Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

PROCTORVILLE — Whew!

The Athens Bulldogs remained unbeaten as they outscored the Fairland Dragons 55-46 Friday in a game that saw the two teams combine for 1,078 yards and 49 first downs.

“Our inexperience hurt us. We had sophomores trying to cover their 6-4 receivers,” said Fairland coach Cullen Homolka.

“We wanted to stop their running game and make them beat us throwing the ball. We changed up our defenses and we took (Trae Williams) out of the game, but their quarterback is definitely a Division I player and so are their receivers.”

Athens (5-0) racked up 588 total yards and 27 first downs while the Dragons (2-3) amassed 490 with 22 first downs.

Quarterback Joey Burrow was 28 of 37 for 492 yards, eight touchdowns and an interception to lead Athens.

Heath Wiseman caught 12 passes for 270 yards and six touchdowns. Ryan Luehrman had eight receptions for 136 yards and two scores. Williams ran 14 times for 82 yards.

Fairland quarterback Chance Short had another big game. He was 29 of 39 for 374 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.

Evan Maddox had a big game for the Dragons as well. He ran 21 times for 134 yards and three touchdowns. He also caught eight passes for 106 yards.

Nathan Campbell had nine catches for 104 yards and a score. Kyle Sowards had five receptions for 92 yards and a touchdown.

Fairland took the lead to start the game on a 5-yard keeper by Short and Phillip Beaty’s conversion kick.

Athens answered a minute later with a 23-yard pass from Burrow to Wiseman to tie the game.

The Dragons regained the lead less than a minute later on an 8-yard run by Maddox, but Athens scored two touchdowns in less than a minute to go up 21-14 before the end of the quarter.

Beaty hit a 34-yard field goal with 8:32 left in the half and it was 24-17. But Burrow threw TD passes covering 48 yards to Wiseman and 50 yards to Luehrman to open up a 35-17 cushion.

Sowards caught a 31-yard scoring strike with 1:46 lead in the half to cut the deficit to 35-24, but Burrow and Wiseman teamed up on a 6-yard scoring strike with 10 seconds left and it was 42-24 at the break.

The scoring slowed in the third quarter with Maddox getting the only touchdown on a 1-yard run with 2:35 on the clock. The kick failed and it was 42-30.

Athens came back to score on the first play of the fourth quarter as Burrow and Wiseman hooked up on a 30-yard pass play and it was 49-30.

Maddox broke loose on a 49-yard gallop and Short threw to Derrick Willis for the conversion to make it 49-38.

It was Burrow to Wiseman again as they clicked on a 34-yard scoring strike and it was 55-38 with 6:09 left.

But the Dragons couldn’t score again until there was 1:46 to go. Short hit Campbell on a 70-yard pass play and the same duo teamed up again for the conversion.

Athens 21 21 0 13 = 55

Fairland 14 10 6 16 = 46

First Quarter

Fa — Chance Short 5 run (Phillip Beaty kick) 8:18

Ath — Heath Wiseman 23 pass from Joey Burrow (Robert Orr kick) 7:13

Fa — Evan Maddox 8 run (Phillip Beaty kick) 6:15

Ath — Heath Wiseman 24 pass from Joey Burrow Robert Orr kick) 5:29

Ath — Ryan Luehrman 15 pass from Joe Burrow (Robert Orr kick) 5:19

Second Quarter

Fa — Phillip Beaty 34 field goal 8:32

Ath — Heath Wiseman 48 pass from Joey Burrow (Robert Orr kick) 7:20

Ath — Ryan Luehrman 50 pass from Joey Burrow (Robert Orr kick) 3:59

Fa — Kyle Sowards 31 pass from Chance Short (Phillip Beaty kick) 1:46

Ath — Heath Wiseman 6 pass from Joey Burrow (Robert Orr kick) 0:10

Third Quarter

Fa — Evan Maddox 1 run (kick failed) 2:35

Fourth Quarter

Ath — Heath Wiseman 30 pass from Joey Burrow (Robert Orr kick) 11:52

Fa — Evan Maddox 49 run (Derrick Willis pass from Chance Short) 8:26

Ath — Heath Wiseman 34 pass from Joey Burrow (kick failed) 6:09

Fa — Nathan Campbell 70 pass from Chance Short (Campbell pass from Short) 1:46

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Ath Fa

First downs 27 22

Rushes-yards 29-96 41-116

Passing yards 492 374

Total yards 588 490

Cmp-Att-Int 28-37-1 29-39-1

Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties-yards 12-127 7-73

Punts-average 1-41.0 1-36.0

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING—Athens: Trae Williams 14-82, Joey Burrow 12-14; Fairland: Evan Maddox 21-134, Chance Short 12-minus 18.

PASSING—Athens: Joey Burrow 28-37-1 492; Fairland: Chance Short 29-39-1 374.

RECEIVING—Athens: Sam VanderVen 1-11, Zacciah Saltzman 4-51, Heath Wiseman 12-270, Ryan Luehrman 8-136, Dakotah McFee 1-3, Adam Luehrman 2-21; Fairland: Evan Maddox 8-106, Nathan Campbell 9-104, Kyle Sowards 5-92, Dylan Murphy 4-27, Jacob Warner 1-6, Derrick Willis 5-0.