By ROB TATE ~ DAR Sports Writer

SCOTT CITY -- Judging by the sight of the very first offensive drive of the season for the Malden Green Wave, it looked as if they might have some type of high-scoring offense that might scorch teams.

Even though the first drive lasted just under 6 minutes with 14 plays, the Green Wave just couldn't find a way to score. Actually, they did find a way but that ugly yellow fabric came flying out of the referee's pocket during the completion of a Caleb Loughary to Andy Matthews 62-yard touchdown pass that had to be brought back after an illegal receiver made his way down the field.

From there, the mistakes just kept on mounting and the Green Wave left Scott City disappointed on Friday night with a 14-6 loss to start off the season.

"Just too many mistakes," fourth-year Malden head coach Gary Blaylock said. "We run 20-some plays in the first quarter and we never got past the 30-yard-line. We've got lineman down field, a motion penalty. I don't know what to say. I just thought we'd be better tonight. We just made too many mistakes."

The Green Wave moved the ball well in their first possession of the season. The ground game kept getting positive yardage and Loughary kept hitting the open man. But three penalties on the drive stalled Malden and they just couldn't hit the ground running from there on out.

While the offense sputtered, the defense played a pretty consistent game. Scott City (1-0) was held to a three-and-out to begin the game and only managed to get inside the Green Wave 25-yard line just once the entire the first half.

Malden (0-1) stopped a late Rams threat near the end of the second quarter when Loughary picked off quarterback Cody Page at the 1-yard line with 1:13 left.

As the game went to halftime knotted at 0-0, something needed to happen soon on offense for either side and once again, some fortune and then some miscues kept Malden from building any kind of lead.

After Malden had a three-and-out to begin the second half, Andy Matthews booted a high punt that was muffed by the Rams' punt returner and recovered by Malden sophomore Dillion Criger at the Rams' 18-yardline.

But misfortune reared its head again on Malden. On the very next play, running back Josh Louis fumbled the ball amidst the Scott City defensive line that engulfed him at the line of scrimmage.

Once again, Malden was handed another opportunity to take the early advantage. And they finally did. After two penalties, a sack by Ryan Cain on Page and two failed running plays for Scott City, Malden got great field position after a bad punt by Scott City left the ball at the Rams' 37-yard line.

Loughary then completed two straight passes, first to Robbie Duck for 9 yards then another strike to Matthews to get down to the 2-yard line, where Cain promptly smash-nosed the ball in. But once again there was more misfortune for the Green Wave. A botched long-snap and the extra point try was missed, giving Malden just a 6-0 lead.

From the fourth quarter on, Malden just ran out of gas as fatigue and cramps took over.

With 10:47 left, Scott City scored its first touchdown on a 1-yard quarterback dive by Page and then Alex Eichorn drilled the point after to take the 7-6 lead. Page had left the game in the previous series on defense when he was playing linebacker but returned to the field the next offensive series to lead the strike.

Then with just 9 seconds left, Caleb Gray ran the ball in from 7 yards out to take add insurance for a 14-6 lead.

"Our blocking was just terrible," Blaylock said. "Just little stupid mistakes that we practiced on and worked on -- I know it's the first game and they made mistakes too. But we just made more than they did."

There wasn't a whole lot answered in the search for a main running back. Five Green Wave runners saw action with Matthews topping out with 15 yards on the ground. Even though their stats weren't gawdy, Blaylock felt that Cain and Kyle Lemarr played well due to their blocking capabilities.

Loughary completed 9-of-18 passes good for 118 yards but was intercepted once. The Rams sent consistent pressure all night long at Loughary who left the game midway through the fourth quarter after getting the wind knocked out of him and then on the last play of the game he stayed down due to what appeared to be cramps.

"He was dehydrated," Blaylock said. "He's as tough as a knot, he'll be alright. He likes to play too much to be out."

Scott City head coach Ronnie Jones was pretty pleased at what he saw out of his kids on the night, despite the fact they didn't get on the scoreboard until the fourth quarter.

"We've had games over the years everywhere I've been," Jones said. "Against Malden it's always tough. I try to tell these kids that it was gonna be tough this year simply because we lost so many seniors."

Scott City returned a couple seniors that put up good numbers and made big plays. Senior running back Jacob Campbell rushed for 75 yards on 13 carries while Austin Brawley hauled in an interception late in the game that helped set up Scott City's second scoring drive.

Malden returns to action Friday at Hayti.