FAIRBORN — Playing in their final home game of the 2018 season, Fairborn High’s Skyhawks showed there is no quit in their team.
Down 14-0 early on, and then trailing 21-6 after one quarter of play, the host Skyhawks rallied in a very big way, Oct. 19, for a 52-27 win over West Carrollton.
Unofficially, Fairborn quarterback Garrison Secrest connected on 10 of 14 passes for 186 yards. The junior QB also had touchdown runs of one and two yards.
In the early going, it looked as if West Carrollton quarterback Tristan Dillon was going to have an enjoyable night of picking apart the Fairborn defensive secondary. Dillon had tossed for 138 yards in the first half alone. Meanwhile, Pirates running back Jordan Ward was racking up solid yardage on the ground.
But those offensive heroics didn’t keep Fairborn from battling back.
With 3:55 left in the opening quarter, Fairborn showed some signs of a comeback as they went 69 yards on eight plays for their first score of the night. Secrest tossed a short pass to his right to Gage Barron for the score. With a pesty rain and occasional wind gusts, the Skyhawks’ extra point try sailed wide right, but they were back within eight points of the Pirates.
Ward responded with his second touchdown of the game and the Pirates were back in front, 21-6.
Again, Fairborn battled back.
First. Secrest launched a 42-yard bomb to Jarod Bodekor to put the Skyhawks on the Pirates 7-yard line. Three plays later, Secrest scored on a QB keeper. Secrest then lobbed a pass to Barron for a two-point conversion to make it 21-14 in West Carrollton’s favor.
Fairborn wasn’t done.
They surprised the Pirates with an onside kick on the kickoff, and recovered the ball on the West Carrollton 40.
Another Secrest bomb, this time to Barron for 38 yards, led to Hunter Warner’s TD score from two yards away. Another successful 2-point try, this time a Secrest toss to O.J. Person, and suddenly Fairborn had a 22-21 lead.
They never trailed again.
Secrest added a two-yard TD run, then converted yet another two-point try (a pass to Dwight Lewis this time), and Fairborn was up 30-21 with 3:43 left in the first half.
Jamison Anderson’s interception gave the Skyhawks the ball on the West Carrollton 3-yard line with 25.8 ticks left in the half, and a Warner score, followed by a Secrest-to-Bodekor two-point pass, had the ‘Hawks out in front38-21 at the break.
Fairborn scored on its first possession of the second half — a Trae Long run to the left from 3 yards out. Secrest ran in for a two-point score to make it 46-21 with 9:17 left in the third quarter.
West Carrollton responded with a 13-play, 59-yard drive that saw Ward rumble into the Fairborn end zone from a yard out. The Pirates’ two-point try failed, but West Carrollton had drawn closer at 46-27.
Fairborn then closed out the scoring on a nine-play drive that ended the third quarter and began the fourth. Backup quarterback Brody Munger connected with Long for a 15-yard score. After the two-point try failed, Fairborn was in control, 52-27, with 10:29 left to play.
West Carrollton did draw close to scoring with roughly six minutes left in the contest, but the Pirates’ final drive stalled out with an incomplete fourth-down pass on the Fairborn 11-yard line.
With the win, Fairborn is now 2-1 in the Greater Western Ohio Conference’s South division and 2-7 overall. The Skyhawks will finish out their season at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25 at Doug Adams Stadium against Xenia, a surprise 29-28 overtime winner on the road over Trotwood-Madison on Friday.
West Carrollton falls to 1-8 overall, 0-3 in the GWOC South. The Pirates will host GWOC South foe Stebbins for their final contest of the 2018 campaign at 7 p.m., Friday, Oct. 26.
