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Scott City seniors defy expectations to reach C2D1 title game
In their district semifinal win over New Madrid County Central last week, the Scott City Rams did something they haven’t done before during Jim May’s head coaching tenure.
They scored 70 points in a single game.
“I didn't think we'd score that many points,” May said. “I thought we were going to have a good offensive night.”
The Rams have won nine games for the third straight season but have the opportunity to win their first district title since 2019 when they travel to Valle Catholic on Friday, Nov. 10, in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri.
“It’s what you play for, championships,” May said. “It's not going to be easy. We knew in August, whenever they brought out the districts, you could see that five of the seven teams were 6-3 or better. You’re not gonna find a lot of districts that look like that where it’s that top-heavy with many teams with a winning record. We knew it was gonna be a fight just to get to this point.”
The Rams got to this point led by a senior class that defied expectations and built a strong defense to compliment their high-octane offense. Starting with their linebacker trio of Ian Weber, Lawson Graff, and Blake Wiburn, who had a pick-six last week.
“They’ve been better than I ever hoped,” May said. “Blake had an outstanding year in his own right. Weber is very smart and he makes all the plays and he reads things especially well. Lawson is athletic, he can go out and play man-to-man on the slot if we want to get into a spread kind of look, as well as he can play in the box. Those guys have been fantastic upfront.”
The cornerback duo of Nathan Ham and Torrin Johnson has also had a major role in stifling the opposing passing attack. Ham had two interceptions last week against NMCC.
“Nathan's been doing this for a long time,” May said. “He's kind of had to wait his turn, and he's not the biggest but he's a fairly athletic kid.”
Johnson has been able to cover receivers well throughout the game, which is impressive for someone with little experience entering the season.
“Torrin’s never played football before he came out this summer,” May said. “He’s a really good little corner. He needs to be more physical but he does a good job of pass-pro. He's definitely exceeded my expectations of what I thought I would get with him.”
On offense, Mark Panagos and Tyson Underwood have taken turns all season running through opposing defenses toward the end zone. This time they had extra blocking assistance from Gavin Venable, who moved from receiver to fullback during last week’s game.
“He loved it because we challenged his toughness,” May said. “[NMCC] wanted to funnel everything to the sideline and use their speed and athleticism. So we wanted to run right at them a little bit more. That’s why we put Gavin in to do that. It's the first time we've used it this year and we had great results with it.”
Valle Catholic will be Scott City’s toughest opponent yet. The Warriors opened the season with a loss to undefeated Class 6 powerhouse Seckman and have since won nine straight games by overwhelming margins. Their defense has allowed an average of 10.2 points per game, its lowest since their 2015 state championship-winning season.
"The Valle defense is different because they're solid everywhere," May said. "You're not gonna have a ton of big plays. You're gonna have to fight for every inch of the field and they're gonna fight you back for it."
For the Rams to win the elusive district title, they will have to defeat a program that has been to nine state championship games (six titles) since 2009, most recently in 2019.
"I've talked to the kids, that is what it's supposed to be when you get to this time of the year," May said. "Everybody's supposed to be good. That's just the way it is. It's not gonna be easy. If you're not any good, you're probably not still playing."