Big plays key Dragons’ win

Published 11:32 pm Saturday, October 10, 2009

PROCTORVILLE — What Fairland coach Dave Carroll didn’t want to happen did happen. But that wasn’t all that bad.

Carroll wanted to control the clock and keep the ball out of the hands of the River Valley Raiders’ offense. Instead, the Dragons racked up 330 total yards on just 38 plays

“Offensively we wanted to try and run the ball and get some drives, we just busted some plays. It was a big night for big plays,” said Carroll. “We didn’t want to allow them to get big plays. We wanted to contain them.”

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Fairland (5-2, 2-0) scored just two plays into the game. Terry Duty raced 57 yards on first down to the 2-yard line and Matt Bloomfield scored on the next play. Eric Riley ran for the conversion.

Fairland went 48 yards in just four plays in the second quarter with Duty running 26 yards for the score. Bloomfield ran for the conversion and it was 16-0 with 11:52 left in the half.

The Dragons put together a 63-yard, seven-play drive capped by Riley’s 13-yard run that extended the lead to 22-0 with 3:03 on the clock.

Another drive stalled at the River Valley 20-yard line with eight seconds to go in the half.

The third quarter was scoreless thanks in part to an interception by Bloomfield to halt a Raiders’ drive.

Fairland then sealed the win with a 52-yard, four-play drive as Riley bolted 49 yards for a touchdown. Jon Baise ran for the conversion with 8:15 to play.

River Valley (1-6, 0-2) avoided the shutout when Tyler Smith ran 17 yards with 1:37 left.

Duty finished with 170 yards on eight carries and Riley had 76 yards on five attempts filling in for Tanner Sowards who missed the game due to an illness.

Quarterback Chad Fisher was 6-of-10 for 64 yards, all in the first half.

“We played pretty well. When you consider the conditions, the offensive line did a good job and the backs hit the holes. I felt pretty fortunate,” said Carroll about the play of his team in the wet, muddy field conditions.

While Fairland was rolling up the yardage, the defense limited the Raiders to 170 total yards including 98 on the ground.

“(Assistant coaches) Jeff (Gorby) and Terry (Duty) did another great job with the defense and made adjustments and our kids followed the game plan,” said Carroll.

River Valley is now 1-6 and 0-2 in the OVC. The Raiders picked up a win this week when Minford was forced to forfeit a 42-0 win in week one due to an ineligible player who entered the game in the final two minutes.

River Valley 0 0 0 6 = 6

Fairland 8 14 0 8 = 30

First Quarter

Fa — Matt Bloomfield 2 run (Eric Riley run) 11:35

Second Quarter

Fa — Terry Duty 26 run (Matt Bloomfield run) 11:52

Fa — Eric Riley 13 run (pass failed) 3:03

Fourth Quarter

Fa — Eric Riley 49 run (Jon Baise run) 8:15

RV — Tyler Smith 17 run (pass failed) 1:37

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RV Fa

First downs 10 15

Rushes-yards 39-98 28-266

Passing yards 72 64

Total yards 170 330

Cmp-Att-Int 4-11-1 6-10-0

Fumbles-lost 1-1 4-1

Penalties-yards 3-15 6-50

Punts-average 4-23.0 1-37.0

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING—River Valley: Cody McAvena 19-76, Eli Kimble 1-minus 2, Jacob Brown 12-minus 17, Tyler Smith 7-41 TD. Fairland: Terry Duty 8-170, Matt Bloomfield 11-16, Eric Riley 5-76, Chad Fisher 2-minus 4, Cody Midkiff 1-5, Josh Ross 1-3.

PASSING—River Valley: Jacob Brown 4-11-1 73. Fairland: Chad Fisher 6-10-0 64.

RECEIVING—River Valley: Chad Smith 4-73. Fairland: Terry Duty 2-22, Jon Baise 2-32, Kyle Taubenheim 2-10.