Tigers deck Chanute; trip to De Soto next

Fort Scott’s Zarek Fewell looks for a chance to make his cut as defender Gage Leedy (67) tries to make the tackle during Friday night’s Class 4A-Division I Regional Playoff Game at Frary Field. Fewell rushed for 293 yards and five touchdowns in the Tigers’ 50-14 victory.

Andrew Towne/Chanute Tribune

Fort Scott High School’s football team drubbed Chanute, 50-14, in Friday night’s Class 4A-Division I Regional Playoff Game at Frary Field scoring the second-most points it ever has in a playoff game. The record is 55 points against Parsons in a 2004 game.

Fort Scott gained 498 yards in total offense and held the Blue Comets to 96 yards rushing. The Tigers have scored 121 points in their last two games, posting 71 against Ottawa last week.

“Fifty points is a lot, especially against a team that was putting eight (defenders) in the box,” Fort Scott head coach Bob Campbell explained. “We wanted to mix it up a little bit. We were able to throw the ball a little bit tonight. We had a couple of big plays called back and we had too many penalties tonight. We have to try to get better there.”

Fort Scott’s Gunnar Brown (11), after scoring on a 29-yard pass from Jesse Jones during the third quarter. Brown caught 3 passes for 44 yards. Jones threw for 165 yards.

Andrew Towne/Chanute Tribune

The Tigers (8-2) saw Zarek Fewell rush for 293 yards on 30 carries — the second-highest total in school history — and score five touchdowns to give him a season total of 33, which currently stands as the third-highest in Southeast Kansas League history. With his three 2-point conversions added, he has scored 204 points, also the third-highest total in league history.

The highest single-game rushing total in school history was also recorded by Fewell against Chanute. That happened on the road on September 15, when he gained 301 yards against the Blue Comets (5-5).

The Tigers’ blocking was so efficient in this game that there were several occasions when a linemen was leading Fewell downfield but had no one to block.

“The offensive line’s play was really good,” Campbell said. “Chanute did a lot of things like we thought. Instead of playing a 5-2 front, they played a 5-3 and cover one (man-to-man) in the secondary. We thought we might get something like that and we handled it well.”

Jesse Jones had another effective ball game at quarterback. After going 9-for-9 for 234 yards and three scores last week, the senior signal caller was 8-for-12 for 165 yards and two scores.

One place where the Comets did succeed somewhat was in the passing game. Junior Corbett Kimberlin started, senior Matt Hernandez worked out of a wildcat offense, and freshman Garrett Almond was called upon when Kimberlin was injured at the end of the first half. Hernandez didn’t throw a pass but the other two combined to go 13-for-23 for 218 yards and a touchdown. But Kimberlin and Almond were each intercepted once by Jessie Lawrence.

Fort Scott received the game-opening kickoff and scored in 10 plays. The Tigers came out in a Flexbone formation but also used split backs and the I-formation to get Fewell the ball in ways he could take advantage. He scored on a 9-yard run with 7:23 left in the first quarter.

Lawrence’s first interception set up the Tigers’ next score. They only needed to drive 17 yards after his 23-yard return with the last two coming on Fewell’s 30th touchdown of the season. He is only one of three SEK players to ever score at least 30 in a season.

Chanute got on the board early in the second quarter when Jack Richard capped a 13-play, 72-yard drive with a 4-yard plunge into the end zone with 8:42 left in the second quarter.

Fort Scott scored twice on its next possession, kinda. Fewell threw a pass to Ty Gorman that went for 66 yards and an apparent touchdown but the play was called back on a penalty. Eight plays after that, Fewell ran behind Colby Page for a while then coasted in from 17 yards out to make it 20-7 with 5:12 remaining in the half. Chanute was called for a penalty before the extra point, so Campbell sent the offense back out there and Fewell also ran in the 2-point conversion.

