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Last-second TD pushes Scott City over East Prairie 32-28
EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. -- It's been one of the most exciting, unpredictable games in recent memory when East Prairie and Scott City meet under the Friday night lights.
Their newest edition to their Week 3 rivalry may have topped them all.
East Prairie's roaring, fourth-quarter comeback, as unlikely as it seemed facing a 20-point deficit with six minutes to go, was outdone by a last second touchdown catch by Scott City freshman Joe Panagos from quarterback Ty Wilthong to give the Rams a dramatic 32-28 win Friday at East Prairie High School.
The last four regular season games between the two schools have been decided by a combined five points or overtime.
"That's a gutsy performance," Wilthong said. "That's what all the hills, pushing the sleds in the mud, 100 degree practices, that's where it all comes down. We didn't give up and we had faith in one another and it paid off. I couldn't be more happy with our guys."
Scott City moved to 3-0 on the season after Wilthong's three-step drop led to a pass just inside the left pylon where Panagos got in front of East Prairie defender Casey Gregory for the catch with just 2.1 seconds left remaining.
"I knew [Gregory] was going to cut inside so I just gave him a little jab step and cut outside," Panagos said. "I knew he couldn't find me and I just found the ball and made sure I caught it."
It was the freshman's third touchdown catch of the night. He put the Rams on the board first with a 10-yard score. His second showed his elusiveness when he side-stepped an approaching Derez Tipler, bounced off another hit and rolled through a few East Prairie arms to give the Rams a 13-0 lead to open the third quarter.
Each time the 6-0, 143-pound wide receiver caught a pass he found pay dirt.
"We run four or five freshman out there and we have a lot of faith in Joe. We have a lot of faith in all of them," Scott City coach Jim May said. "You've got growing pains with them, but he did a great job tonight. What a great way to start his career."
Scott City's game-winning drive seemed unlikely when they got the ball with 1:02 left in the fourth quarter. They were reeling after giving up three-straight touchdowns to the Eagles in just over five minutes of play.
East Prairie (2-1) scored 22-unanswered points from the 6:12 mark to the 1:05 mark in the fourth quarter to take a 28-26 lead. They recovered an onside kick and forced the Rams into a turnover on downs to spur their wild turnaround.
"Talk about a roller coaster," East Prairie coach Chad Jamerson said. "We played poorly in the beginning and we can't hide from that. Our kids came out in the second half, pulled up their boot straps and we really buckled down and played and gave ourselves a chance to win."
A 32-yard run that featured four broken tackles by Braden Cox, who led all ball carriers with 118 yards on 27 carries, put the Rams ahead 26-6 with 10:46 left to play in the fourth quarter.
It seemed that was going to be the nail in the coffin, but nothing is certain between East Prairie and Scott City.
East Prairie marched down the field in 11 plays and was capped by a 5-yard quarterback scramble by Tipler with 6:12 left on the clock to start their ardent rally.
Opting for the onside kick, Gregory pounced on the loose ball to give East Prairie possession on Scott City's 48-yard line. Gregory came up big again for the Eagles when he chased down a 38-pass from Tipler. A steady dose of runs from Deverence Jones led to a 1-yard plunge into the end zone to cut Scott City's lead to 26-22 with 4:19 left to go.
"We're both just really competitive," Tipler said about describing their rivalry with Scott City. "I loved the game. It was a really close game and I'm satisfied with my team. We gave it our all."
East Prairie's ensuing kickoff was sent down the field setting up the Rams at their own 24. The Rams gained three yards in three plays but still decided to go for it on fourth down on their own 27-yard line. Wilthong's pass was incomplete and the Eagles were sitting pretty again at the 26 with 2:25 remaining.
The Eagles ran five plays ending with a darting, dancing Jones finding the end zone again at the 1:05 mark to give to bring the home crowd to its feet for a 28-26 lead.
"We seen the scoreboard wasn't going our way," Tipler said. "We had to give it our all."
