Greyhounds win third straight home game

By the numbers, Fort Scott Community College’s football team did not dominate Ellsworth in a non-conference game at Frary Field Saturday night. But they did what they had to do better than the visiting Panthers and that led to their third consecutive home victory, a 16-14 decision.

In the previous three seasons combined, Fort Scott had won only four home games.

Ellsworth (3-5) had more rushing yards, more passing yards and more first downs as the Panthers ran nearly 40 more plays than the Greyhounds (3-4). But Fort Scott gained more yards per play, nearly a yard-and-a-half and were able to capitalize on opportunities when the Panthers couldn’t.

Fort Scott got three field goals from Brody Southwell, including the only score of the game’s second half on 39- and 31-yard boots in the third quarter. Ellsworth quarterback Paris Chambers threw for 255 yards and a touchdown on 23-of-42 passing but was also picked off three times. And Panther kicker Jack Lemke missed two fourth-quarter field goal attempts, either of which would have put Ellsworth ahead.

Southwell hit a 33-yard field goal on the game’s opening possession. Ellsworth answered by driving 90 yards for Ethan Barrett’s 3-yard touchdown run with 5:36 left in the first.

Backup quarterback Garrett Sharp found Braxton Curry from 10 yards out with 11:58 left in the second to put Fort Scott ahead, 10-7. Chambers hit Drew Greenhaw on a 3-yard pass to put the Panthers ahead at the half.

Southwell brought the ’Hounds within 3 points at 10:32 of the third and hit what turned out to be the game-winning score with 5:34 left in the period.

Fort Scott finished with 317 yards in total offense, 223 of it in the air from two quarterbacks. Dalton Sneed completed 11 of 18 passes for 166 yards and was intercepted twice as he played the first and third quarters. Sharp was 3 of 10 for 57 yards in the second and fourth quarters. Kyle Harrison caught 4 passes for 69 yards and Edward Aldred caught 3 for 94.

Ellsworth had 23 first downs to Fort Scott’s 16 and outrushed the Greyhounds 170 yards to 94, though the Panthers had twice as many rushing attempts.

Chambers was also Ellsworth’s leading rusher with 92 yards on 19 carries. Ben Rooney caught 11 passes for 145 yards.

Ellsworth gained 4.6 yards per play on 92 plays while Fort Scott averaged 6 yards even on 53 plays.

The Greyhounds play their next two games on the road, both against Jayhawk Conference foes. They take on Highland Saturday and Hutchinson on October 4.

ELLSWORTH.......... 7 7 0 0 — 14

FORT SCOTT........ 3 7 6 0 — 16

Scoring plays

First quarter

FS — FG Southwell 33, 13:30 [6, 39, 1:23]

E — Barnett 3 run (Lemke kick), 5:36 [15, 90, 7:46]

Second quarter

FS — Curry 10 pass from Sharp (Southwell kick), 11:58 [6, 92, 2:32]

E — Greenhaw 3 pass from Chambers (Lemke kick), 2:15 [17, 82, 9:35]

Third quarter

FS — FG Southwell 39, 10:32 [7, 33, 2:37]

FS — FG Southwell 31, 5:34 [8, 36, 3:10]

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Ellsworth — Chambers 19-92, Barnett 20-75, Combs 9-33, team 2-minus 30. Fort Scott — Sharp 8-57, Randle 9-43, Sneed 5-5, team 1-minus 2, Crum 2-minus 9.

PASSING: Ellsworth — Chambers 23-42-3-255. Fort Scott — Sneed 11-18-2-166, Sharp 3-10-0-57.

RECEIVING: Ellsworth — Rooney 11-145, Greenhaw 7-74, Thomas 2-19, Combs 2-9, Thornton 1-8. Fort Scott — Harrison 4-69, Curry 4-113, Aldred 3-94, Carter 2-23, Jenkins 1-24.

MISSED FIELD GOALS: Ellsworth — Lemke 35 (WL), 32 (WL). Fort Scott — Southwell 43 (WL).