Scott City football team wins penalty-filled game over St. Vincent

St. Vincent coach Nathan Rowland may have summed it up best after his team lost 33-6 to Scott City on a night where Rams players wore green jerseys in honor of late teammate Dominic Hooper in a game themed round his remembrance and organ donation.

"It was a Green Up Game, and the color of the night was yellow," said a frustrated Rowland, who saw his team negate 197 yards of offense with 16 penalties for 160 yards. "There was a host of penalties. That's something we have to address and we'll have to work on, not committing so many penalties."

Scott City's Braden Cox carries the ball for a touchdown against St. Vincent during the first quarter Friday, Aug. 28, 2015 in Scott City, Missouri. (Glenn Landberg)

Scott City also was culprit in the flag parade with eight penalties for 76 yards but managed to improve to 2-0 behind a big night by junior Braden Cox, who rushed for two touchdowns, returned a 79-yard punt for a score and passed for a fourth TD.

"It was kind of excessive to me," Cox said about the penalties. "It was both sides. We were being ignorant."

St. Vincent would have been hit with more penalties but at least three were declined by the Rams, including one on Cox's punt return. There were at least three offsetting penalties where neither team was charged with yardage.

"We played pretty hard defensively," Scott City coach Jim May said. "It was really hard to get into a flow -- there were so many penalties in the game on both sides. It was just unbelievable. We just kind of settled down and made a few big plays in there."

The flag parade included one against Scott City for aiding the runner.

St. Vincent's Joe Whistler looks to make a pass to Riley Reihn in the first quarter against Scott City Friday, Aug. 28, 2015 in Scott City, Missouri. (Glenn Landberg)

"I saw him throw his hat about four times," May said. "I ain't never seen that before. I saw some penalties that I've never seen called before in a high school game, but that is just the way it is."

Amid the penalties, there was a football game -- one in which St. Vincent led early.

The Indians scored on the game's first possession when quarterback Joe Whistler went deep down the right sideline to receiver Trevor Leible for a 54-yard scoring play with 9 minutes, 11 seconds left in the first quarter.

The Indians missed the PAT, but it represented their first points and first lead of the season after a 62-0 pasting by defending Class 1 state champion Valle Catholic in Week 1.

But even the moment was marred by a penalty when the Indians were flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct for celebrating.

"We came out a little flat," Cox said. "The kid ran a good route, and I tell you what, it didn't happen again the rest of the night."

St. Vincent punted on five of its next six possessions of the first half. The only possession that didn't end in a punt resulted it an interception returned for a touchdown by Scott City junior linebacker Jaden Kaiser.

Scott City immediately answered St. Vincent's touchdown with a 40-yard scoring drive that was set up by the celebration penalty and 32-yard return by Nick Bickings.

The Rams had to overcome an illegal blocking penalty on their scoring drive, with quarterback Ty Wilthong connecting with Drew Short on a 31-yard pass play on a fourth-and-18 play that moved the ball to the St. Vincent 4. Cox scored on the next play on a direct snap. The PAT was missed and the teams were tied 6-6 on the 6:21 mark.

Scott City stopped St. VIncent on it next possession, and Cox returned Whistler's punt for the TD. Caden Hillemann ran in the conversion for a 14-6 lead at the 1:54 mark of the first quarter.

Cox initially dropped the punt before scooping it up, shedding a would-be tackler just after gaining control and finding a wall of blockers down the left side.

St. Vincent's Riley Reihn is brought down by Scott City's Jaden Kaiser in the first quarter Friday, Aug. 28, 2015 in Scott City, Missouri. (Glenn Landberg)

"We actually just left our defense on the field and didn't actually put our punt return team out," May said. "We have a defense where Braden just drops back from the safety position. And he muffed it and it may have actually helped him because he picked it up and reversed his field and made it all the way down the sideline and picked up some big blocks. That was key for us."