The Comets moved the ball to the Fort Scott 18 on their next possession. Kimberlin was injured on a play where he got hit hard while throwing a pass. Adding insult to it, Chanute was also penalized on the play. Hernandez tried to scramble from the wildcat on fourth down and got to the Tigers’ 9-yard line. But that was three yards short of the first down. Fort Scott ran out the clock from there to end the half.

Chanute received the second-half kickoff but ended up punting. The Tigers’ ensuing drive began with Fewell escorted by his linemen for gains of 39 and 20 yards to the Comets’ 25. After a penalty, Jones found a very-wide-open Gunnar Brown for a 29-yard score to make it 29-7 with 7:32 left in the third.

Chanute answered back as Almond found Lane Harvey on a 55-yard scoring pass just two minutes later. Fort Scott, in turn, shot back by getting Fewell into the end zone from one yard out to make it 36-14.

Fewell scored for the final time on a 35-yard run with 16 seconds into the final stanza, starting right, cutting back and then dragging a defender over the goal line.

The final score of the game was a screen pass from Jones to Lawrence that ended up going for 57 yards with 10:11 to go.

Kimberlin completed 7 of 11 passes for 97 yards before he was knocked out of the game. Almond went 6-of-12 for 121 yards.

Matt Campbell caught three of Jones’ passes for 55 yards while Brown caught 3 for 44.

The Tigers will be going on the road for Friday’s Class 4A-Division I Sectional Playoff Game at De Soto, which will be the first-ever meeting between the schools. The Wildcats (9-1) bounced previously unbeaten Tonganoxie on the road, 42-7, their first playoff victory in seven years. Trevor Watts scored three receiving touchdowns in the win.

CHANUTE............................. 0 7 7 0 — 14

FORT SCOTT...................... 14 8 14 14 — 50

Scoring plays

First quarter

FS — Fewell 9 run (Foul kick), 7:23 [10, 70, 4:30]

FS — Fewell 2 run (Foul kick), 4:52 [5, 17, 1:36]

Second quarter

C — Richard 4 run (Adams kick), 8:42 [13, 72, 5:04]

FS — Fewell 17 run (Fewell run), 5:12 [9, 66, 2:46]

Third quarter

FS — Brown 29 pass form Jones (Foul kick), 7:32 [4, 84, 2:01]

C — Harvey 55 pass from Almond (Adams kick), 5:25 [5, 71, 2:00]

FS — Fewell 1 run (Foul kick), 2:39 [6, 65, 2:42]

Fourth quarter

FS — Fewell 35 run (Foul kick), 11:44 [3, 48, 1:26]

FS _ J.Lawrence 57 pass from Jones (Foul kick), 10:11 [1, 52, :25]

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Chanute — Richard 14-58, Hernandez 14-83, Kimberlin 3-10, Harvey 2-minus 5. Fort Scott — Fewell 30-293, Colvin 4-31, Michaud 1-9, Fess 4-6, Jones 3-2, J.Lawrence 1-minus 3, Brown 1-minus 5.

PASSING: Chanute — Kimberlin 7-11-1-97, Almond 6-12-1-121. Fort Scott — Jones 8-12-0-165.

RECEIVING: Chanute — Harvey 5-97, Richard 3-19, McMillen 2-47, Hernandez 2-28, Peavy 1-27. Fort Scott — Campbell 3-55, Brown 3-44, J.Lawrence 1-57, Fewell 1-9.

MISSED FIELD GOALS: None.

CLASS 4A-DIVISION I PLAYOFFS

Friday, Nov. 3

De Soto 42, Tonganoxie 7

Fort Scott 50, Chanute 14

Bishop Miege 58, Basehor-Linwood 6

Labette County 34, Paola 7

Andover Central 30, Mulvane 21

Andale 64, Wamego 13

Maize South 49, Wellington 7

McPherson 15, Buhler 14, OT

SECTIONALS

Fort Scott (8-2) at De Soto (9-1)

Labette County (9-1) at Bishop Miege (10-0)

Andale (10-0) at Andover Central (5-5)

McPherson (9-1) at Maize South (9-1)