’Hounds denied win on controversial call

Fort Scott quarterback Gunner See gets the pass away just before he’s tackled by a Coffeyville defender during play at Frary Field Saturday night. He completed this pass and 22 others for 345 yards and four touchdowns in a 50-47 loss.

Scott Nuzum/Tribune

A controversial call that went against Fort Scott Community College with under a minute to go at Frary Field Saturday night allowed Coffeyville to escape with a 50-47 victory in Jayhawk Conference play after what appeared to be a game-winning touchdown reception by Steven Smothers was disallowed.

To the naked eye, it appeared that Smothers caught Gunnar See’s fourth-down pass along the right side of the south end zone, getting one foot down and securing the ball before he hit the ground out of bounds. However, the officials ruled that Smothers was out of bounds and Coffeyville was able to run out the clock.

Fort Scott is 0-1 in the conference and 0-2 overall — their losses by a combined total of 4 points — going into a bye week. And then coming out of the bye, they’ll have road games at Hutchinson and Independence before playing a home against Garden City on Sept. 29 before taking their second bye of the season Oct. 6.

Screen captures from both of Fort Scott’s cameras and posted to the school’s athletic and football Twitter accounts appeared to show Smothers with his right foot down in the end zone despite the effort of a leaping Coffeyville defender. It’s hard to tell exactly where the ball is due to shadows but if Smothers had a secure grip on the ball and was not bobbling it as he fell, then it should have been a touchdown. The football account said that an appeal to the Jayhawk Conference to reverse the decision was denied.

The 47 points Fort Scott scored was the most that the program has ever scored and still lost the game, if one does not include a 1998 game that saw Highland win 63-62 that the Scotties later forfeited. The teams combined for 1,073 yards of total offense. There were a combined 27 points scored in three of the four quarters.

However, Fort Scott never led. Coffeyville (1-0, 1-1) scored on its first offensive play just 13 seconds into the game when Andre Thomas-Cobb hauled in a 75-yard scoring pass from quarterback Carson Proctor. The Red Ravens made it 14-0 just over four minutes later on a 42-yard run by Monta Thomas, one of two Coffeyville running backs to go rush for over 140 yards in the contest.

West Virginia transfer Smothers hauled in his first touchdown pass as a Greyhound when he caught a deep pass from See for a 57-yard score with just under eight minutes left.

Deshawn Massey, who gained 197 yards on 19 carries, extended Coffeyville’s lead to 20-7 when he scored on a 1-yard run with 6:20 on the clock. The extra point was unsuccessful.

It became 27-7 when fullback Kaleb Pipes caught a screen pass and ran in fron 18 yards out just 45 seconds into the second quarter.

Jaylan Jenkins hauled in the first of three touchdown passes, this from 29 yards out with 6:50 on the clock. Dustin Rieser’s extra point made it 27-14.

Thomas scored the second of his three rushing TDs on a 4-yard run with 3:09 left in the half to push the margin to 33-14 as the PAT was again unsuccessful.

Michigan transfer Kareem Walker scored his first Greyhound touchdown on an 8-yard run with 1:42 left to bring Fort Scott within 33-21 at the half.

Fort Scott had the first possession of the second half and drove 80 yards in 12 plays for See’s fourth rushing touchdown of the season, a 2-yard run, to cut the deficit to 33-28 with 10:50 on the clock.

Ethan Rodriguez kicked a 24-yard field goal for Coffeyville with 7:44 to go. Fort Scott answered with Jenkins’ second score, a 10-yard pass from See with 6:13 left to bring the ’Hounds within 36-34 with 6:13 left in the third.

Thomas scored again, this time on a pass from Proctor, six seconds into the final stanza to boost the Raven lead to 43-34.

Proctor fumbled on a sack and Tyson Curry picked up the ball and ran it back about 70 yards for the Greyhounds to bring them within 43-41 with 10:19 remaining.

Thomas, who himself gained 148 yards on 18 totes, scored his last touchdown with 9:17 to go on a 15-yard run. Jenkins capped the game’s scoring by hauling in a 9-yard scoring pass from Jenkins with 7:27 left. However, Coffeyville blocked the extra point to keep it at a 3-point margin.

