Tigers drub Cyclones in wild affair, 71-34

Fort Scott running back Zarek Fewell runs around the edge while looking to use a teammate’s block during the first half of play at Frary Field Friday night. Fewell rushed for 183 yards and four touchdowns in the game, breaking two school single-season records in the Tigers’ 71-34 victory over Ottawa.

Scott Nuzum/Tribune

Where to start?

Zarek Fewell broke school records. Jesse Jones had his best night at quarterback. There were 49 total points in the second quarter. There was over 900 yards of total offense.

And that doesn’t even begin to tell the story of Fort Scott High’s 71-34 victory over Ottawa at Frary Field Friday night in the final game of the regular season. The Tigers (3-0, 7-2) had already clinched the Class 4A-Division I District 3 title but the visiting Cyclones (0-3, 1-8) gave Fort Scott everything it could handle.

“We didn’t want to lose momentum,” Fort Scott head coach Bob Campbell said of a contest that could have been one of those “trap” games where a superior opponent lets its guard down against a less-than-average foe. “Ottawa has some fine individual athletes and they made some big plays. But overall, I thought the effort from our kids was really good. I thought we had a lot of balance on offense. We threw the ball because they packed the box with nine or 10 guys. We were able to share the wealth a little but. Our O-line stepped up and we had contributions from a lot of kids.”

Fewell rushed for 183 yards and four touchdowns and caught a pass for a 23-yard score. He overtook Travis Stepps for the single-season rushing record and now has 1,599 yards this season. Fewell also has 28 touchdowns, three more than Josh Lattimer had in the 2000 season and now tied for fourth-best in a season in Southeast Kansas League history. Since playoff totals count, it’s highly likely Fewell will become the third player to score at least 30 touchdowns in a single season.

“It was a good night for him,” Campbell said. “He gets a lot of credit and rightfully so, but I’d like to give some credit to those kids up front. They’ve done a great job blocking all year. Zarek’s a fine running back. But we’re really blessed to have a lot of talent at our skill positions.”

Jones completed all nine passes he attempted for 234 yards and three scores. His total is the third-highest for a Tiger quarterback since the beginning of the 1996 season.

The Tigers rushed for 313 yards as a team and finished with 547 yards of total offense, the highest since gaining 525 against Parsons on Sept. 23, 2011. The teams combined for 933 yards in total offense, the fourth-highest total since 1996 and the sixth time this has happened in a Fort Scott game. The Tigers have been the winning team every time.

The 71 points the Tigers scored were the most they’ve ever had in a District game — ironically, this will be the last one they ever play as the district system will be eliminated next season — and the eighth-most in any game in school history. And the 105 points is the highest combined total in a Fort Scott district game and the second-most combined points in any game in school history. The only other game with more total points was one in which the Tigers routed Girard 111-6 on Oct. 24, 1924.

And now, the game ... and all. Those. Scores.

The Tigers scored on each of their first seven possessions and 10 of the 12 they had in the game.The only things that kept Fort Scott from scoring were halftime and the end of the game.

The first score was Jones’ 32-yard scoring pass to Gunnar Brown with barely six minutes off the clock. After forcing Ottawa to punt, Fewell scored his first touchdown on a 6-yard run with 5:55 on the clock.

The Tigers then stopped Ottawa on fourth down at their own 29. On the very next play, Jones hit Matt Campbell for a 71-yard scoring play to make it 21-0 with 2:43 to go.

Ottawa failed to convert another fourth down early in the second and Fewell scored in three plays. The first was a 68-yard run during which he broke Stepps’ record of 1,484 yards that he set in Fort Scott’s championship season of 1996.

Ottawa got on the board for the first time when Devion Bethea went in from 17 yards out with 7:32 on the clock. That closed the deficit to 28-7.

Fewell scored again about a minute-and-a-half later on a 2-yard run. That was his 26th of the season, passing Lattimer, who had 25 in the Tigers’ 2000 championship season.

Ottawa mishandled the ensuing kickoff and Fort Scott recovered at the Cyclones’ 17-yard line. Jessie Lawrence scored the first of his three touchdowns on the night two plays later on a one-yard run set up by Fewell’s 15-yard gain and a half-the-distance face-mask penalty. Fort Scott’s lead was 35-7 with 5:32 left in the half.

Ottawa drove 70 yards on the ensuing possession, which was capped by a 14-yard touchdown pass from Kaleb Shaffer to K.J. Savage with 2:01 to go.

The Tigers responded quickly as Fewell scored No. 27 on a 6-yard run with 43 seconds to go. But the Cyclones responded even quicker with Shaffer finding Brandon Carlson with 19 seconds left, creating the halftime margin of 49-21.

Ottawa had the ball first in the second half but was forced to punt. The Tigers found the end zone again seven plays later when Jones found Fewell in the middle of the end zone on a 23-yard play with 6:24 to go in the half. The snap on the extra point appeared to be slightly off but holder Brown rolled to his right and hit tight end Korbyn Reyes for a 2-point conversion to make it 57-21.

