2025 Football Preview: Fairland Dragons

PROCTORVILLE — For Fairland head coach Mike Jackson, it’s simple math. A 10-2 season minus 16 seniors equals a lot of headaches.

Jackson will be filling a lot of holes and he will be doing it with youth and inexperience as the Dragons graduated 16 seniors from last season’s Ohio Valley Conference championship team and Division 5 playoff qualifiers.

“We lost 16 kids and they were 16 good ones,” said Jackson. “Hopefully, practicing against those good seniors that last couple of years and showing (this year’s players) how things need to be done that these young guys have learned something from them.

“Any time you lose 16 seniors from a 10-2 team, that’s going to be tough. But we’ve had a good summer. You’d like to have more numbers. We’re in the low 30s. But we put the pads on the other day and I was happy with the hitting the first day.”

Another big question mark will be how Fairland deals with injuries.

“Depth is going to be my issue this year,” said Jackson.

QUARTERBACK

Starter: sophomore Owen Burcham (5-8, 150)

Backup: senior Eli Pine (5-9, 200).

The loss of starter Ethan Wall leaves a big question mark and backup Eli Pine has a broken foot causing even more problems.

Jackson : “We’ll still be spread. Our quarterback is athletic. He’s learning the progression and he’s learning the throwing. He’s young, but we’ll make it as easy as we can for him. He’s very quick. We expect him to run the ball for us some.”

RUNNING BACK

Starters: senior Davin Murray (5-10, 215), junior Garrett Massey (5-8, 165), Xander Collins (6-1, 170), Christian Bompus (5-10, 160).

Backups: sophomores Ford Rickard (6-2 165), sophomore Kylan Blake (5-8, 140)

Jackson: “We had four running backs last year. If it wasn’t for that, he’d have gotten more carries than he got. We expect good things out of him. We’ve got Christian Bompus. We call him Little Bump. He’s Lucas’ brother and we expect him to be good. We have some sophomores that are going to have to step up. Ford Rickard and Kylan Blake are going to be good players for us at the skill positions.”

RECEIVERS

Starters: senior Connor Black (6-2, 165), Collins, senior Luke Ball (6-0, 160), Rickard.

Jackson: “We have a good group of receivers. Collins can play some tight end, Luke Ball look good in camp, and Black did a nice job last season until he got hurt.”

OFFENSIVE LINE

Center: senior Wyatt Callicoat (5-10, 185)

Tackles: senior Brandon Kirk (6-0, 220), sophomore Payton Lucas (6-1, 230), sophomore Orion Tolbert (6-2, 220), sophomore Cody Sketel (6-2, 220)

Guards: junior A.J. Brammer (6-0, 190), sophomore Aiden Kirk (6-0, 220), junior Wyatt Ritchie (5-9, 200), sophomore Cody Sketel (6-2, 220)

The Dragons have two returning linemen Callicoat and Brandon Kirk. Depth is a problem so all the linemen will need to know all the positions.

Jackson: “Callicoat did a good job last year and we expect good things out of him. Brandon Kirk is a three-year starter  and he’ll do a good job. We only have nine linemen so they’ll all have to know the guard and tackle positions because we don’t have any depth. When Eli Pine comes back, he may play inside. It’s funny because he’s practicing at quarterback and line both.”

DEFENSIVE LINE

The Dragons will utilize a four-man front led by Murray who returns at defensive end.

End: Murray, Pine, Sketel, Brandon Kirk

Inside: Tolbert, Lucas, Brandon Kirk, Aiden Kirk

Jackson: “We’ve got seven or eight guys playing the four spots. We have a lot of young guys, but hopefully they’re young enough not to know any better. They’ll get thrown in and we’ll see what happens.”

LINEBACKERS

Inside: Massey, Collins

Outside: Bompus, Ritchie

Jackson: “Garrett Massey loves contact. He loves to hit and he’ll call out defenses. We should have some speed at linebacker. Those guys on the outside like contact, too.”

