SCIO - The Loggers pounded the ball 34 times with junior tailback Coulter Mastenbroek and held visiting Kennedy to 155 total yards of offense to squeak out a 14-12 Tri-River Conference victory.

Despite out-rushing the Trojans 243-75, the Scio defense was forced to stop Kennedy with a minute left.

Kennedy was unable to complete a fourth-down pass down the sideline, which ended an eight-play drive that started at the Trojans' 25 yard line.

The Trojans managed just 13 offensive snaps in the first half as Scio's rushing attack allowed the Loggers to hold the ball and build an 8-0 halftime lead.

"Kennedy came in with a game plan and they started to take advantage of our weak spots early," said Scio coach Kyle Braa. "We made some adjustments and we really came through on defense tonight."

With the game scoreless 16 minutes in, Mastenbroek broke the game open in the second quarter with a 49-yard sprint into the endzone. Kennedy began to mix in the pass in the third and got on the board with a 10-play scoring drive, but Scio was able to keep their lead after an unsuccessful two-point conversion.

With eight minutes remaining Mastenbroek gave Scio a 14-6 advantage, breaking two tackles on the way to a 21-yard touchdown run.

On the ensuing drive, quarterback Derek Traeger led Kennedy 61 yards in seven plays, culminating with a 3-yard score on the keeper, but the same play failed on the two-point conversion attempt.

After Scio recovered the onside kick, Braa called on Mastenbroek nine consecutive times in an attempt to play keep-away before the Logger defense came up with the game-winning stop.

"A lot of people think that Coulter is just a finesse runner… but he can pound it too," Braa says. "As you can see by tonight, I'll run the same play 15 times in a row if I have to."

Even after 34 carries, Mastenbroek says he's ready to play tomorrow.

"I usually get more openfield runs, but they were locked down on me all night. They knew I was going to get the ball," said an energetic Mastenbroek. "I love to run the ball like this… The way we all played tonight, we showed that we are ready for Culver next week."

Scio (5-3, 2-1) is now tied for second place in the Tri-River Conference, but with first-place Culver (3-0, 6-1) coming to town on Friday, their coach isn't writing them in just yet.

"This was a huge win for us but it doesn't guarantee playoffs for us," said Braa. "I don't like leaving anything up to tie-breakers so we must take care of some business first."

Scio 14, Kennedy 12

Kennedy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0 0 6 6 - 12

Scio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 8 0 6 - 14

Second quarter

S: Coulter Mastenbroek 49 run (Wyatt Briggs run) 7:39

Third quarter

K: David Sharabarin 1 run (pass failed) 7:13

Fourth quarter

S: Mastenbroek 21 run (run failed) 8:19

K: Derek Traeger 3 run (run failed)

Individual statistics

Rushing: Kennedy 27-75; D. Traeger 10-68, D. Barth 6-22, A. Rodriguez 3-4, Sharabarin 2-3, S. Traeger 2-1, F. Rodriguez 1-(-3). Scio 53-243; Mastenbroek 34-214, Briggs 12-27, Josh Rieger 3-8, Brandon Rezentes 1-3, Jack Westberg 3-(-1).

Passing: Kennedy; D. Traeger 4-8-0-80. Scio; Westberg 0-1-0-0.

Receiving: Kennedy 4-80; Barth 2-50, Frey 1-18, S. Traeger 1-12.