PROCTORVILLE — The Portsmouth West Senators wanted a wrestling match. The Fairland Dragons wanted a track meet.
The result? One your mark, set, go!
The Dragons got their running, er, passing game going and used a big play, quick strike offense to blank the Senators 34-0 in the season opener on Friday.
Quarterback Ethan Wall made his first varsity start memorable as he completed 15-of-19 passes for 214 yards and 3 touchdowns as the Dragons racked up 286 total yards.
Kam Kitts ran 10 times for 43 yards and caught a pass for 28 yards to set up a score. Keegan Smith had 3 receptions for 76 yards and a score and Jack Hayden ran for one touchdown and caught a pair of scoring passes.
“Not to be overconfident, but watching film we knew we had the better athletes,” said Fairland coach Mike Jackson.
“But watching them on film and the physicality they played with against Ironton, all their backs finished. When I say finish I mean when they hit they fall forward.
“We preached all week about gang tackling, don’t tackle low. I knew we were going to score on them, but I was concerned that they were going to long-drive us.”
The long drives didn’t come as the Fairland defense forced numerous 3-and-outs and shut down the passing game as West completed just 2-of-9 passes for a mere 7 yards with an interception.
The West running game had 130 yards on 41 carries for an average of just 3.1 yards a carry. Anthony Bishop ran 11 times for 80 yards and Mason Parker had 54 yards on 19 carries.
Fairland needed just 4 plays to score as they opened the game with a 66-yard drive. A 13-yard run by Wall set up a 48-yard scoring strike to Smith.
Aiden Miller kicked the first of 4 conversions and it was 7-0 at the 10:56 mark.
The Dragons’ Lucas Bompus recovered a fumble on the first play of the second quarter at the West 36 and 6 plays later Walls hit Hayden on a 6-yard scoring pass for a 14-0 lead with 10 minutes left in the half.
A bad snap on the punt that caused the punter to hit his knee and be called down gave Fairland the ball at the West 25.
It took just 3 plays to score with Hayden bolting 20 yards for the score and Miller’s kick pushed the lead to 21-0 with 6:28 on the clock.
A 28-yard punt helped the Dragons get the ball at the West 45 and 5 plays later Wall and Hayden connected on a 36-yard TD pass for a 28-0 lead with just 1:59 left in the half.
Fairland had a long time-consuming drive that lasted 11 plays but ended at the 11-yard line as a fourth down field goal attempt resulted in a bad snap and no points.
But that didn’t stop the Dragons from scoring as West drove to the Dragons 46 only to have quarterback Brody Hall attempt to get rid of the ball while in the grasp of Davin Murray and Smith interrupted the pass and returned it 51 yards for the score to make it 34-0 with just 20 seconds left in the quarter.
This Friday Fairland visits Pt. Pleasant, W.Va., while West visits Portsmouth.
Ports. West 0 0 0 0 = 0
Fairland 7 21 6 0 = 34
First Quarter
Fa — Keegan Smith 48 pass from Ethan Wall (Aiden Miller kick) 10:56
Second Quarter
Fa — Jack Hayden 6 pass from Ethan Wall (Aiden Miller kick) 10:00
Fa — Jack Hayden 20 run (Aiden Miller kick) 6:28
Fa — Jack Hayden 36 pass from Ethan Wall (Aiden Miller kick) 1:59
Third Quarter
Fa — Keegan Smith 51 interception return (kick failed) 0:20
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PW Fa
First downs 8 10
Rushes-yards 41-130 27-782
Passing yards 7 214
Total yards 137 286
Cmp-Att-Int 2-9-1 15-19-0
Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0
Penalties-yards 6-40 5-40
Punts-average 3-35.7 1-31.0
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Individual Leaders
RUSHING–Ports. West: Mason Parker 19-54, Anthony Bishop 11-80, Bo Wroten 3-11, Brody Hall 3-minus 20, Gunnar Shonkwiler 2-12, Braden Adkins 1-3, Tilton Adkins 1-3, Team 1-minus 13; Fairland: Kam Kitts 10-43, Lucas Bompus 2-4, Jack Hayden 3-14 TD, Christian Bompus 2-5, Garrrett Massey 1-2, Xander Collins 1-4, Ethan Wall 7-10, Team 1-minus 10.
PASSING–Ports. West: Brody Hall 2-9- 7; Fairland: Ethan Wall 15-19-0 214 3TD.
RECEIVING–Ports. West: Mason Parker 1-5, Braden Adkins 1-2; Fairland: Keegan Smith 3-76 TD, C.J. Graham 5-33, Xander Collins 1-19, Kam Kitts 1-28, Jack Hayden 2-42 TD, Conner Black 4-17.
MISSED FIELD GOALS–Fairland: Aiden Miller, 37..
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