Photos and Story By Sean McNamara
FAIRMONT – The Fairmont Senior Polar Bears came out red hot on their home turf Thursday, leading Robert C. Byrd 56-6 at halftime before letting the reserves take and secure the 62-34 win.
The Polar Bears (2-0) took advantage of two early RCB fumbles and scored three touchdowns Thursday before the Eagles (0-2) had run three offensive plays to open the game.
Quarterback Brody Whitehair was the early offensive catalyst as he scored on a 12-yard run and connected on TD passes of 5 and 30 yards, respectively, to Dylan Ours and Gavin Michael.
Getting those early turnovers not only helped FSHS jump out to the early lead but showed progress in stripping the ball from the opponent – something that Polar Bear coach Nick Bartic said his team practices on a regular basis.
“A few years ago, Bluefield was really good at that and we learned a lesson from that,” Bartic said. “It was about five or six years ago, and ever since then we’ve really focused on that, too.”
Fairmont Senior got one additional touchdown on a 4-yard Whitehair run to give them a 28-0 lead after the first quarter.
That touchdown marked the fourth of seven total scores that Whitehair, who passed for 246 yards and five touchdowns and ran for 24 yards and two more scores, accounted for in the game.
“Everything was working,” Whitehair said. “Defenses were giving it to us, and our offensive coordinator was calling good plays, Our line was stepping up and doing big things, so that definitely helped.”
Less than four minutes into the second quarter the Polar Bears extended their lead to 42-0 after Damani Johnson and Ours hauled in Whitehair TD tosses of 24 and 59 yards, respectively.
With 7:45 left before halftime, the Eagles got on the board as Jaden Hatfield broke away from the FSHS defense and scored on a 64-yard run to make the score 42-6.
Whatever sliver of momentum the Eagles hoped to gain from Hatfield’s scamper was short-lived, however, as Ours took the ensuing kickoff back 80 yards for his second return touchdown in as many weeks.
An 8-yard run from Johnson gave the home-standing Polar Bears a 56-6 lead at the halftime break, with FSHS holding a 245-130 advantage in total yards through the first 24 minutes.
“Our first team looked great all night,” Bartic said. “The offensive was explosive like we want them to be and the defense was sound, as was special teams.”
In the third quarter, the reserves took over for FSHS and the Eagles began to find an offensive rhythm, scoring four unanswered touchdowns.
Latrell Jones and Junior Smith each tallied rushing touchdowns in the third quarter with Jones scoring from 27 yards away and Smith from 4 yards away to make the score 56-20.
In the fourth quarter, Smith scored from 9 yards out and Hatfield scored from 27 yards away to cut the deficit to 56-34 with just under 4 minutes to play.
“The second team learned plenty of lessons there,” Bartic said. “Last week they looked good, and this week, not so good. The second half was rough there.”
The FSHS first team returned for one final series late, and Whitehair flipped a quick forward pass to receiver Cannon Dinger who raced 76 yards for the final score of the game.
Dinger was the game’s leading receiver with 97 yards on three catches and a score, giving him 205 receiving yards on Whitehair passes through two games.
“We came in last year and I was the new kid,” Dinger said of his relationship with his QB. “No one knew of me and I came in and balled out and got the starting position. Me and him bonded and we’re still really good friends. We just have that type of chemistry.”
Ours caught two passes for 64 yards while running for 51 yards on six carries, while Michael hauled in two passes for 50 yards in the win. Kicker Cam Peschl was a perfect 9-for-9 on PAT attempts.
For Robert C. Byrd, Jones ran for a game-high 130 yards on 19 carries with a touchdown while Hatfield ran for 112 yards and two scores on nine carries.
Smith accounted for 55 rushing yards and two touchdowns while also intercepting a Whitehair pass on defense.
Fairmont Senior will next take on Preston on Thursday while RCB will have a bye week before traveling to Preston on Sept. 15 for its third consecutive road game to start the season.
FAIRMONT SENIOR 62 ROBERT C. BYRD 34
Team Statistics
FS;RCB
First Downs;16;13
Rushing Yards;132;324
Passing Yards;258;5
Total Yards;390;329
Passing;11-17-1;1-4-0
Fumbles;3;3
Fumbles Lost;1;2
Penalties;8-75;4-20
Individual Statistics
Rushing: FS: Dylan Ours 6-51; Tarran Boda 3-28, Brody Whitehair 3-24 2 TD, Chris Wilson 3-20, Damani Johnson 2-13 1 TD, Logan Canfield 1-12, Cannon Dinger 1-11, TEAM 2-(-27) Totals: 21-132. RCB: Latrell Jones 19-130 1 TD, Jaden Hatfield 9-112 2 TD, Junior Smith 7-55 2 TD, James McMillon 4-19, Eddie Mataniemeke 4-15, Deegan Barnett 1-3, Rylan Rock 1-(-7) TEAM 1-(-3) Totals: 47-324.
Passing: FS: Brody Whitehair 9-14-1 246 yards 5 TD, Taner Woodman 2-3-0 12 yards. RCB: Rylan Rock 1-4-0 5 yards.
Receiving: FS: Cannon Dinger 3-97 1 TD, Dylan Ours 2-64 2 TD, Gavin Michael 2-50 1 TD, Damani Johnson 1-24 1 TD, Logan Canfield 1-11, Tayvion Thornton 1-7, Jordan Wagner 1-5. RCB: Junior Smith 1-5.
FS;;28;28;0;6;;62
RCB;;0;6;14;14;;34
Scoring Plays
First Quarter
FS – Brody Whitehair 12-yard run (Cam Peschl kick)
FS – Dylan Ours 5-yard pass from Whitehair (Peschl kick)
FS – Gavin Michael 30-yard pass from Whitehair (Peschl kick)
FS – Whitehair 4-yard run (Peschl kick)
Second Quarter
FS – Damani Johnson 24-yard pass from Whitehair (Peschl kick)
FS – Ours 59-yard pass from Whitehair (Peschl kick)
RCB – Jaden Hatfield 64-yard run (pass failed)
FS – Ours 80-yard kickoff return (Peschl kick)
FS – Johnson 8-yard run (Peschl kick)
Third Quarter
RCB – Latrell Jones 27-yard run (Hatfield run)
RCB – Junior Smith 4-yard run (run failed)
Fourth Quarter
RCB – Smith 9-yard run (run failed)
RCB – Hatfield 27-yard run (Andrew Swiger run)
FS – Cannon Dinger 76-yard pass from Whitehair (Peschl kick)
