Rome Township, Ohio — After waiting two and half hours to kickoff the season because of lightning Fairland ( 1-0 ) out scored Tolsia ( 0-1 ) in the second half 20-0 to beat the Rebels 34-12 Friday night at Jim Mayo Stadium in a game that ended at 12:41 Saturday morning.
The Dragons dented the score board first on a 36 yarder from Micheal Stitt and a Emma Marshall PAT made it 7-0 with 3:43 to go in the first period.
Early in the second quarter Fairland made it 14-0 as Zander Schmidt scrambled 19 yards for a TD and Marshall added the PAT for a 14-0 lead with 11:48 to in the first half.
Tolsia got on the board after Jordan Beckelheimer recovered a blocked punt at the 2 yard line and Tanner Copley punched it into the end zone to make it 14-6 with 8:13 to go in the half.
The Rebel defense stood tall once again with a stop and Tolsia scored with 1:11 left before half to make it 14-12 on a Jesse Muncy 1 yard touchdown, but the 2 point conversion failed once again.
In the third quarter Fairland took advantage of short field position on the kickoff and Stitt scored from 15 yards out to make it 20-12 just 2 minutes into the second half.
On the first play of the Rebels ensuing drive Fairland pounced on a fumble and made it 27-12 just a minute later on a J. D. Brumfield 1 yard keeper and Marshall extra point kick.
Tolsia had chances but couldn’t put the ball in the end zone the rest of the half and Fairland tacked on the final points on a Brumfield 4 yard touchdown run with 4:03 left to set the final score.
Devin Stull had 2 catches for 42 yards and Gavin Meadows 3 for 22 yards.
Tanner Copley led the Rebels in rushing with 56 yards.
TJ Jackson had an interception for the Rebel defense.
Tolsia will travel to Clay Co. ( 1-0 ) Friday night. Fairland will travel to Oak Hill ( 0-1 ) the same night.
Tolsia Head Coach Eric Crum
COACH’S COMMENTS
“… We played one good quarter out of four and that won’t get it done. Our special teams was bad. We gave them a short field and they made us pay. Turning the ball over and stupid penalties is a bad recipe.”
“… The delay had no effect on the game they went through it just like we did. It was unfortunate but nothing we can do about the weather.”
“… It doesn’t get any easier for us next week. We will get back to work and see if we can fix some things and get better.”