Tigers hold off Liberators, 28-27

Fort Scott running back Alec Michaud, seen here in action earlier this season, rushed for 149 yards and three touchdowns for the Tigers in their 28-27 win over Bolivar, Mo., Friday night.

Scott Nuzum/Tribune

It might not have seemed like it at the time, but when Fort Scott High blocked an extra point in the second quarter of Friday night’s game versus Bolivar, Mo., it was actually one of the game’s biggest plays in its 28-27 victory.

The Tigers (5-2) led 28-13 going into the fourth quarter. When Bolivar running back Eathen Dinwiddie scored on a one-yard run with 6:20 left in the game, conventional wisdom might have called for the Liberators to kick the extra point. Being down eight points would have made it a one-possession game.

Instead, doing something Fort Scott head coach Bob Campbell calls “chasing points,” Bolivar went for the 2-point conversion. The Tigers sacked quarterback Hayden Burks on the play. And that kept the margin at nine points, meaning the Liberators (3-5) still had to score twice.

“We talk about how you never know how one play is going to swing the game,” Campbell said. “In this case, the blocked PAT was huge. We made all of ours. They had to go for two on one of their’s and missed it. It’s sometimes a slim margin between victory and defeat. And I thought our kids, overall, did a lot of good things.”

Bolivar got one of the two scores it needed when Dinwiddie scored on another one-yard run with 1:26 to go. Dinwiddie also ran in the 2-point conversion to bring Bolivar within one point.

The Liberators tried the onside kick but it went out of bounds. The Tigers ran the ball three times but Bolivar was able to use its time outs and force a punt with less than 40 seconds to go. Brody Bowles booted it out of bounds to deny the Liberators a chance at a big return, something they had done on both punts and kickoffs during the game.

Although Bolivar got a first down, the the Tigers were able to make the stop. Dalton Colvin broke up a second-down pass along the left sideline. Jarrett Shoemaker batted down a third-down pass. And then Burks overthrew his receiver on fourth down. The Tigers then took over and ran out the clock with the victory formation.

The Tigers got on the scoreboard less just over a minute into the game when Alec Michaud went to his right, then cut back left and scampered into the end zone on a 50-yard dash. Jacob Zubieta’s extra point made it 7-0.

Bolivar responded on its next possession, one on which it gathered well more of its total offense in the first half. The Liberators drove 67 yards on 13 plays for Dinwiddie’s first touchdown on a one-yard run with 4:38 on the clock. Dylan Hall made the extra point to tie the score.

Early in the second quarter, Bolivar’s Seth Smith returned a punt 44 yards to the Fort Scott 11. Three plays later, Burks hit Brock Pitts on a 6-yard scoring pass. But Hunter Zubieta broke through to block the kick, which kept the score at 13-7 with 8:45 on the clock.

Fort Scott responded on the ensuing possession as Michaud scored for the second time with 5:41 to go on an 8-yard run. Zubieta’s extra point gave the Tigers a 14-13 lead.

Korbyn Reyes was credited with an interception on the first play of Bolivar’s next drive. Four plays later, Michaud dragged a Bolivar defender into the end zone and the extra point made it 21-13 with 4:22 to go.

Hall returned the second-half kickoff 76 yards to the Fort Scott 9. But despite his effort, Bolivar got nothing with Brody Bowles breaking up a fourth-down pass in the end zone.

Fort Scott took over at its own 4 and scored in 10 plays. Unfortunately, on the eighth play, Michaud suffered a shoulder injury when he was tackled after a 17-yard gain to the Bolivar 7 and his night was over. Colvin stepped in and took the ball on the last two carries, scoring on a 4-yard run to make it 28-13 with 5:12 left in the third quarter.

Colvin stepped up offensively while Treyton Wilson and Korbyn Reyes stepped in to play middle linebacker in place of Michaud on defense and Bowles took over as the Tigers’ punter.

“Obviously, we had a little bit of adversity to overcome,” Campbell said. “We had a few guys dinged up. The injury to Alec, we hate to see that. Somebody else had to step up and make a play and they did.”

The Tiger defense rose up to break up another fourth-down pass in the end zone. This time, it was Jacob Zubieta who batted away Burks’ pass on a fourth-and-25 play from the 26 late in the third.

Michaud finished the night with 149 yards on 17 carries. He had 129 of those in the first half. Colvin added 89 yards on 18 carries as the Tigers rushed for 232 of their 254 total yards.

“One of the things we were trying to do was eat the clock a little bit,” Campbell said. “We could have probably taken a few more shots throwing but we felt like it was to our advantage to keep their offense off the field by running the football. We did that effectively.”

Bolivar gained 303 yards of total offense, 212 from the arm of Burks, who completed 19 of 33 attempts. Pitts caught 10 passes for 116 yards. Dinwiddie had 98 yards rushing on 32 rushes.

The Tigers conclude regular-season play next Friday night against Eudora at Frary Field. The Cardinals are just 1-6 this season, their only victory coming over winless Ottawa. They lost to unbeaten Louisburg, 25-0, Friday night.

BOLIVAR............................... 7 6 0 14 — 27

FORT SCOTT........................ 7 14 7 0 — 28

Scoring plays

First quarter

FS — Michaud 50 run (J.Zubieta kick), 10:45 [3, 59, 1:11]

B — Dinwiddie 1 run (Hall kick), 4:38 [13, 67, 6:02]

Second quarter

B — Pitts 6 pass from Burks (kick blocked), 8:45 [3, 11, :46]

FS — Michaud 8 run (J. Zubieta kick), 5:41 [6, 53, 2:56]

FS — Michaud 14 run (J. Zubieta kick), 4:22 [4, 26, 1:12]

Third quarter