SECONDARY

Cornerback: Black, Burcham, sophomore Kinyon Smith (5-7, 130), Ball

Safety: Rickard, Burcham, Blake

Jackson: “We have some speed and athleticism. They’ll have to know both positions. We don’t have much depth.”

KICKING GAME

Punter: Pine, Black

Placekicker: Black

Jackson: “That’s up in the air right now. Conner Black is our best extra point kicker right now. Pine was our punter and he’s out with a foot injury. We’ll have to look at some other guys.”

OVC

Jackson: “Portsmouth will be good again. Last year, the conference came down to one play. Coal Grove is always big and strong and they’ve got the Murphy kid back. We expect them to be good. After that, everyone should be like us. You don’t know what to expect. Gallipolis has a new coach and they have something like 48 kids out. Rock Hill has the big lineman and the quarterback. Chesapeake has a new coach. It’s hard to predict.”

2025 Fairland Dragons Football Roster

No. Player Pos. Ht. Wt. Gr

  0 Kinyon Smith WR-DB 5-07 130 So.

  1 Ford Rickard WR-DB 6-02 165 So.

  2 Jack Parks WR-DB 5-08 130 Fr.

  3 Kylan Blake WR-DB 5-08 140 So.

  4 Christian Bompus RB-DB 5-10 160 Jr.

  6 Davin Murray RB-DL 5-10 215 Sr.

  7 Owen Burcham QB-DB 5-08 150 So.

  8 Eli Pine QB-LB 5-09 200 Sr.

  9 Xander Collins TE-DL 6-01 170 Jr.

10 Luke Ball WR-DB 6-00 160 Sr.

11 Wyatt Ritchie RB-LB 5-09 200 Jr.

13 Braden Thompson WR-DB 5-08 135 Fr.

16 Cyrus Cummings WR-DB 6-01 160 Sr.

17 Conner Black WR-DB 6-02 165 Sr.

18 Wyatt Thomas QB-DB 6-01 160 Jr.

20 Maddox VonVille RB-DB 5-07 140 So.

22 Tim Webb WR-LB 6-02 165 Sr.

23 Garrett Massey RB-LB 5-08 165 Jr.

24 Joshua Hunt WR-LB 5-10 155 So.

25 Conner Kazee RB-LB 5-09 140 Fr.

26 Weston Goff WR-DB 5-08 145 Sr.

27 Aiden Trimble WR-DB 5-07 130 Fr.

33 Tim Kujac WR-DB 5-06 135 Fr.

45 Jayden Ball RB-LB 5-07 150 Fr.

50 Aiden Kirk OL-DL 6-00 200 So.

53 Billy Singer OL-LB 6-00 200 Jr.

54 Cody Sketel OL-DL 6-02 220 So.

55 A.J. Brammer OL-DL 6-02 220 Jr.

58 Wyatt Callicoat OL-DL 5-10 185 Sr.

60 Jacob Michaelis OL-DL 5-09 170 Sr.

62 Brandon Kirk OL-DL 6-00 220 Sr.

70 Walker Callicoat OL-DL 5-08 150 Fr.

76 Payton Lucas OL-DL 6-01 230 So.

79 Jayden Cyrus OL-DL 6-02 290 Jr.

99 Orion Tolbert TE-DL 6-02 220 So.

Head coach: Mike Jackson

Assistant coaches: Ronnie Wooten, Tyler Campbell, Aaron Murray, Mark Hinkle, J.D. Smith

2025 Football Schedule

Aug. 23 at Portsmouth West L 27-30

Aug. 30 POINT PLEASANT, W.Va. 7:00PM

Sept. 5 FAIRFIELD UNION 7:00PM

Sept. 12 ROCK HILL# 7:00PM

Sept. 19 GALLIA ACADEMY# 7:00PM

Sept. 26 at South Point# 7:00PM

Oct. 3 PORTSMOUTH# 7:00PM

Oct. 10 at Ironton 7:00PM

Oct. 17 at Coal Grove# 7:00PM

Oct. 24 at Chesapeake# 7:00PM