Tyler Harris, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
PROCTORVILLE — Fairland hasn’t forgotten how last season ended.
The Dragons, after finishing the year with a 9-1 mark, were upset in a first round playoff matchup and saw their season come to a screeching halt.
So on Friday, in the exact same scenario, they made sure not to let history repeat itself, leaving no doubt with a 31-7 lopsided win over Zane Trace to advance.
“Obviously, you tell everyone, ‘Don’t think about last year,’ but I’m here to tell you, you do and we did this week,” Fairland coach Mike Jackson said. “We had a great week of practice this week and we felt like they couldn’t stop us all game. Our offensive and defensive lines were great all night and I’m just really happy for our seniors to get this win.”
CREDIT: Baylee Harris/SOSA
To say that both the team’s interior units played well is an understatement.
Offensively, quarterback Ethan Wall barely broke a sweat as he patiently carved up the Pioneers’ defense. Meanwhile, the Dragons’ run game looked like a well-oiled machine. The result was 488 yards of total offense.
On the opposite side of the ball, Fairland gave up just 205 total yards and racked up 14 tackles for loss, led by Elias Blankenship, who purchased real estate in ZT’s backfield.
“Elias is really fast off the ball,” Jackson said. “We saw some things on film and so we just told him not to worry about the quarterback and just take off. He did the rest and his hustle allowed him to make some big plays for us along the d-line.”
While forcing five straight punts in the first half, the defense gave the offense ample opportunities to get going and they did just that.
To open the scoring, the Dragons used six plays to go 83 yards, scoring on a four-yard run from senior Kam Kitts. They managed to strike pay dirt again with just under five minutes before halftime, time thanks to Quentin Cremeans, who powered it in from six yards out, making it 14-0.
The Dragons weren’t quite done yet, though. After getting a defensive stop, they kicked a 31-yard field goal with under a minute to go, taking a 17-0 lead.
The Pioneers (6-5) received their first sign of life when a 44-yard toss from Gunnar McCullough to Aaden Dunn took them down to Fairland’s one-yard line. But two plays later, as time expired, a dropped pass ended the first half and ZT was left scoreless.
Zane Trace received the second half kickoff and looked to take some momentum back, but that quickly faded as CJ Graham intercepted a pass to seemingly seize whatever hope the Pioneers still had.
And, just as Fairland’s running game had it going early, the passing game came to life in the second half, thanks in large part to the composed play of Wall.
“He was rusty last week and bounced back this week, and we needed him to be,” Jackson said of his signal caller. “When he plays better, our offense just clicks and really allows us to be 50-50, which is what we want to do. I thought he played really well tonight.”
Late in the third quarter, the air attack opened and Wall found Keegan Smith down the sideline for a 29-yard strike, pushing the lead to 24-0. Just as the fourth quarter began, he found Smith again, this time for a five-yard score, extending the lead to 31-0.
“We have a lot of guys who can make plays and that’s the thing about having three to four receivers and running backs, you can’t stop them all,” Jackson said of his group. “We were able to get Keegan going when we got the mismatch we wanted on the deep ball and he’s just been making plays for us all year long.”
Zane Trace was able to finally break the seal when McCullough found Aaden Dunn down the seam for a 70-yard catch and run late in the game, but it just rounded out the night’s final and prevented a shutout.
Statistically, Fairland racked up a total of 488 yards of offense, led by Wall who was an efficient 30-of-35 passing for 305 yards and two scores. Smith led all receivers, hauling in 10 catches for 122 yards and two touchdowns, and Graham tallied six catches for 65 yards. Lucas Bompus did everything, ending the night with 107 total yards, and Cremeans and Kitts each had a rushing touchdown.
Defensively, Blankenship ended the night with six tackles for loss.
Zane Trace relied on Dunn, who caught five passes for 159 yards and had the lone score for the Pioneers. McCullough completed 7-of-20 passes for 159 yards and a touchdown.
Zane Trace finishes their season 6-5 overall and as the runner up in the SVC. Meanwhile, the Dragons advance to week 12 and will host West Muskingum next week, a 34-26 winner over Africentric.
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