Tenkhoff leads Chaffee past Kelly in 57-51 shootout
BENTON -- Rookies are usually supposed to be seen and not heard.
In the case of freshman Landon Tenkhoff, he's getting seen and you'll probably hear from him for quite some time.
Chaffee's quarterback rushed for 328 yards and seven touchdowns to lead the Red Devils past Kelly in a 57-51 shootout Friday at Lambert Field at Kelly High School.
It's the second week in a row Tenkhoff has set the field on fire after combining for 429 yards in a 72-54 loss to Jefferson last week.
"If I didn't have (my linemen) I wouldn't have seven TDs," Tenkhoff said, who took the rookie approach in his comments as well. "We did really good on offense. Everybody did."
Everybody is right.
The two teams combined for 1,100 yards and 16 touchdowns in their final regular season game before starting their respective district tournaments next week.
Chaffee (3-6) racked up 580 total yards, including 548 rushing. Devon Nanney added 188 yards on 21 carries and a touchdown.
Kelly (2-7) added 520 yards and was led by its quarterback, Kyle Fitzgerald, who threw for 362 yards on 18 of 29 passing and five touchdowns.
Three different receivers caught touchdown passes from Fitzgerald. Skylar Lemons finished with three touchdown catches and 108 yards on four catches. Aaron Graham and Maurice Davis, who led Kelly with 127 yards on four catches as well as 125 rushing yards on 14 carries, also hauled in touchdown catches.
"This is probably the best (our offense) has looked all year," Kelly coach Lance Powers said. "Kyle did a great job tonight. He had a couple times he was shaky, but for most of the night he did a fabulous job for us. He found the open receiver and took what Chaffee gave him. He moved the ball down the field."
Chaffee entered the fourth quarter with a 51-39 lead until Tenkhoff rumbled in for his seventh and final touchdown of the night to put his team ahead 57-39 with 10:59 remaining.
A 48-yard touchdown pass to Lemons at the 5:16 mark in the fourth cut Chaffee's advantage to 12 points. After forcing a Chaffee punt, Kelly had a shot to cut its deficit to a one possession game with 3:44 left. Kelly went 38 yards on eight plays before turning the ball over on downs on Chaffee's 26-yard line.
The Red Devils frantically tried to find the endzone again during the last three minutes to secure at least a 13-point victory to help its efforts for a better district seeding. They went 67 yards to Kelly's 7-yard line until Tenkhoff floated a pass directly to Davis, who returned the interception 88 yards with no time on the clock to make up the final.
"We were not trying to run it up," Chaffee coach Charlie Vickery said. "We were trying to get 13. That's all we were trying to do. That backfired on us, but we were just trying to get every point we can get."
As it stands, Chaffee is the seventh seed in the Class 1, District 1 standings. They're currently slated to play No. 2 Mark Twain (9-0) on the road next Friday in the first round of district play.
Kelly sits with the seventh seed in Class 2, District 1 and is set for a matchup with No. 2 Caruthersville (5-4) next Friday on the road. Kelly fell to the Tigers 58-0 in Week 7.
"The regular season was tough. We just had a lot of injuries," Powers said. "That's been kind of our story of the season. A Class 2 team with not a lot of numbers and battling injuries, we dressed 28 kids and have 39 on the roster. As a staff we feel like we're going in the right direction. As a senior, it stinks to have a 2-7 regular season, but they work hard and they're not going to give up on their team."
The scoring barrage began during the first drive of the night.
Fitzgerald found Lemons for an 18-yard touchdown strike four minutes into the game for the early lead.
Nanney took Chaffee's first offensive play 38 yards down the field, and two plays later, Tenkhoff scored on a 9-yard run to give the Red Devils a lead they would never give up.
After a high snap went behind Davis, who was set up in a wildcat formation, Nanney recovered the fumble.
Chaffee went on to score on its next three possessions, but Kelly matched each score until halftime when the Red Devils held a 29-26 advantage at halftime.
Tenkhoff led Chaffee to two touchdown drives to open the third quarter. And each time Fitzgerald pushed the Hawks into the end zone, Tenkhoff found a way to keep the distance.
"We knew he was going to be tough be looking at him on film," Powers said. "That's a great thing for Chaffee to have, that freshman quarterback. That kid is tough. We'll have our hands full for a while with him."
After Nanney's 7-yard score with 4:19 left in the first quarter, Tenkhoff scored Chaffee's next six touchdowns.
"He's really a good player," Vickery said. "He's going to just keep getting better and better. Our line has been doing a good job too. We opened up holes. If the line doesn't block, we're not going to be very good offensively."
Chaffee | 23 | 6 | 22 | 6 | -- | 57 |
Kelly | 20 | 6 | 13 | 12 | -- | 51 |
First quarter
K -- Skylar Lemons 18 pass from Kyle Fitzgerald (pass failed), 8:01
C -- Landon Tenkhoff 9 run (Alex Burch kick), 7:26
C -- Devon Nanney 7 run (Tenkhoff run), 4:19
K -- Maurice Davis 65 pass from Fitzgerald (kick blocked), 3:58
C -- Tenkhoff 24 run (Tenkhoff pass to Brennan Miller), 2:56
K -- Davis 3 run (Fitzgerald pass to Aaron Graham), 0:44
Second quarter
C -- Tenkhoff 9 run (run failed), 10:34
K -- Graham 18 pass from Fitzgerald (kick failed), 0:45
Third quarter
C -- Tenkhoff 3 run (run failed), 8:00
C -- Tenkhoff 18 run (Nanney run), 4:01
K -- Fitzgerald 2 run (Graham kick), 2:42
C -- Tenkhoff 55 run (Tenkhoff run), 1:50
K -- Lemons 28 pass from Fitzgerald (pass failed), 1:28
Fourth quarter
C -- Tenkhoff 5 run (run failed), 10:59
K -- Lemons 48 pass from Fitzgerald (pass failed), 5:16
K -- Davis 88 interception return, 0:00
TEAM STATISTICS
C | K | |
First downs | 19 | 14 |
Total yards | 580 | 520 |
Rushes-yards | 58-548 | 34-158 |
Passing yards | 32 | 362 |
Comp.-Att.-Int. | 3-6-1 | 18-29-0 |
Fumbles-lost | 6-2 | 3-2 |
Penalties-yards | 13-109 | 11-73 |
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing -- Chaffee, Landon Tenkhoff 26-328, Devon Nanney 21-188, Dalton Wilson 1-7, Ryan Holderfield 3-13, Josh Medrano 2-16, Uzziah Beggs 3-19, Team 2-(-23). Kelly, Maurice Davis 14-125, Jacob Black 3-5, Luis Logemon 5-13, Kyle Fitzgerald 11-27, Team 1-(-12).
Passing -- Chaffee, Landon Tenkhoff 3-6-1 32. Kelly, Kyle Fitzgerald 18-29-0 362.
Receiving -- Chaffee, Devon Nanney 1-20, Brennan Miller 1-8, Josh Medrano 1-4. Kelly, Quinton Lara 1-29, Jacob Black 2-21, Aaron Graham 6-77, Maurice Davis 4-127, Skylar Lemons 4-108.