By Sean McNamara
FAIRMONT – For the third consecutive week the Fairmont Senior Polar Bears built an early lead and let their reserves play a majority of the second half before cruising to a victory, this time getting the best of the Preston Knights, 56-0, Thursday at East-West Stadium in Fairmont.
The headline players for Fairmont Senior (3-0) showed up in a big way in front of their home crowd Thursday, with the Polar Bears collecting big plays throughout the evening in their shutout win.
Quarterback Brody Whitehair orchestrated the offense by completing 9-of-12 passes for 264 yards and four touchdowns, all coming to different receivers.
Alongside Whitehair in the backfield was Dylan Ours who ran for 122 yards and two scores on seven carries while catching a 39-yard touchdown pass and returning a kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown – his third return touchdown in as many games.
With Ours leading the charge, the Polar Bears rushed for 271 yards on 27 carries, collecting 535 total yards in the game on 40 plays.
Helping the offense move the ball successfully all night was the Polar Bears offensive line, which, Ours said, has improved and gained confidence all year.
“From the beginning of the year, we were a little scared of what we were going to have on the offensive line,” Ours said. “They’ve worked hard every day. They’re doing much better than what they were. As of right now, I’m very confident in what they can do. I trust all five of them up front to block the guys in front of them.”
Also making noise on the offensive side of the ball for the Polar Bears was Navaughn Jones who ran for a 56-yard touchdown in a game that saw him rush for 72 yards and catch a pass for 25 yards. Gavin Michael caught one pass from Whitehair – a 69-yard touchdown – while Cannon Dinger caught two passes for 51 yards, including a 28-yard score, and Damani Johnson caught one pass for a 17-yard TD.
Rounding out the scoring for FSHS was kicker Cam Peschl, who hit all nine of his PAT attempts.
The offensive fireworks helped the Polar Bears build a 56-0 lead early in the third quarter and allowed the second unit to finish out the game once again, something that coach Nick Bartic hopes is a sign that his team is doing what it’s supposed to early in games.
“Hopefully that’s a sign that our guys our focused, our practices are focused and we drive toward a goal and we execute well when it comes to game time,” Bartic said. “That’s something you hope carries over as we go through the season.”
On the defensive side of the ball, the Polar Bears pitched a shutout, marking the second consecutive game that the Knights have failed to score.
In the game, Preston ran 48 plays for 111 total yards, with Ethan Likens and Cole Turner rushing for 84 and 32 yards, respectively.
The defensive headliner in the contest was Dinger, who intercepted Preston QB Turner three times in the first quarter and helped set the tone early on.
“The defense played great today,” Ours said. “We stepped up everywhere. The D-line, linebackers and DBs played great. Cannon with the three picks – that’s phenomenal ball-hawking ability and shows what he can do.”
“He does things that you can’t teach,” Bartic said of Dinger. “He has that ability. You have to let those guys do their thing.”
Johnson also collected an interception in the game for the Polar Bears.
While there were plenty of positives for the Polar Bears, there are still areas of the game FSHS is looking to improve upon after losing two fumbles and committing 145 yards of penalties in the win Thursday.
“There’s things we have to clean up,” Bartic said. “We’re trying some things out, and we had some mixing and matching with personnel a little bit. There are things that we will check out on film tomorrow to clean up.”
Next up for the Knights is a home game against Robert C. Byrd, while the Polar Bears will travel to Bridgeport.
FAIRMONT SENIOR 56, PRESTON 0
FS;PRE
First Downs;18;7
Rushing Yards;271;100
Passing Yards;264;11
Total Yards;535;111
Passing;9-13-0;3-16-4
Fumbles;3;2
Fumbles Lost;2;0
Penalties;14-145;3-15
Individual Statistics
Rushing
FS: Brady Ours 7-122 2 TD, Navaughn Jones 2-72 1 TD, Taner Woodman 2-33, Brody Whitehair 2-22, Rudy Carrillo 2-16, Tarran Boda 3-12, Justice Smith 2-11, Chris Wilson 1-2, Damani Johnson 2-(-4), TEAM 4-(-15) Totals: 27-271. PRE: Ethan Likens 16-84, Cole Turner 12-32, Brody Bryner 1-(-4), Dillon Taylor 2-(-5), Team 1-(-7), Totals 32-100.
Passing
FS: Brody Whitehair 9-12-0 264 yards 4 TD, Taner Woodman 0-1-0. PRE: Cole Turner 3-16-4 11 yards.
Receiving
FS: Gavin Michael 1-69 1 TD, Logan Canfield 3-63, Cannon Dinger 2-51 1 TD, Dylan Ours 1-39 1 TD, Navaughn Jones 1-25, Damani Johnson 1-17 1 TD. PRE: Ethan Likens 3-11.
FS;;28;14;14;0;;56
PRE;;0;0;0;0;;0
Scoring Plays
First Quarter
FS – Navaughn Jones 56-yard run (Cam Peschl kick)
FS – Dylan Ours 24-yard run (Peschl kick)
FS – Ours 39-yard pass from Brody Whitehair (Peschl kick)
FS – Cannon Dinger 28-yard pass from Whitehair (Peschl kick)
Second Quarter
FS – Damani Johnson 17-yard pass from Whitehair (Peschl kick)
FS – Ours 3-yard run (Peschl kick)
Third Quarter
FS – Dylan Ours 85-yard kickoff return (Peschl kick)
FS – Gavin Michael 69-yard pass from Whitehair (Peschl kick)
