Special teams prove too costly in Dragons’ loss
Published 12:12 am Sunday, August 29, 2010
PROCTORVILLE — Special teams weren’t so special for the Fairland Dragons in Friday’s season opener.
Portsmouth West scored 27 points off special teams turnovers and went on to beat the Dragons 46-16.
“When you give up 27 points off special teams, you’re not going to win any games doing that. And the real kicker is we work on special teams every day,” said Fairland coach Dave Carroll.
West jumped out to a 7-0 lead on a 68-yard run by fullback Trevon Pendleton.
But Fairland came back to take the lead at 8-7 on a 49-yard pass from Chad Fisher to Eric Riley. Fisher threw to Kyle Lawhorn for the conversion and the lead with 11:42 left in the half.
But the lead was short lived as Pendleton returned the kickoff 83 yards for a touchdown and it was 13-8.
A fumble on a punt allowed Kyle Auger to recover the ball in the end zone for a touchdown with 36 seconds left in the half and West led 19-8 at the break.
Auger had a 23-yard scoring run to make it 26-8 late in the third quarter, but Fairland fumbled a punt at the 1-yard line and the Senators recovered to set up a 1-yard plunge by Jerrod Bricker for a 33-8 lead.
West got its final score on a 31-yard pass from Levi Ratliff to Phillip Carnes with 7:34 to play.
Evan Maddox raced 76 yards for a touchdown with 13 seconds left to give Fairland its final score.
Both teams had plenty of offense. West rolled up 392 total yards including 266 on the ground.
Fairland’s balanced attack ran for 176 and Fisher was 8-of-12 for 119 yards. Fisher also ran for 77 yards.
Pendleton carried 12 times for 107 yards.
Ports. West 7 12 14 13 = 46
Fairland 0 8 0 8 = 16
First Quarter
PW — Trevon Pendleton 68 run (Kyle Auger kick) 3:42
Second Quarter
Fa — Eric Riley 49 pass from Chad Fisher (Kyle Lawhorn pass from Fisher) 11:42
PW — Pendleton 83 kickoff return (run failed) 11:31
PW — Kyle Auger recover fumble in end zone (pass failed) 0:36
Third Quarter
PW — Kyle Auger 23 run (Auger kick) 3:31
PW — Jerrod Bricker 1 run (Auger kick) 0:42 after fumbled punt at one
Fourth Quarter
PW — Phillip Carnes 31 pass from Levi Ratliff (Auger kick) 7:34
PW — Justin Crace 17 run (pass failed) 1:20
Fa — Evan Maddox 65 run (Maddox run) 0:13
—————
PW Fa
First downs 18 11
Rushes-yards 266 176
Passing yards 126 119
Total yards 392 295
Cmp-Att-Int 5-7-0 8-12-0
Fumbles-lost 2-1 2-1
Punts-average 2-25.0 3-23.3
Penalties-yards 7-75 6-60
Individual Leaders
RUSHING-Ports. West: Trevon Pendleton 12-107, Kyle Locher 6-35, Austin Bricker 7-36, Levi Ratliff 2-2, Adam Bricker 1-3, Kyle Auger 2-25, Tanner Journey 2-14, Crace 4-32, Kris Zaph 2-12; Fairland: Chad Fisher 18-77, Tanner Sowards 7-30, Eric Riley 11-21, Evan Maddox 4-79, team 1-minus 31.
PASSING-Ports. West: Levi Ratliff 5-7-0 129; Fairland: Chad Fisher 8-12-0 176.
RECEIVING-Ports. West: Adam Bricker 2-69, Phillip Carnes 2-41, Kyle Locher 1-16; Fairland: Cody Midkiff 1-4, Kyle Lawhorn 1-8, Eric Riley 3-80, Alec Warner 2-27.
MISSED FIELD GOALS: None.