The Greyhounds forced a punt with 2:37 to go and took over at their own 20 after a touchback. Faced with a fourth-and-14 from the 16, See hit a wide-open Smothers for a first down to the Coffeyville 30. The next play was a run that lost 6 yards but See scrambled for 10 on second down then threw an incomplete pass on third down to set up the final play, a fourth-and-6 from the Coffeyville 26.

See completed 23 of 38 passes for 345 yards with an interception, the most by a Greyhound since Scott Lipovac threw for the same amount in a loss to Dodge City in 2004 and the first 300-yars passing game by a Greyhound since 2013. Jenkins and Kolby Easley each had 5 receptions, Jenkins for 62 yards and Easley for 47. Smothers had 127 yards on 4 catches.

Walker gained 75 yards on 14 carries to lead the Greyhound rushing attack. Fort Scott ran 72 plays for 472 yards in total offense.

Coffeyville had 601 yards of total offense, exactly 400 on the ground on 55 carries. The Ravens averaged 7.3 yards per carry to just 3.7 for Fort Scott. Proctor completed 12 of 16 passes for 201 yards. Thomas-Cobb caught 4 passes for 110 yards.

In two games, Fort Scott has 903 yards of total offense to 984 for its opponents. When averaged out per play, the difference is just one-tenth of a yard. But there’s a great disparity in the rushing game where the Greyhounds have only 309 yards in two games while the opposition has gained 681.

Fort Scott’s conference game at Hutchinson on Sept. 16 begins at noon sharp at Gowans Stadium.

COFFEYVILLE..................... 20 13 3 14 — 50

FORT SCOTT...................... 7 14 13 13 — 47

Scoring plays

First quarter

C — Thomas-Cobb 75 pass from Proctor (Rodriguez kick), 14:47 [1. 75, :13]

C — Thomas 42 run (Rodriguez kick), 10:25 [5, 85, 2:37]

FS — Smothers 57 pass from See (Rieser kick), 7:59 [6, 86, 2:12]

C — Massey 1 run (kick failed), 6:20 [5, 75, 1:39]

Second quarter

C — Pipes 18 pass from Proctor (Rodriguez kick), 14:15 [9, 62, 4:06]

FS — Jenkins 29 pass from See (Rieser kick), 6:50 [7, 80, 3:17]

C — Thomas 4 run (kick failed), 3:05 [8, 75, 3:43]

FS — Walker 8 run (Rieser kick), 1:42 [4, 28, :53]

Third quarter

FS — See 2 run (Rieser kick), 10:50 [12, 80, 4:03]

C — FG Rodriguez 24, 7:44 [7, 68, 3:06]

FS — Jenkins 10 pass from See (kick blocked), 6:13 [4, 63, 1:22]

Fourth quarter

C — Thomas 10 pass from Proctor (Rodriguez kick), 14:54 [4, 30, 2:08]

FS — Curry 68 fumble return (Riser kick), 10:19

C — Thomas 15 run (Rodriguez kick), 9:17 [3, 24, :51]

FS — Jenkins 9 pass from See (kick blocked), 7:27 [5, 61, 1:45]

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Coffeyville — Massey 19-197, Thomas 18-146, Hopkins 6-29, Lee 5-25, Skwario 2-5, Proctor 3-1, team 2-minus 3. Fort Scott — Walker 13-78, See 7-23, Fils-Aime 4-20, Bonds 10-14.

PASSING: Coffeyville — Proctor 12-16-0-201. Fort Scott — See 23-38-1-345.

RECEIVING: Coffeyville — Thomas Cobb 4-110, Thomas 2-19, Jones 1-44, Afful 1-6, Lassiter 1-4, Hopkins 1-1, Massey 1-minus 1. Fort Scott — Jenkins 5-62, Easley 5-47, Smothers 4-127, Bonds 3-1, Fils-Aime 2-19, Walker 1-minus 2.

MISSED FIELD GOALS: None.