A losing streak dating back to September 2023 came to an end after the Southern Coffey County Titans defeated the Altoona-Midway Jets 40-18 Thursday.
Only three games into his tenure as SCC head coach, Zach Mason did something few coaches have accomplished so quickly: a win the program was desperate for, and a whole lot of confidence before next Friday’s homecoming game.
“It’s amazing. I think I might be dreaming,” SCC senior quarterback Trey Winn said. “I think I might wake up, and it will be morning. We came into this thinking we could win it. We kept that mindset throughout the game. Once we got up, we just kept going and going.”
The Titans seemed doomed from the start. After a fumble on the first play from scrimmage resulted in an Altoona touchdown, it seemed Southern Coffey County needed a miracle to get back into the game. They would settle for junior running back Josh Snyder, who rushed for more than 100 yards while racking up three touchdowns.
“I just kept my head up high and kept my cool until the fourth quarter,” Snyder said. “It feels amazing, especially seeing how many years it’s been since we’ve won a game.”
Snyder hit paydirt the first time on a 28-yard carry to tie the game 6-6. He then reciprocated another Altoona-Midway TD with another rushing TD — this time from 26 yards out. Altoona managed to score one more time before halftime, but after that, it was one-way traffic. SCC scored 28-unanswered points en route to their first victory of the season.
“We just focused on the fundamentals,” Mason said. “It was all the small things we’ve been doing in practice the last four weeks. We just focused, kept our heads up. We didn’t make a whole lot of adjustments. In the second half, we did a much better job of breaking down, dropping our hips and finishing tackles.”
Junior running back Cyrus Nickel tied the game 18-18 on a 60-yard run. Winn then gave the Titans a 19-18 lead after scoring the extra point.
With 34 seconds left in the third quarter, Snyder found the end zone for the third time. Then the floodgates seemed to open, as the Jets endured injuries, penalties and various other mishaps.
The Titans ran their own version of the Philly Special as receiver/backup quarterback Brantlee Jones found Winn on a 60-yard TD pass.
Freshman running back Brandon Bussell capped off the evening with three consecutive touchdowns from more than 15 yards out. Two were called back due to holding penalties.
With the win, the Titans improve to 1-2 overall and 1-0 in the 6-man North District. They hope to improve when they host Chepota, another 1-0 team, next Friday. Winn hopes the Titans keep their “never say die” attitude heading into next Friday’s homecoming game against Chetopa.
“We’re going to win next week, and that’s it. We’re coming here for homecoming and we’re going to win,” Winn said.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
