Menu
Titans stun Fort Scott, 40-6, on Homecoming night
Editor's Note: A computer "glitch" of some sort prevented this and other Weeked Herald-Tribune sports stories from appearing on the Web site as soon as they should have. The Herald-Tribune regrets any inconvenience this may have caused
FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- Mitchell Stoughton followed nearly-perfect blocking from his offensive line and put Fort Scott High on the board on a 74-yard touchdown run just 17 seconds into the Tigers' Homecoming game Friday night at Frary Field.
Little would anyone in the crowd have suspected at that moment that this was not in any way indicative of how the game would be played out.
Those 74 yards turned out to be nearly half of Fort Scott's total offense on the night as visiting Columbus gained 405 yards of offense in rolling to a 40-6 win in Southeast Kansas League play.
The Titans (4-1 in the SEK and overall) ran every offensive play from the shotgun, usually a sign that a team wants to beat you with speed and deception. But Columbus' offensive line proved to be as big and physical as any in the league and, eventually, the Tigers (1-3, 2-3) wore down.
"We were ready to play," Fort Scott head coach Don Epps said. "I felt very good about the game plan. As the game went on, they wore on us. Alignment and assignment, we got fatigued and started making mental mistakes."
Fort Scott's defense rose to the occasion on the Titan's first drive as Griffin Knopp intercepted his third pass of the season to stop Columbus. But on the next play, a Titan defender punched the ball out of quarterback Aaron Judy's hand at the end of a 25-yard gain and Montana Grant recovered for Columbus near midfield.
Moments later, receiver Justin Pillar took a direct snap and ran into the end zone from two yards out to tie the score. Taylor Spears' extra point kick put Columbus in front. For good, as it turned out.
Titan quarterback Damion Tinnin scored the first of his two touchdowns with 5:28 remaining in the half, following his tailback, Lewis Kellogg, into the end zone on a keeper from the nine-yard line.
Brandon Boyd returned the ensuing kickoff 68 yards to the Columbus 36. But another lost fumble -- The Tigers committed four turnovers on the night -- just two plays after that ended the threat.
"You can't win games turning the ball over like that," Epps said. "I'll take the blame for most of those. The lack of execution, that's coaching. But we're going to come back and we're going to get better next week. We're trying to get better for districts. That's what our goal is. District is what counts and that's what we're looking toward right now."
Tinnin directed the Titan offense to another score just before halftime, running for 12 yards and hitting Matt Crain for 36 yards on consecutive plays to get the ball to Fort Scott's five-yard line. He scored from there on a keeper up the middle with 27 seconds remaining to make it a 20-6 lead.
Fort Scott had one first down and 112 total yards at halftime. Columbus had 11 first downs and 218 total yards.
"To be honest, we had some breakdowns, alignment and assignment-wise that led to some big plays," Epps said. "And a team like Columbus (can) put pressure on you every single down."
Tinnin threw two touchdowns passes in the third quarter. He hit Wade Robinson from seven yards out to cap the second half's opening possession, an 11-play, 78-yard drive that burned over four minutes off the clock. Later, despite a holding penalty and a sack that forced a second-and-16 situation from his own 35, Tinnin found Crain deep for another score with 4:57 to go, making it 33-6.
Kellogg found the end zone from 12 yards out 49 seconds into the final stanza to cap the scoring for the night.
Tinnin completed 13 of 17 passes for 216 yards, becoming the first quarterback to pass for 200 yards against the Tigers since Coffeyville's Skylar Wright threw for 219 yards in a game Fort Scott won 19-12 on Sept. 23, 2005. Crain caught six of those passes for 132 yards and Kellogg finished with 105 yards rushing on 18 carries.
Stoughton led Fort Scott in rushing with 80 yards on eight carries before he was injured late in the game. Fort Scott finished with 158 total yards, only 10 of those through the air. It was the Tigers' lowest offensive output since Louisburg held them to 104 yards in the 2006 Bi-District Playoff Game.
Fort Scott will attempt to regroup in time for next Friday's Southeast Kansas League contest at Parsons. The Vikings (0-3, 0-5) have lost their last two games by a combined score of 109-0 after suffering a 62-0 loss to Andover Friday night and a 47-0 whitewashing at the hands of Nevada a week ago.
"We can't pout for feel sorry for ourselves," Epps says. "All we can do right now is come back and have the perseverance to get better."