Fort Scott throttles Independence, 48-9

INDEPENDENCE, Kan. -- Fort Scott High School had one of its best rushing games in recent years Friday night as the Tigers throttled Independence, 48-9, in Southeast Kansas League play at Emmott Field.

The Tigers improved to 4-0 in the SEK and 5-0 overall while Independence fell to 0-4, 0-5, although the Bulldogs managed to avoid being shut out for a third consecutive game.

Fort Scott rushed for 393 yards as a team on 64 carries as Marques Floyd ran for 146 yards and two touchdowns. The senior halfback had been hampered by an ankle injury before showing signs of shaking it off in last week's victory over Coffeyville.

Floyd has rushed for 185 yards and three touchdowns in his last six quarters of play -- five quarters, actually, since backups played the entire fourth quarter Friday night -- an average of over seven yards a carry. In 10 quarters prior, Floyd had managed just 2.3 yards per carry, rushing for 65 yards on 28 rushes.

Fort Scott scored three times off Independence turnovers, the first time on Johnathan Stark's seven-yard quarterback keeper with 5:26 left in the first quarter. The Tigers started that drive at the Indy 22 after recovering a fumbled snap on the Bulldogs' first offensive play of the evening.

Fort Scott took over at its own 15 later in the period after stopping Indy's Wyatt Anderson on a fourth-down run. Twelve plays and 85 yards later, Jacob Durossette scored on a 13-yard run to make it 14-0 with 9:42 left in the second.

Independence's next drive stalled at the Tiger seven-yard line, but the 'Dogs broke their scoring drought on Logan Taylor's 23-yard field goal with 7:10 to go.

Floyd scored his first TD on a five-yard run with 1:20 left in the half. Then a Jash Pytlowany interception set up another Durossette scoring run, this from four yards out, to make it 28-3 with 14 seconds left in the half.

Independence score on its first possession of the second half when Chase Berry connected with Anderson on a 23-yard scoring pass with 7:50 left in the third. Taylor failed on his PAT kick to leave the score at 28-9.

Floyd scored again at the end of a 10-play, 89-yard drive with 3:23 left in the third to make it 35-9.

A.J. Cezar scored on a one-yard run with 9:41 left in the game. Jonathan Allen's PAT kick was blocked. Isaac Thurston scored with around 30 seconds left on a 3-yard run set up by another fumble recovery.

Fort Scott's rushing total was its third-highest so far this decade. The Tigers ran for 506 yards against Iola and 483 yards against Parsons in games played last year. They also had 494 yards in total offense, the team's seventh-highest total since the beginning of the 1996 season.

Fort Scott is 27-0 since 1996 when rushing for 300 yards or more and 32-0 in that same span when gaining 400 or more yards of total offense.

Stark rushed for 76 yards on 11 carries and also completed 8 of 14 passes for 101 yards after starting 1 of 6. Pytlowany caught 4 of those passes for 49 yards.

Fort Scott had 24 first downs while holding Independence to 8. The Bulldogs had 208 total yards split evenly between rushing and passing. Courtlan Hayes, considered Indy's best player by some, ran for 111 yards on 17 carries but only touched the ball twice in the second half -- one run for no yards and a pass for 26.

Berry completed 8 of 15 passes for 104 yards and an interception.

Fort Scott faces Labette County in the Tigers' Homecoming game next Friday night at Frary Field. LCHS fell to 2-3 with a 20-13 loss to Labette County.

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Fort Scott...... 7 21 7 13 -- 48

Independence...... 0 3 6 0 -- 9

Scoring plays

First quarter

FS -- Stark 7 run (J.Allen kick), 5:26 [4, 22]

Second quarter

FS -- Durossette 13 run (J.Allen kick), 9:42 [12, 85]

In -- FG Taylor 23, 7:10 [7. 57]

FS -- Floyd 5 run (J.Allen kick), 1:20 [8, 68]

FS -- Durossette 4 run (J.Allen kick), :14 [5, 30]

Third quarter

In -- Anderson 23 pass from Berry (kick failed), 7:50 [9, 67][

FS -- Floyd 4 run (J.Allen kick), 3:23 [10. 89]

Fourth quarter

FS -- Cezar 1 run (kick blocked), 9:41 [10, 70]

FS -- Thurston 3 run (J.Allen kick), :30 [12, 55]

Individual statistics

RUSHING: Fort Scott -- Floyd 21-146, Stark 11-76, V.Hughes 8-45, Quinney 7-41, Durossette 4-38, Kastl 3-16, Thurston 5-14, Cezar 2-9, Knopp 1-4, Doherty 2-4. Independence -- Hayes 17-111, Anderson 2-8, Berry 4-minus 15.

PASSING: Fort Scott -- Stark 8-14-0-101. Independence -- Berry 8-15-1-104.

RECEIVING: Fort Scott -- Pytlowany 4-69, Hunziker 2-14, Durossette 1-15, C.Allen 1-3. Independence -- Melton 3-35, Hayes 3-26, Anderson 1-23, Jones 1-20.

MISSED FIELD GOALS: None.