Young Dragons fall short of comeback bid against West

WEST PORTSMOUTH — If this season is going to be a learning experience for the Fairland Dragons, there were several lessons learned in Friday’s season opener.

The young and inexperienced Dragons had some key mistakes that helped the Portsmouth West Senators hold on for a 30-27 win.

“We only dressed 26 kids tonight, I know we were cramping up and everybody was playing both ways and a bunch of them were cramping up. We could have just quit. I’m super proud,” said Jackson.

“We scored there at the end (of the half) and let them score right before the half, We Could have laid down coming back (to play the second half).”

The teams traded interceptions with West getting one at their own 2-yard line.

Facing third-and-8 at the 4-yard line, Anthony Bishop went wide left, went through a tackle and then slipped another tackle as he raced down the sidelines for a 96-yard touchdown run. Eli Blevins kicked the conversion and it was 7-0 with 6:37 on the clock.

A bad snap on a punt caused the punter to grab the ball in the end zone and throw it out-of-bounds giving West a safety and a 9-0 lead with 2:51 on the clock.

A 55-yard pass from Brody Hall to Braden Adkins gave West a 16-0 lead with 4:46 left in the half.

Fairland answered with a drive that ended when Owen Burcham connected with Ford Rickard on an 11-yard scoring pass in the corner of the end zone. The conversion pass failed and it was 16-6 with 0:35 left in the half.

But the Senators pulled off possibly the biggest play of the game as Cristian Quirasco got behind the secondary and caught a 53-yard touchdown pass with just six seconds left on the clock. Blevins' kick made it 23-6 at the break.

But the young Dragons didn’t lose any of their fire as they came out the second half and scored 14 unanswered points to climb within 23-20.

Freshman Aiden Trimble took the second half kickoff from the Dragons’ 16 to the West 4-yard line. Xander Collins had a pair of 2-yard runs with the second going for a touchdown with 11:26 on the clock. Joshua Hunt kicked the conversion and it was 23-13.

Another key play came on West’s ensuing possession as the Dragons recovered a fumble at the Senators’ 38-yard line.

On a third-and-7, Burcham kept the ball on an option to the left and was stopped at the 1-yard line.

Two plays later, Garrett Massey scored and Hunt’s kick narrowed the deficit to 23-20 with 8:34 left in the quarter.

A personal foul call gave West a first down at their own 47 two minutes into the fourth quarter. Adkins then made a nice over-the-shoulder catch as he just got a foot inbounds at the Fairland 36.

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On a fourth-and-8 at the 11, Hall started left and threw back to the middle of the end zone as Kylan Blake made the catch for the touchdown with 5:11 to play. Blevins added the conversion for a 30-20 lead.

“We only have one senior in the secondary. The others are sophomores. We just didn’t communicate. But we’ll get it. They’re good athletes,” said Jackson.

Fairland came back with its down scoring drive to get within 3 points again.

A clutch 4th-and-14 pass from Burcham to Trimble went for 36 yards and a first down at the West 12-yard line. On the next play, Burcham threw to Kylan Blake in the left corner of the end zone and the Dragons made it 30-27 with 3:02 to go.

Trimble recovered Fairland’s onside kickoff at the West 48. Burcham ran 15 and 16 yards to the West 17, but back-to-back sacks with 12 seconds to play halted the drive and the Dragons’ comeback hopes.

“We’re not good enough to come back when we have a touchdown taken off the board. We’re not there yet,” said Jackson.

“All you want with a young group is a chance to win the game in the fourth quarter and we had a chance. We lost one of our senior leaders (Davin Murray) early in the game. We just didn’t finish. I just hope we learn from it and get better,” said Jackson.

Fairland had 279 yards of total offense with Burcham running 17 times for 91 yards and he was 13-of-18 passing for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns. Rickard had 5 catches for 66 yards and 2 scores and Blake 4 grabs for 30 yards and a touchdown.

Bishop ran 20 times for 154 yards and a touchdown with Hall hitting 9-of-13 for 211 yards and 3 TDs. Adkins caught 4 passes for 200 yards and 2 scores.

Fairland 0 6 14 7 = 27

Ports. West 9 14 0 7 = 30

First Quarter

PW — Anthony Bishop 96 run (Eli Blevins kick), 6:39

PW — Safety (bad snap and ball intentionally thrown out of the end zone, 2:51

Second Quarter

PW — Braden Adkins 55 pass from Brody Hall (Eli Blevins kick), 4:46

Fa — Ford Rickard 11 pass from Owen Burcham (pass failed) 0:32

PW — Cristian Quirasco 53 pass from Brody Hall (Eli Blevins kick) 0:06

Third Quarter

Fa — Xander Collins 2 run (Josh Hunt kick) 11:26

Fa — Garrett Massey 1 run (Josh Hunt kick) 8:34

Fourth Quarter

PW — Braden Adkins 11 pass from Brody Hall (Eli Blevins kick) 5:11

Fa — Kylan Blake 12 pass from Owen Burcham (Josh Hunt kick) 3:02

———————

Fa PW

First downs 16 16

Rushes-yards 38-129 35-196

Passing yards 150 211

Total yards 279 407

Cmp-Att-Int 8-13-1 9-13-1

Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-1

Penalties-yards 9-55 6-41

Punts-ave. 1-18.0 0-00.0

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING—Fairland: Owen Burcham 17-91, Xander Collins 12-34 TD, Christian Bompus 4-18, Davin Murray 3-4, Garrett Massey 1-1 TD, team 1-minus 19; Portsmouth West: Anthony Bishop 20-154 TD, Bo Wroten 5-17, Brody Hall 3-25, Braden Adkins 4-minus 5, Weston Ratcliff 1-5, Gunnar Shonkwiler 1-1, team 1-minus 1.

PASSING—Fairland: Owen Burcham 13–18-1 150 2-TD; West: Brody Hall 9-13-1-211 3-TD.

RECEIVING —Fairland: Ford Rickard 5-66 TD, Kylan Blake 4-30 TD, Aiden Trimble 1-40, Conner Black 1-9, Christian Bompus 1-9, Kinyon Smith 1-minus 3; West: Braden Adkins 4-100 2-TD, Anthony Bishop 3-52, Cristian Quirasco 1-53 TD, Zane Evans 1-6.