Kaiser upped the lead to 21-6 early in the second quarter when he stepped in front of Nick Cissell in the right flat and returned the ball for a 37-yard TD.

It was the second pick-six in as many weeks for Kaiser, who had a 40-yard return against Herculaneum in the second quarter of a 34-6 win.

"It's a rush, man," said Kaiser, a second-year starter. "That first pick-six was against Herculaneum. I had none in my life. Rush, just a rush."

St. Vincent's night was best summed up in the opening minutes of the third quarter, when both coaches were fuming.

Leading 21-6, Scott City took the opening kickoff and fumbled on its first play from scrimmage. It was the Rams third turnover of the game.

"I'm frustrated with the amount of turnovers we had," May said. "We talked about it up there at halftime, and then the first play of the second half we fumbled that. We can't continue to do that and win."

St. Vincent took possession at the Scott City 40 and gained a first down at the 29 when it began to self-destruct with penalties. Two consecutive illegal procedure penalties were followed by a hold on a run, which pushed the Indians' back to midfield.

"Every time we got a drive going, we shot ourselves in the foot," Rowland said. "That was pretty much the story of the game, mental mistakes and shooting ourselves in the foot."

Ultimately, a third-and-31 pass was intercepted by Dylan Keller, giving the Rams control at their own 43. On the first play, Cox broke off a 53-yard touchdown run, busting through the left side and outracing the secondary.

Scott City's Dylan Huckstep and his teammates watch as their teammate scores a touchdown in the third quarter against St. Vincent Friday, Aug. 28, 2015 in Scott City, Missouri. (Glenn Landberg)

"I was supposed to hit the outside on a sweep, and it collapsed in and I cut up the middle and I took off," Cox said.

The kick failed, but Scott City held a 27-6 lead with 7:52 left in the third quarter.

Cox later shifted to quarterback and lofted a 15-yard TD pass to Wilthong in the fourth quarter to complete the scoring.

Cox finished with 86 yards rushing on seven carries. He had all but four of the rushing yards for the Rams, who had 146 yards passing and 236 yards of total offense.

Whistler led St. Vincent with 46 yards rushing on 18 carries, while completing 10 of 25 passes for 141 yards.

Scott City will look for its first 3-0 start since 2012 when it hosts East Prairie on Friday.

"I told them it's nice to be 2-0, but we have to be better than that in the coming weeks if we're going to keep winning," May said. "We've got some tough teams coming in here."

St. Vincent will host Kelly.

St. Vincent 6 0 0 0 -- 6

Scott City 14 7 6 6 -- 33

SV SC

First downs 12 12

Rushes-yards 33-56 24-90

Passing yards 141 146

Passes 10-25-2 13-19-1

Punts-average 7-29 1-39

Fumbles-lost 1-0 4-2

Penalties-yards 16-160 76

First quarter

SV -- Trevor Leible 54 pass from Joe Whistler (kick failed), 9:11

SC -- Braden Cox 4 run (kick failed), 6:21

SC -- Cox 79 punt return (Caden Hillemann run), 1:54

Second quarter

SC -- Jaden Kaiser 37 INT return (Hunter Copeland kick), 9:11

Third quarter

SC -- Cox 57 run (kick failed), 7:52

Fourth quarter

SC -- Ty Wilthong 15 pass from Cox (kick failed), 8:00

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- St. Vincent, Tyler Unterreiner 3-2, Whistler 18-46, Riley Riehn 12-8; Scott City, Cox 7-86, Hillemann 8-(-2), Wilthong 4-3, Nick Bickings 1-2, Cody Rhyne 1-11, Eli Berry 2-(-4).

PASSING -- St. Vincent, Whistler 10-25-2-141; Scott City, Wilthong 11-16-1-122; Sox 2-3-0-23.

RECEIVING -- St. Vincent, Nick Cissell 2-17, Leible 3-76, Riehn 3-27, Unterreiner 1-3, Blake Hellman 1-18.