Tigers, Bobcats to meet on gridiron for first time

Fans of Fort Scott and Basehor-Linwood shouldn’t be unfamiliar with each other. Tiger wrestlers compete in Basehor-Linwood’s home tournament every season and Fort Scott’s basketball teams were long-time participants in the mid-season basketball tournament up there.

Friday night, however, the schools will meet for the first time in school history on the gridiron as the seventh-seeded Tigers (7-2) head up to Basehor to take on the second-seeded Bobcats (8-1).

Fort Scott’s two losses have come on the road, at No. 3 seed Paola on September 7 and at No. 4-seeded Pittsburg on Sept. 21. Basehor-Linwood’s only loss of the season was at Class 5A Lansing, 14-13, on September 7. That loss went toward creating a three-way tie with Basehor-Linwood, Lansing and DeSoto for the first-ever United Kansas Conference football championship.

In the first round of the playoffs last week, the Tigers defeated No. 10 Atchison, 40-12, at Frary Field while Basehor-Linwood rolled by 15th-seeded Eudora, 44-16.

Coincidentally, Atchison and Eudora are the only two common opponents Fort Scott and Basehor have. The Bobcats beat Atchison, 34-7, on the road on October 12. The Tigers fell behind 14-0 to Eudora before beating them 21-14 in overtime at Frary Field in the final game of the regular season October 19.

Basehor-Linwood is one of the top five scoring teams in Class 4A, averaging 40.6 points per game against a schedule that included several Class 5A teams in UKC play. They’re allowing 11.9 points per game. Fort Scott has scored 24.9 points per game but allows 17.1, the lowest rate among Southeast Kansas League teams.

Both teams rushing statistics are similar. Both teams have two or three backs they rely on. Basehor has gained 1,505 yards as a team (167.2 per game) with senior Marlon McDaniel leading with 676 yards and 12 touchdowns (6.3 per carry, 75.1 per game). Senior Nolan Ford has 440 yards and 6 scores on 90 totes (4.9 carry/48.9 game). Senior Quarterback Dylan Mussert is a dual threat, rushing for 236 yards and 5 touchdowns (4.7 carry/26.2 game).

Fort Scott has gained 1,602 yards (178.0/game). Although leading rusher Alec Michaud is out for the rest of the season, Dalton Colvin and Cooper Bradbury have more than picked up the slack. Colvin has gained 476 yards this season and scored 3 touchdowns while Cooper Bradbury has gained 221 yards and scored 4 times. Both went over the 100-yard mark in last week’s win over Atchison, it was the first time two Tiger rushers gained 100 yards in the same game since Jacob Durossette (147) and Race Kastl (108) did so in a 57-13 win over Parsons on Sept. 6, 2013.

There’s a big difference in each team’s passing games. Mussett has thrown for 1,784 yards this season, averaging 192 yards per game. He has completed 62 percent of his passes and thrown 16 touchdowns to just 4 interceptions. Tiger senior Matt Campbell has 1,093 yards this season (121.4/game). He has completed 48 percent of his passes, thrown 9 touchdowns and 9 interceptions.

Basehor’s leading receiver is senior Dylan Donnelly, who has caught 41 passes for 743 yards and 6 touchdowns. Senior Jacob Coleman has caught 29 passes for 382 yards and 7 scores. Senior Nolan Ford has hauled in 27 passes for 397 yards and one TD.

Although he played the first part of the season with a cast on one hand, Ty Gorman is the Tigers’ leading receiver with 26 catches for 435 yards and 4 touchdowns. C.J. Horton follows with 20 catches for 250 yards and 3 TDs.

Defensively, the Bobcats are led by senior Jace Friesen, who has a total of 62 tackles, 45 of those unassisted. He also has 6 1/2 sacks. Senior Kyle Alcanter has intercepted 4 passes.

In last week’s game, Basehor-Linwood jumped out to a 21-0 lead before Eudora (1-8) rallied to get within 5 points at halftime. As Fort Scott did against the Cardinals the week before, the Bobcats made second-half adjustments and won the second half 23-0 .

The Tigers had a 21-0 halftime lead over Atchison last Friday and extended it to 27-0 before the Redmen (4-5) finally got on the board in the third quarter. The Tigers had 401 yards of total offense, making them 47-1 when gaining that much since the beginning of the 1996 season.

The winner of this game will face thew winner of of the Paola-Tonganoxie game in the Sectional round. If the Tigers win, they will be going on the road again as Paola is the No. 3 seed and Tonganoxie is No. 6.

Paola (8-1) beat Baldwin last week 45-6. Tonganoxie (7-2) took care of Chanute, 48-36, in the first-ever meeting between those schools. Chanute finished the season at 4-5.