The Cyclones’ next possession ended on another failed fourth-down conversion. Treyton Wilson got through for a sack on Shaffer, who fumbled before he hit the ground. Derek Bollinger picked up the ball and reached the Ottawa 23 before he was stopped. Lawrence scored on the very next play, a 23-yard run over the right side with 4:32 to go to make it 64-21.

Shaffer found Savage again for a score with 1:24 on the clock, bringing his team within 64-28.

The Tigers drove 70 yards in 10 plays on a possession that went into the fourth quarter, ending with Lawrence’s 4-yard touchdown run with 9:14 left in the third quarter to make it 71-28.

Ottawa put in its reserves after that and the Tigers did likewise. The Cyclones held the ball for eight minutes as they drove 63 yards in 15 plays for what ended up being the final score of a wild contest, a 1-yard run by freshman Dante Jung with 1:08 remaining.

“Their kids, to their credit kept playing hard,” Campbell said. “I was proud of the way our kids kept fighting and never really took their foot off the gas. It was a really good win for us.”

Following the kickoff, two running plays by the Tigers brought the game to a close.

Lawrence added 131 yards on the ground on 14 carries and his three scores give him 10 touchdowns for the season. Bethea led Ottawa with 104 yards on 23 carries.

Shaffer completed 14 of 22 passes for 229 yards and three scores for Ottawa, which had 386 yards of total offense. Savage caught 5 of those passes for 76 yards.

Campbell led Tiger receivers with 4 receptions for a personal-best 116 yards. Brown hauled in 8 passes for 89 yards.

The Tigers will play host to Chanute (5-4) in the first round of the Class 4A-Division I playoffs at 7 p.m. Friday night at Frary Field. This will be the first time the schools have faced each other in a playoff game.

The Blue Comets qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2013 as the runner-up from District 4 when they defeated Independence, 42-20, and Coffeyville lost to Labette County, 34-8. Chanute had to play with both its starting and backup quarterbacks unavailable due to injury. Matt Hernandez moved from receiver to quarterback. He ran for two scores, including a 52-yarder in the fourth quarter that provided the final margin.

Fort Scott defeated Chanute, 34-13, in a Southeast Kansas League road game on September 15. Fewell rushed for what is very likely a school-record 301 yards and three scores that night.

Paola (2-1, 7-2) won the runner-up spot from District 3 by beating Louisburg, 34-12. The Panthers will play at District 4 champion Labette County (7-2) Friday night in Altamont.

Of note in SEK playoff competition, Pittsburg (7-2) moved past Kansas City-Washington in Class 5A Friday night, 47-8, in a first-round home game.

OTTAWA............................... 0 21 7 6 — 34

FORT SCOTT...................... 21 28 15 7 — 71

Scoring plays

First quarter

FS — Brown 32 pass from Jones (Foul kick), 8:51 [7, 60, 3:05]

FS — Fewell 6 run (Foul kick), 5:55 [4, 56, 1:32]

FS — Campbell 71 pass from Jones (Foul kick), 2:43 [1, 71, :11]

Second quarter

FS — Fewell 3 run (Foul kick), 9:59 [3, 76, 1:10]

Ott — D.Bethea 17 run (Bones kick), 7:32 [5, 70, 1:53]

FS — Fewell 2 run (Foul kick), 5:57 [5, 52, 1:28]

FS — J. Lawrence 1 run (Foul kick), 5:32 [2, 17, :20]

Ott — Savage 14 pass from Schaffer (Bones kick), 2:01 [8, 70, 3:26]

FS — Fewell 6 run (Foul kick), :43 [6, 72, 1:13]

Ott — Carlson 31 pass from Shaffer (Bones kick), :19 [2, 42, :15]

Third quarter

FS — Fewell 23 pass from Jones (Reyes pass from Brown), 6:24 [7, 74, 2:38]

FS — J. Lawrence 23 run (Zubieta kick), 4:32 [1, 23, :07]

Ott — Savage 38 pass from Shaffer (White kick), 1:24 [7, 63, 3:01]

Fourth quarter

FS — J.Lawrence 4 run (Zubieta kick), 9:14 [10, 70, 4:04]

Ott — Jung 1 run (pass failed), 1:08 [15, 63, 8:00]

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Ottawa — D.Bethea 23-104, Jung 8-37, S.Bethea 2-6, Kessinger 2-6, Setters 1-4, Smith 1-1, Shaffer 3-minus 11. Fort Scott — Fewell 21-183, J.Lawrence 14-131, Bollinger 1-2, Jones 1-0, Wilson 1-minus 1, Fess 2-minus 2.

PASSING: Ottawa — Shaffer 14-22-0-229, D.Bethea 1-1-0-10. Fort Scott — Jones 9-9-0-234.

RECEIVING: Ottawa — Savage 5-76, S.Bethea 4-63, Smith 3-21, Carlson 2-71, Setters 1-8. Fort Scott — Campbell 4-116, Brown 3-89, Fewell 1-23, J.Lawrence 1-6.

MISSED FIELD GOALS: None.