Dragons mount 4th quarter rally to beat Pointers

SOUTH POINT — Down but not out.

Trailing 21-13 going into the fourth quarter, the Fairland Dragons rose to the occasion and outscored South Point 22-0 in the fourth quarter to rally past the Pointers 35-21 in an Ohio Valley Conference game on Friday.

Davin Murray celebrated his father and Fairland assistant coach Aaron Murray being inducted into the South Point Athletic Hall of Fame by running 14 times for 64 yards and 2 touchdowns while catching 2 passes for 88 yards and a score.

Fairland quarterback Owen Burcham was 8-of-16 passing for 233 yards and 3 touchdowns. Kylan Blake had 3 catches for 66 yards and a score.

South Point (2-4, 0-2) was limited to 15 net yards rushing on 36 attempts. Landon Vance ran 19 times for 71 yards and a touchdown, but the Pointers were sacked or tackled for a loss 14 times for a minus 67 yards.

The first quarter was marred by turnovers. The Dragons suffered a lost fumble and interception with the Pointers losing a fumble.

A bad snap on a punt caused a short punt and the Dragons set up shop deep in South Point territory at the 23. It took only 4 plays to score with Burcham hitting Murray with a 9-yard touchdown pass. Yardley Gorby kicked the conversion and it was 7-0.

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Fairland (3-3, 2-1) drove to the 18-yard line only to turn the ball over on downs at the 17. On the ensuing play, K.J. McLain hit James Carey who raced 83 yards for the touchdown. A bad snap on the conversion forced holder Ethan Hunt to crumble and he found Robert Napier in the end zone and the Pointers led 8-7.

The Dragons recovered a fumble at the South Point 24 and Burcham hit Conner Black for the touchdown and it was 13-8. The conversion kick was blocked.

South Point came out in the second half and went 65 yards in just 5 plays, keyed by a 42-yard pass from McLain to Davon Lewis to the 6-yard line.

Vance scored on the next play and Logan McFann’s kick gave the Pointers a 15-13 lead.

An interception by Levi Thornsbury gave the Pointers the ball at the Fairland 37. Six plays later McLain and Vance clicked on a 16-yard scoring play with 4:19 left in the quarter.

The conversion run failed and it was 21-13.

Fairland got an interception and began a drive at the Pointers’ 42. The Dragons ran 5 plays as the quarter ended, but Murray scored on the first play of the fourth quarter by running 2 yards and it was 21-19.

Another bad snap on a punt caused the punter Vance to kick on the run and the ball only went 8 yards.

With the ball on the 41, it took 5 plays to go the distance with Burcham hitting Ford Rickard for 28 yards and a touchdown. Burcham ran for the conversion and it was 27-21 with 8:18 to play.

South Point looked to have a threat started as McLain hit Vance with a pass down the middle for 42 yards. But a nice tackle on the play caused a fumble and Aiden Trimble recovered for the Dragons at the Fairland 12.

On third down, Burcham hit Murray out of the backfield and he raced to the Pointers’ 9-yard line. Murray then ran the final 9 yards on the next play and added the conversion to make it 35-21.

The Pointers had one more possession but were unable to move the ball and the Dragons took over on downs and ran out the clock.

On Friday, South Point goes to Chesapeake and Portsmouth visits Fairland.

Fairland 0 13 0 22 = 35

South Point 0 8 13 0 = 21

Second Quarter

Fa — Davin Murray 9 pass from Owen Burcham (Yardley Gorby kick)

SP — James Carey 83 pass from K.J. McLain (Robert Napier pass from Ethan Hunt)

Fa — Conner Black 24 pass from Owen Burcham (kick blocked)

Third Quarter

SP — Landon Vance 6 run (Logan McFann kick)

SP — Landon Vance 16 pass from K.J. McLain (run failed)

Fourth Quarter

Fa — Davin Murray 2 run (run failed)

Fa — Ford Rickard 28 pass from Owen Burcham (Owen Burcham run)

Fa — Davin Murray 9 run (Davin Murray run)

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Fa SP

First downs 13 10

Rushes-yards 37-151 36-15

Passing yards 233 235

Total yards 384 250

Cmp-Att-Int 8-16-2 12-21-1

Fumbles-lost 2-2 3-2

Penalties-yards 9-80 4-31.5

Punts-average 2-40.0 5-22.2

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING–Fairland: Davin Murray 14-64 2-TD, Owen Burcham 8-39, Christian Bompus 8-36, Xander Collins 1-1, Aiden Trimble 4-20; South Point: Landon Vance 19-71 TD, Robert Napier 2-11, K.J. McLain 10-minus 16, Ethan Hunt 3-minus 29, Braden Jackson 1-minus 1, Team 1-minus 21.

PASSING–Fairland: Owen Burcham 8-16-2 233 3-TD; South Point: K.J. McLain 11-17-1 212 2-TD, Ethan Hunt 2-4-0 23.

RECEIVING–Fairland: Conner Black 4-46, Davin Murray 2-88 TD, Kinyon Smith 1-18, Ford Rickard 4-83 TD, Xander Collins 1-minus 2; South Point: Elye Patterson 4-27, Landon Vance 5-78 TD, James Carey 1-83 TD, Davon Lewis 2-40, Braden Jackson 1-7.

MISSED FIELD GOALS–None.