley 2-38, Pestock 1-9, Lovett 1-8. Independence -- Simmons 8-130, Holiday 5-95, Richardson 1-3.

MISSED FIELD GOALS: Independence -- Wheatley 30 (short).