CARUTHERSVILLE -- The New Madrid County Central Eagles rallied from a 14-0 deficit to take down conference foe Caruthersville 27-20.
NMCC got on the scoreboard late in the first half when Mikeal Walker scored from five yards to cut the lead to 14-7 at the half.
The Eagles dominated the second half, outscoring Caruthersville 20-6. The Eagles tied the game in the third quarter when quarterback J.C. Dryden connected with Asten Newsom from 29 yards out to tie the game.
Walker scored from 11 yards out to start the fourth quarter and give the Eagles the lead for good 21-14. Malik Stevenson then added some insurance with a nine yard touchdown run with just over two minutes remaining in the game.
Caruthersville added a late score, but NMCC held on for the seven-point win.
Stevenson led the Eagles with 171 yards rushing while Willie Jimerson added 98 yards and Walker had 32.
NMCC (3-3) will host Dexter on Friday night while Caruthersville will travel to Kelly.
__East Prairie 44, Chaffee 6__
CHAFFEE (SMNS) -- The Chaffee football team knotted its game against East Prairie at 6-all with 4 minutes, 43 seconds remaining in the third quarter on a 15-yard pass from Jordan Wilburn to Devon Nanny.
The Eagles returned the Red Devils' ensuing squib kick to about the Chaffee 13-yard line and later scored to regain the lead before the final quarter.
"Then it was kind of like the flood gates (opened)," Chaffee coach Charlie Vickery said. "... We had mistakes right and left. The flood gates opened in the fourth quarter."
East Prairie scored 30 unanswered points in the fourth to keep Chaffee winless on the season with a 44-6 loss at home.
The Eagles (4-2) scored on 46 and 7-yard runs in the first two minutes of the final quarter, and had a 55-yard interception return for a touchdown with 9:59 left to play.
A 1-yard run with a minute remaining finished off the scoring.
"We're playing better, I think, every week," Vickery said. "The score was not indicative of the game by any stretch of the imagination. We've got a lot of inexperienced kids. Our kids are playing extremely hard, but we're still making mistakes. ... I definitely think we took a step forward this week and not a step backwards even though the score was 44-6."
Chaffee, which was playing in its first full game without star lineman Trevor Morehead, compiled 204 yards of total offense. Morehead tore his ACL in the Red Devils' loss at Scott City a week earlier.
Nanney led the team with 86 yards rushing on 14 attempts while Jake Perkins ran for 44 yards on 14 carries.
Nanney finished with a team-high seven tackles.
"We're playing more physical than what we had earlier in the season," Vickery said. "We still missed a lot of tackles, but again, I feel like we're getting better each time out. ... We still struggled getting points on the board, but I think we moved the ball better tonight than we have."
"I can't fault our effort," Vickery added. "Not one bit.
The Red Devils (0-5) face state-ranked Malden on Friday.