Louisburg takes district opener

LOUISBURG -- Louisburg scored on all four of its first-half possessions here Friday night and put the dagger into the heart of Fort Scott High with a quick response to the Tigers' first score, taking the Class 4A-Division I District 3 opener by a score of 35-6.

Ottawa won the other district game, beating Paola easily at home by a 38-7 score as Devion Bethea scored four touchdowns for the Cyclones. Ottawa (5-2 overall) and Louisburg (6-1) meet at Louisburg in a key game next Friday while Paola (3-4) will travel to Fort Scott (3-4) for a game between a pair of teams looking to strengthen their position.

Since the top two teams advance from district play, nobody is eliminated yet. If Fort Scott beats Paola and Ottawa loses to Louisburg, then the meeting between the Cyclones and Tigers at Ottawa in Week Nine will be for the second playoff berth.

Louisburg scored on the game's opening possession, a nine-play, 69-yard drive powered by the running of running back Thomas Sanagustin, who gained 23 yards on the first offensive play. Quarterback Grant Harding scored the touchdown on a 3-yard keeper with 7:33 on the clock. The extra point kick was unsuccessful.

Harding found Korbin Hankinson for a 36-yard gain on the second play of Louisburg's next possession to get the ball to the Fort Scott 39-yard line. Five plays later, Sanagustin scored the first of his three touchdowns on a 3-yard run. Harding ran in the 2-point conversion.

At that point, Louisburg had 145 yards of total offense while the Tigers had just four. But then running back Zarek Fewell gained 43 yards on his first two carries of the game, moving the ball into Louisburg territory at the 27 going into the second quarter.

But again, Fort Scott's troubles scoring in the red zone came out to but the Tigers as the Wildcats stopped Fewell on fourth-and-2 at the 9. They took over at their own 8, moved up 5 yards on a penalty and then got a 29-yard run from Jake Hill.

A holding call moved the ball back to their own 33, but Louisburg scored on the play right after on a 67-yard pass from Harding to Hankinson with 6:45 on the clock. The PAT failed, keeping the score 21-0.

Sanagustin scored from 19 yards out with 54 seconds left in the half just a few plays after Louisburg recovered a Fort Scott fumble at the Wildcat's 44-yard line. Sanagustin gained the last 41 yards on a 19-yard reception, a 3-yard run and his scoring rush. Harding completed a pass for 2 points to make it 28-0.

Louisburg already had 291 yards at halftime with Sanagustin gaining 111 on the ground. The Tigers had only 87 yards.

The Tigers got the ball first in the second half. They were able to convert a fourth-and-16 from the Louisburg 36 to keep the drive going on a Jesse Jones pass to Brady Tourtillott for 19 yards. Three plays later, Jones found Tourtillott from 13 yards out to get the Tigers on the board with 4:59 to go, capping a 13-play, 80-yard drive that took 7:01 off the clock. The extra point was no good.

Sanagustin returned the ensuing kickoff 40 yards and Louisburg took over at the Fort Scott 35. He then scored on the next play to make it 35-6 just 21 seconds after the Tigers had finally got on the board.

Mason Ferguson had an interception for the Tigers on the next drive and a face-mask penalty against Louisburg was tacked onto the end. But Fort Scott was unable to capitalize and turned the ball over on downs at the Wildcats' 34 early in the fourth quarter.

Louisburg was able to burn over six minutes off the clock with an 11-play drive, content to give the Tigers the ball back on downs at the Fort Scott 22.

Sanagustin finished with 164 yards rushing on 22 carries for Louisburg, which had 425 yards of total offense. Harding completed 4 of 6 passes for 130 yards.

Fort Scott finished with 174 yards of total offense. Fewell led the rushing game with 75 yards on 10 carries.

Next Friday's game will kick off at 7 p.m. at Frary Field.

NOTES -- Independence took the lead in the Southeast Kansas League race with a 28-12 win over Labette County. The game was moved from LCHS to Indy due to field conditions. The Bulldogs (3-0, 6-1) have not yet clinched the title since Coffeyville and Chanute are also in their district....

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FORT SCOTT.................. 0 0 6 0 -- 6

LOUISBURG..................... 14 14 7 0 -- 35

Scoring plays

First quarter

L -- Harding 3 run (kick failed), 7:33

L -- Sanagustin 3 run (harding run), :29

Second quarter

L -- Hankinson 67 pass from Harding (kick failed), 6:45

L -- Sanagustin 19 run (Carr pass from Harding), :54

Third quarter

FS -- Tourtillott 13 pass from Jones (kick failed), 4:59

L -- Sanagustin 35 run (Hull kick), 4:38

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Fort Scott -- Fewell 10-75, Lawrence 11-30, Stoughton 7-20, Montojo 2-14, Bollinger 1-4, Jones 5-minus 5. Louisburg -- Sanagustin 24-164, J.Hill 3-36, Ridley 7-35, Moore 4-32, Harding 4-25, Caplinger 1-3.

PASSING: Fort Scott -- Jones 3-8-0-36, T.Gorman 0-3-0-0. Louisburg -- Harding 4-6-1-130.

RECEIVING: Fort Scott -- Tourtillott 2-32, Adams 1-4. Louisburg -- Hankinson 2-103, Sanagustin 1-19, Gage 1-18

MISSED FIELD GOALS: None.