Falcons hold off Rangers to win 1st conference title since 2006

LANCASTER — The last time the Fairfield Union Falcons won the league championship, none of the players on the team were even born.

After 20 years, the Falcons ended that title drought as they held off the Hamilton Township Rangers 14-6 to earn a share of the Mid-State League-Buckeye Division.

With the win, Fairfield Union earned a share of the title with Hamilton Township, its first conference championship since 2006. The two teams also tied for the league title in 2002.

Although the two teams share the title, the Falcons can boast they won the head-to-head meeting. Fairfield Union finished the regular season 8-2 with Hamilton Township 7-3.

The Falcons win gives the program its ninth playoff berth and fourth straight under head coach Andy Clark.

“Our kids played really hard tonight. It wasn’t pretty all the time,” said coach Clark. “Kudos to Hamilton Township. They have a great team. A gutsy team. A great football game all-around.”

All the scoring came in the first half with the Falcons striking first when Lane Burkhardt took a screen pass 39 yards for a touchdown. Colin Pike kicked the conversion and it was 7-0 with 7:41 on the first quarter clock.

In the second quarter, Falcons’ quarterback Dean Clark had a nice run to the 47. Clark then hit Kohen Arnett with a 40-yard pass to the 14-yard line.

A penalty had the Falcons facing a third-and-6 at the 15, but Clark hit Camden Maynard for 14 yards to the one-yard line.

Burkhardt powered his way into the end zone on the next play and Pike’s kick made it 14-0 with 9:25 left in the half.

The Rangers answered with a drive to the Falcons’ 6-yard line. On a third-and-3, Shane Watkins ran to the one-yard line and then Dez Branch went the final yard on the next play to cut the deficit to 14-6 with 4:07 left in the half.

The conversion kick failed.

The second half was scoreless, but the Falcons made some key plays.

A 53-yard punt by Boston McKoyes pushed the Rangers back to their own 42-yard line with 3:28 to play.

Hamilton Township got to the 26 only to have a holding call move the ball back to the 36 with 52 seconds left. On the next play, the Rangers attempted a pass but Clark leaped and intercepted the pass at the 13-yard line with 37 seconds to play.

The Falcons took a knee as the clock ran down to zero.

“We talk about defense all the time. Defense wins championships. We talked about it before the game. We knew if we were going to win the game tonight, it was going to be this type of low-scoring game,” said coach Clark.

“I could talk about this group all night. This is a tight group. They’re not selfish. They just want to win and they did it.”

The Falcons had 192 total yards with 55 on the ground and Clark hitting 7 of 17 passing for 137 yards and a touchdown.

Hamilton Township had 269 yards rushing and 37 passing for 306 total yards.

Hamilton Township 0    6    0    0  =  6

Fairfield Union 7    7    0    0  =  14

First Quarter

F — Lane Burkhardt 39 pass from Dean Clark (Colin Pike kick) 7:41

Second Quarter

F — Lane Burkhardt 1 run (Colin Pike kick) 9:25

H — Dez Branch 1 run (kick failed)

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Fairfield Union Statistics

RUSHING — Dean Clark 10-33, Lane Burkhardt 8-23 TD, Team 1-minus 2. Team total: 19-55 TD.

PASSING — Dean Clark 7-17-0 137 TD.

RECEIVING — Kohen Arnett 1-40, Lane Burkhardt 1-39 TD, Keaton Webb 3-37, Camden Maynard 2-21.

Total yards: 192

First downs: 8

Penalties: 4-30.

Fumbles-lost: 0-0

Tackles: Colton Borah 19, Trace Taylor 14, Camden Maynard 12, Cash Stover 11, Kohen Arnett 10, Dean Clark 9, Jack Denny 7, Codie Andrews 7.

Tackles for a loss: Colton Borah 2, Camden Maynard 2, Trace Taylor 1, Jack Denny 1.

Interceptions: Dean Clark 1.

Punting: Boston McKoyes 5-46.2

Hamilton Township rushing: 59-269 TD.

Hamilton Township passing: 1-2-1 37.

Hamilton Township total yards: 306