SCAB Report

Championship

Galactic Soup Bowl

Upstart Spitters Reclaim Legacy

Not so fast, Cretin. Just as the Asses with their phenomenal acquisition QB E. Chitton Dye denied Brimstone a second, and consecutive, championship last year as upstarts, their own bid to become the next multi-champion was dashed by an upstart team that lost three games in the regular season and had to take a longer route to the championship. But this upstart team also happened to be from the school that has more tournament game wins and more championship appearances than any other.

Kootsville Tech. won its fourth SCAB championship, joining State Pen and Northwestsoutheastern, all one short of Puke, in total titles, in their incomparable tenth attempt.

This was the most unlikely Spitter bid of all. Despite typical marquee players -- QB Zack Lee Wright (the game's MVP), RBs Lyle Lott and Earl Wells -- this Kootsville team were heavy underdogs to a more complete Cretin roster that towered over the league this season while its main contenders fell. The Spitters were considered simply the fodder left for Cretin's expected defense of their own upset title, after the smoke cleared in the strife that brought down Brimstone, the ascending Bleeding Heart Doves, Bigfoot, State Pen, and eventually Cretin conference rival Porkbelly and the Birddrops team that jumped Kootsville for the Dust Bowl.

Concerns of Cretin's offense going stale since the last game of the season may have been realized, as the Spitters held Dye to 11 completions of 22 attempts, 184 yards passing, and intercepted him twice. The completion number is the lowest for Dye, though he threw for less yards in one game last year, and had two interceptions one other time. Dye rushed for 62 yards and a TD, but this was telling of the Spitter defense, too: it's what they forced with pass defense and the total led Cretin rushers, as star RB Rowdy van Duud was held to 24 yards rushing.

But it was the Spitter offense that really dominated the game, serving the defense, too, by minimizing possession for Dye & Co. Kootsville senior QB Zack Lee Wright upstaged the most important player in the league by executing brilliantly the play action offense that had mystified observers more than opponents. This was mostly a question of why head coach General Beany was not focusing the offense of RB Wells, who led the league in rushing the previous two years. The persistence, that had seemed stubbornness in losses or lackluster season victories, had paid off in the tournament, not allowing opposing defenses to key on Wells. Finally, it baffled the SCAB's best defense.

Kootsville scored on three of its first four possessions in the first half, the other one ending inside Cretin's ten-yard line. They answered Cretin's second TD with another drive just before the end of the second quarter, thus scoring all their points in the first half. This was as ominous as it was hopeful, recalling their season-ending Brimstone game, when they scored 24 in the first half, only to lose 41-24. But after Cretin's 10-point third quarter, the Spitters controlled possession in the fourth quarter, allowing Cretin only five plays.

Wells rushed for 73 yards and had two receptions for 16. Lott added 52 yards rushing and 25 receiving, including a TD, a seven-yarder to cap the first Spitter drive. But the play-action option strategy, which also helped produce Wright's rushing, opened up other receivers as the dangerous RBs drew coverage. WR Sonny Sydup had six catches for 95 yards, leading all receivers, and two TDs.

The first interception of Dye was an important blow, compounding previous and breaking the pace. Kootsville had landed the psychological first punch with their opening scoring drive -- Wright had an 18-yard run and a 29-yard pass to WR Donovan Tryett -- but the Asses answered. Dye threw a 37-yard pass to star WR Jeff Uckendick, and the latter finished off the drive with a 9-yard TD run. The Spitter offense then kept up the pressure with precisely the sort of grueling drive to hog the ball, taking 12 plays to go 80 yards and score. It was on next possession that the interception of Dye set the Kootsville up at the Cretin 28. Next blow: the Spitters scored in three plays, Wright carrying it the last yard.

Again, after Cretin pulled a TD back, Dye breaking a 28-yard run on the drive, Yanuwan scoring from the three, the Spitters struck. Wright hit Sydup on a 38-yard pass play to the Cretin 26, Wells for 11 to the 15, Sydup for 12 to the three, then Sydup again for the TD from there. Kootsville's 28-14 halftime lead was more propitious than the Brimstone game, particularly as this was defending champion, undefeated and supposedly unmatched Cretin.

The Spitters turned the pressure in their favor again in the second half. The Asses took the opening possession and marched to the Koostville five-yard line, the big play a 27-yard strike from Dye to Uckendick to the 12. It looked as if Dye and the Asses were not to be stopped, even if down. But Kootsville Tech. held at their own five, forcing Cretin to take the field goal rather than risk no points.

Dye would finish off a quick drive at the end of the third quarter -- Cretin forced a punt inside the Kootsville ten and returned it 15 yards to set up at the 24 -- with a five-yard run, to pull within four, and it looked like the Spitter bid would still have to overcome a show of the superior Asses. The Kootsville offense took care of that, with drives of 13 and 12 plays consuming most of the fourth quarter, but the defense got a three-and-out and another interception to kill Dye's chances, before the clock killed his last.

Kootsville Tech. was not only the original SCAB dynasty, but the dynasty at the origin of the SCAB. They won the first two league championships, appeared in the first four, winning three, and six of the first seven. But as with the last two of those, in 1984 and 85, their fate turned into becoming the most frequent bridesmaid rather than bride. They returned for another consecutive stint of championship game losses in 1994 and 95, then for another loss in 2007, that the closest. In the meantime, Whooperville A&M had it's unmatched three consecutive championships, and Puke, Northwestsoutheastern and State Pen accumulated more.

10 Clan:
Bu 8 0 1 10 2 1
Gr 7 1 1 10 3 1
Bf 7 2 0 10 3 0
UF 6 3 0 7 5 0
IO 5 4 0 7 5 0
LB 4 5 0 7 5 0
MV 4 5 0 6 6 0
Ca 2 7 0 4 8 0
Fl 1 8 0 1 11 0
HP 0 9 0 0 12 0

Little 10:
Bd 8 1 0 11 3 0
KT 8 1 0 13 3 0
Br 7 2 0 10 3 0
SP 7 2 0 9 3 0
MS 5 4 0 8 4 0
SS 4 5 0 6 6 0
PU 2 7 0 3 9 0
GJ 2 7 0 3 9 0
CU 1 8 0 2 10 0
Wh 1 8 0 1 11 0

10 Pack:
Cr 9 0 0 14 1 0
Pb 7 2 0 11 4 0
Nw 6 3 0 8 5 0
DS 5 4 0 7 5 0
DG 5 4 0 6 6 0
Fm 5 4 0 6 6 0
AT 4 5 0 6 6 0
HG 3 6 0 5 7 0
SB 2 7 0 4 7 1
MO 0 8 0 0 12 0

Non-Conference:
BH 9 0 0 11 2 0
OL 8 1 0 10 4 0
So 6 3 0 9 4 0
LW 6 3 0 7 5 0
St 5 4 0 7 5 0
Pk 4 5 0 4 8 0
UP 3 6 0 3 9 0
Ox 3 6 0 3 9 0
Pe 1 8 0 1 10 1
OD 0 9 0 0 12 0