But with just over a minute left, in this game, that was too much time.
Cox set up Scott City's final drive with a kickoff return that ended at the 50, shrugging off tacklers as he went.
A roughing the passer penalty by the Eagles set the Rams up with a new set of downs at the 39 and four plays later with a few spikes to stop the clock along the way, put Scott City at the 15-yard line looking at 3rd and 10.
Wilthong, who finished 9 for 21 with 118 passing yards, dropped back and his first look was to Panagos.
"We had just under a minute left and we had the ball on the 50. I knew our team was capable of doing something special," Wilthong said. "I watched [Panagos] in middle school and I knew he was a beast. All season he put in work and conditioned for this. I had his trust and he had mine. Coach called some good routes for him and he got open."
East Prairie committed four turnovers, three in the first quarter, which led to a 7-0 disadvantage at halftime and a 26-6 lead for Scott City with 10:46 left in the fourth quarter.
Tipler tried pitching to an open Jones on their first play from scrimmage when the ball fell to the ground and recovered by Scott City. East Prairie's second play was knocked away from Jones for a second-straight fumble. Tipler later threw an interception during its fourth drive of the game.
Though Scott City capitalized on just one of the takeaways, East Prairie's mojo shrunk.
"Terrible start for us," Jamerson said. "We didn't start the way we're capable of starting. We showed in the second half that we can play when we play our game. Too many mistakes in the first half and that's tough to overcome."
Scott City improved to 3-1 against East Prairie during the last four years. The Rams fell in overtime last season, which made Friday's win that much sweeter.
"Last year was rough but I can live with it now," Wilthong said. "This was an awesome game. We'll never play them again and I can say we ended it on a game-winning touchdown."
Tipler, who threw for 55 yards and rushed 14 times for 18 yards, added an 84-yard kick return for a touchdown in the third quarter. Jones finished with 95 rushing yards on 20 carries and two scores.
| Scott City | 0 | 7 | 13 | 12 | -- | 32 |
| East Prairie | 0 | 0 | 6 | 22 | -- | 28 |
Second Quarter
SC -- Joe Panagos 10 pass from Ty Wilthong (Jimmy May kick), 6:25
Third Quarter
SC -- Panagos 15 pass from Wilthong (kick failed), 6:24
EP -- Derez Tipler 84 kick return (pass failed), 6:08
SC -- Sam Elders 26 pass from Wilthong (May kick), 1:48
Fourth Quarter
SC -- Braden Cox 32 run (kick blocked), 10:46
EP -- Tipler 3 run (Tipler pass to Luke Marcum), 6:12
EP -- Deverence Jones 1 run (Tipler run), 4:19
EP -- Jones 3 run (pass failed), 1:05
SC -- Panagos 15 pass from Wilthong (pass failed), 0:02
TEAM STATISTICS
| SC | EP | |
| First downs | 13 | 9 |
| Total yards | 323 | 175 |
| Rushes-yards | 50-205 | 37-120 |
| Passing yards | 118 | 55 |
| Comp.-Att.-Int. | 9-22-0 | 3-5-1 |
| Fumbles-lost | 0-0 | 3-3 |
| Penalties-yards | 11-72 | 6-56 |
| Turnovers | 0 | 4 |
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing -- Scott City, Braden Cox 27-118, Sam Elders 11-29, Caden Hillemann 11-54, Brittan Jones 1-4. East Prairie, Deverence Jones 20-95, Derez Tipler 14-18, Luke Marcum 3-7.
Passing -- Scott City, Ty Wilthong 9-21-0 118, Braden Cox 0-1-0 0. East Prairie, Derez Tipler 3-5-1 55.
Receiving -- Scott City, Eli Berry 1-14, Joe Panagos 3-40, Jaden Kaiser 3-29, Sam Elders 1-26, Caden Hillemann 1-9. East Prairie, Carson Aycock 1-9, Luke Marcum 1-8, Casey Gregory 1-38.