Beavers cruise to shutout victory over Hugoton

Hugoton, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–If anyone had any doubts that Scott City would have a letdown game against Hugoton, those doubts were put away early on Friday night. Coming off a big win over previously unbeaten Holcomb and a big rivalry game with Ulysses on the horizon, the Beavers scored on their first five possessions to clinch their 28th consecutive winning season, with a 42-0 win over the Eagles in Hugoton.

On their opening possession, Scott City (5-0, 4-0 GWAC) started off with a 12-play drive that resulted in a Cooper Griffith 15-yard touchdown with 9:25 left in the opening period, and Tre Stewart had the PAT to make it 7-0 Beavers. On the next drive, Trey O’Neil found Sloan Baker behind the Eagle defense from 21 yards away with 6:02 left in the opening period, and it was 14-0 after the second Stewart PAT. Scott City wasn’t done in the first quarter, as O’Neil connected with Brett Meyer on a 39-yard slant pattern for the Beavers’ third score of the first period with under two minutes left to take a 20-0 lead, and Stewart booted in the extra point.

In the second period, Scott City continued their run. Less than a minute into the quarter, O’Neil scrambled and ran it in from 13 yards out, and Stewart’s extra point pushed the lead to 28-0. On their fifth drive of the half, Griffith found the end zone for the second time in the game, as he found paydirt from six yards away with 3:32 left before halftime to make tit 35-0, after the Stewart extra point.

Only one more score was put onto the board in the game. Wyatt Kropp finished the scoring off with a two-yard plunge with 1:21 left in the third quarter, and Stewart’s PAT made the score 42-0.

Scott City has won five straight in the series, all since they have been GWAC members with Hugoton (1-4, 0-4 GWAC). The Beavers have also shut out the Eagles for the third straight year. Trey O’Neil was eight-of-10 for 125 yards, with two touchdown passes. Cooper Griffith notched his second 100-yard performance in three games, rushing for 122 yards on only 12 carries with a couple of scores. Brett Meyer was the leading receiver with two catches for 52 yards and a touchdown. Overall, the Beavers had 427 yards of total offense, 287 of those coming on the ground. 

Hugoton, who was shutout for the first time this year, only had 75 yards of total offense in the game. Parker Titus was six-of-17 for 26 yards with two interceptions. His leading receiver was Tyler Good, who had 19 receiving yards. Valentino Degallado had 54 yards rushing on eight carries. 

Scott City has clinched a share of the Great West Activities Title with their win. They will host Ulysses, who ran all over Goodland 73-33 Friday night. Ulysses carries a 4-1 record overall and are 3-1 in league play. If Scott City wins, they will win their fourth GWAC title outright in five seasons, while Ulysses would mean the possibility of a three-way tie for the league title. Holcomb is also 3-1 in league play with one more league game remaining, when they host Hugoton October 31.

Glenn O’Neil Postgame