3rd quarter rally gives Dragons gut-check win over Panthers

PROCTORVILLE — With his team trailing their arch-rivals at halftime, coach Ron Wooten didn’t deliver a fire and brimstone speech. He just told them it was gut check time.

The self-introspective proved to be the key as the Fairland Dragons came out inspired in the second half and beat the Chesapeake Panthers 25-21 in the regular season finale.

Wooten felt his team played a lackluster first half with too many penalties and failed to control their composure. But the second half proved to be quite the turnaround.

“We played better. The third quarter we played a lot better. It’s always those guys in the locker room,” said Wooten, the Dragons’ first-year head coach.

“They found a way to get it going and start digging deep and playing for each other and do what we needed to do. We did everything much better, much cleaner, much crisper.”

The Dragons were guilty of 8 first half penalties for 80 yards. They had just one 5-yard call in the second half.

Wooten gave credit to the underdog Panthers who battled the entire game and still had a chance to win with less than a minute to play.

“Going against a rival you’ve always got to be ready for a dogfight and we knew they were going to come out ready to go,” said Wooten.

“We gave them a little bit of life with all those penalties and everything, and to their credit, they took advantage of it.”

Fairland is now 7-3 and finished second in the Ohio Valley Conference at 5-1. The Dragons will host West Lafayette Ridgewood in the first round of the Division 5 Region 19 playoffs.

A bad snap on a punt gave Fairland the ball at the one-yard line midway through the first quarter. Christian Bompus scored on a 1-yard run and Conner Kazee’s conversion kick made it 7-0 with 6:13 on the clock.

But the Panthers came right back to score thanks to several Fairland penalties. Peyton Muncy scored on a 6-yard run on the first play of the second quarter and Lilly Helmstetler kicked the conversion to tie the game.

Fairland answered with a quick 61-yard, 4-play drive capped by Kylan Blake’s 15-yard scoring run with 10:32 left in the half. The conversion kick was blocked but the Dragons led 13-7.

Chesapeake finishes 2-8 and 0-6 in the league, but the Panthers played as if they were in a battle for first place.

Starting at their own 7-yard line, the Panthers went the distance in 11 plays with Marquis Branch racing the final 17 yards into the end zone for the tying score.

The Panthers were whistled for two 15-yard penalties after the score and had to attempt the extra point play from the 33-yard line. K.J. McLain connected with a leaping Jaden Washington on the pass play as Chesapeake had a 15-13 lead.

Using a 44-yard run by Blake, the Dragons had a first-and-goal at the 2-yard line with time running out. But the Panthers tackled the Dragons twice for minus 2-yards, then just one yard, and a fourth down pass on the final play of the half went incomplete.

Chesapeake fumbled the onside kick-off off to start the second half and the Dragons had the ball at the Panthers’ 41. The Dragons got to the 31 only to fumble the ball away.

“It’s extremely frustrating to get down that close and little things just get amplified down there. Things that you run just perfect out on the 30 and then you go down to the 10, whatever reason, it’s not nothing (the opponents) do, but you step the wrong way or you take a double team the wrong way,” said Wooten.

“Just little things like that that just cause you to get excited because you know we’re about to punch that one in and guys, if you don’t do that, we don’t punch it in.”

Chesapeake was forced to punt and the Dragons were backed up at their own 14.

But on third-and-10, Kinyon Smith hit Aiden Kimble in stride and he pulled away from the defensive back to complete an 86-yard catch-and-run touchdown pass play and the Dragons led 19-15 with 6 minutes left in the quarter.

Smith struck again just two plays later as he picked off a pass and returned it 39 yards for a touchdown and Fairland now led 25-15 with 4:46 left in the third quarter.

Still, the Panthers refused to quit as they marched 86 yards in 10 plays highlighted by a 26-yard pass from McLain to Washington and a 37-yard flea-flicker as Colten Huffman hit Washington for 37 yards to the 4-yard line.

Branch scored on the next play and Chesapeake trailed 25-21 with 2:57 left.

The Panthers recovered the onside kick-off and moved to the Dragons 30-yard line.

But a fourth down pass was incomplete and Fairland took over with just 46 seconds left and ran out the clock.

Fairland finished with 273 total yards with 182 on the ground and Smith hitting 3 of 6 passes for 91 yards and a score.

Blake ran 14 times for 94 yards and a touchdown while Bompus carried 13 times for 92 yards and a TD.

Chesapeake had 180 yards with 119 in the air and 61 on the ground. McLain was 7 of 17 for 82 yards with Washington catching 5 passes for 93 yards.

Chesapeake  0    15      0    6  =  21

Fairland 7      6    12    0  =  25

First Quarter

Fa — Christian Bompus 1 run (Conner Kazee kick), 6:13

Second Quarter

Ch — Peyton Muncy 6 run (Lilly Helmstetler kick), 11:52

Fa — Kylan Blake 15 run (kick blocked), 10:32

Ch — Marquis Branch 17 run (Jaden Washington pass from K.J. McLain), 6:04

Third Quarter

Fa — Aiden Trimble 86 pass from Kinyon Smith (pass failed), 6:00

Fa — Kinyon Smith 39 interception return (kick failed), 4:46

Fourth Quarter

Ch — Marquis Branch 4 run (kick failed), 2:57

———————

            Ch    Fa

First downs   11   8

Rushes-yards 31-61 40-182

Passing yards   119     91

Total yards   180     273

Cmp-Att-Int  8-19-1 3-6-0

Fumbles-lost     2-2 4-2

Penalties-yards 9-95 9-85

Punts-average     5-33.0 3-40.0

———————

Individual Leaders

RUSHING — Chesapeake: Marquis Branch 15-43, Peyton Muncy 7-26, Jaden Washington 4-9, K.J. McLain 4-2, Team 1-minus 19; Fairland: Christian Bompus 13-92 TD, Kylan Blake 14-94 TD, Xander Collins 9-23, Kinyon Smith 1-minus 5, Team 3-minus 22.

PASSING — Chesapeake: K.J. McLain 7-17-1 82, Colten Huffman 1-1-0 37, Peyton Muncy 0-1-0; Fairland: Kinyon Smith 3-6-0 91 TD.

RECEIVING — Chesapeake: Jaden Washington 5-93, Marquis Branch 3-22; Fairland: Aiden Kimble 1-86 TD, Kylan Blake 2-5.