All Rustyn Underwood wanted was to beat Kelly again. The bell-cow running back got his wish, rumbling through a weary Hawks defense all the way to a career night on the gridiron in front of his home crowd.

Underwood amassed a career-high three rushing touchdowns and racked up over 200 yards on the ground for the second straight week as the Rams continued to put a lopsided slant on one of the area’s biggest rivalries behind a 35-13 hammering of Kelly Friday, Sept. 6., their fourth straight victory in the matchup.

“We could not lose to Kelly,” Underwood said. “They're one of our archrivals. We could not lose to them. It's the biggest thing.”

First-year head coach Brian Beaubien understands the tensions between the two programs now as well.

“Back in the spring, I was just in the school one day and I was wearing a maroon pull over,” he said. “As I passed my superintendent, he's like, ‘You can't wear that. That's Kelly colors.’ He was joking, but I kind of got the idea of how important the rivalry is with Kelly.”

The victory also came on a very special night for the Scott City community. Friday night was not just a rivalry game, but it was also the Rams’ 10th annual “Green Out” game, which is dedicated to honoring the late Dominic Hooper, a Scott City student who was tragically killed in an ATV accident in 2014.

A decade later, his memory and the program’s love for him and his family persists.

“Just to know that he was a part of our team and just thinking about what his parents went through says it all,” Underwood said. “I wouldn't want to lose a loved one and I know how hard that could be. I just know we got to do it for Dom.”

The junior sure made him proud, along with dual-threat quarterback Jackson Gloth and a ball-hawk defense anchored by veteran linebacker Lane Miller.

While the final score appeared like a rout, it only turned into one after the third quarter.

Kelly (1-1) came out much sharper in this bitter rivalry than in recent years, leading 13-6 with six minutes left in the first half behind a Grant Burleson 32-yard touchdown reception and a Skyler Still five-yard rushing touchdown off a Scott City turnover on the ensuing offensive drive. The Rams responded right before the end of the half when Gloth punched it in the end zone with 28 seconds left to give them a narrow 14-13 edge.

Beaubien said that Kelly’s ground-and-pound, odd formation offense was a key reason for the team’s first-half struggles.

“We got a really inexperienced defense and tried all we could to adjust to that offense until we could get to halftime and talk about it,” Beaubien said. “We were struggling, and we had a couple of busted coverages and stuff like that.

“I felt like in the second half, we settled down and still made some mistakes but minimized a little bit. We were fortunate with a couple turnovers. We didn't do anything different, just tweaked a couple little things defensively.”

Following a back-and-forth third quarter where each team traded possessions, it appeared as if Kelly head coach Lance Powers showed his program might be finally closing the gap on Scott City.

But games can turn in an instant. This one did.

Following a long Scott City drive that was capped off with a Gloth five-yard rushing touchdown, the Rams completely flipped the Hawks’ strong start into a beatdown.

The Scott City defense made their adjustments and completely wore down the Kelly offense, who failed to muster a single point in the final 24 minutes. Underwood had two more trips to the paint and Scott City cruised to a 35-13 win.

“Sometimes we're just going to have to scratch and fight and claw and just find a way to win because we're not where we need to be in all facets yet,” Beaubien said. “We're hoping to get there come playoffs.”

Scott City has now outscored Kelly 182-32 since 2021.

The Rams will return to the field next Friday, Sept. 13 when they host Hayti at 7 pm. Kelly will look to bounce back with a road game at Rolla.