Quick-striking Dragons down Redmen in OVC
Published 12:53 pm Monday, September 30, 2019
Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com
PROCTORVILLE — The Fairland Dragons are very efficient.
Thanks to their quick-strike ability, the Dragons (3-2, 1-1) ran just 27 plays but had 328 total yards as they beat the Rock Hill Redmen 36-12 in an Ohio Valley Conference game on Friday.
Quarterback Max Ward was 8-of-10 for 213 yards but six of his completion were screens for which receivers turned into three big scoring plays.
Michael Stitt was the main striker as he ran the ball just six times for 87 yards and caught two passes for 97 more. Stitt had a 59-yard scoring run and turned a screen pass into a 61-yard TD play.
Gavin Hunt caught four passes for 65 yards including a screen pass in which he outran the defense 42 yards for a touchdown.
The injury-riddled Redmen (0-5, 0-2) had 210 total yards with 195 coming on the ground on 56 attempts.
Logan Hankins ran for 100 yards on 20 carries and scored a touchdown for the Redmen while Hayden Harper carried 14 times for 44 yards and Owen Hankins had 31 yards on 11 tries.
After an incomplete pass, Fairland scored on the second play of the game as Stitt darted around left end and ran 59 yards for the score. Hunt got a bad snap but ran for the conversion and it was 8-0 at the 11:40 mark.
Rock Hill drove to the Fairland 30 before the drive stalled and on first down, Ward threw a screen to Stitt who race through the defense for 61 yards and the score to make it 14-0.
The Redmen got to the Dragons’ 31 but a costly penalty caused them to turn the ball over on downs.
A 33-yard screen pass to Tevin Taylor got the ball to the Rock Hill 11 and three plays later Ward hit Hunt coming from left to right on a slant pass and was 22-0 after Stitt’s conversion run.
Rock Hill then went 65 yards in 15 plays capped by Hunter Massie’s 1-yard sneak and it was 22-6 with only 11 seconds to play.
But that was enough time for the quick-strike ability of the Dragons.
Fairland got the ball at its own 48 as Ward hit Brennan West on a quick out pattern with a 16-yard completion to the Redmen 36.
Ward then hit Stitt with a screen and he raced into the end zone with no time on the clock for a 28-6 halftime left.
The Redmen got to the Fairland 40-yard line to begin the second half before the drive went cold. Five plays later, Hunt took a screen pass and darted 42 yards to the end zone.
Schmidt caught the conversion pass and it was 36-6 with 5:30 left in the third quarter.
Rock Hill wouldn’t quit as they took a 33-yard punt at the Dragons’ 38 and Logan Hankins ripped through the middle of the defense for a 38-yard touchdown run with 8:51 to play.
Rock Hill 0 6 0 6 = 12
Fairland 14 14 8 0 = 36
First Quarter
Fa — Michael Stitt 59 run (Gavin Hunt run) 11:40
Fa — Michael Stitt 61 pass from Max Ward (kick failed)
Second Quarter
Fa — Gavin Hunt 11 pass from Max Ward (Michael Stitt run) 7:46
RH — Hunter Massie 1 run (run failed) 0:11
Fa — Michael Stitt 36 pass from Max Ward (kick failed) 0:00
Third Quarter
Fa — Gavin Hunt 42 pass from Max Ward (Zander Schmidt pass from Max Ward) 5:30
Fourth Quarter
RH — Logan Hankins 38 run (pass failed) 8:31
——
RH Fa
First downs 14 12
Rushes-yards 56-195 15-112
Passing yards 15 216
Total yards 210 328
Cmp-Att-Int 1-3-0 9-12-0
Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-2
Penalties-yards 4-25 8-69
Punts-average 1-23.0 1-33.0
Individual Leaders
RUSHING — Rock Hill: Logan Hankins 20-100, Hayden Harper 14-44, Owen Hankins 11-31, Hunter Massie 3-minus 8, Skyler Kidd 2-5, Brock Friend 2-4, Chase Delong 1-4, Eli Richardson 3-15; Fairland: Michael Stitt 6-87, Steeler Leep 4-24, Jascob Craft 2-18, Rhiyder Slone 1-3, Max Ward 2-minus 20.
PASSING — Rock Hill: Hunter Massie 1-3-0 15; Fairland: Max Ward 8-10-0 213, Zander Schmidt 1-2-0 3.
RECEIVING — Rock Hill: Logan Hankins 1-15; Fairland: Gavin Hunt 3-65, Zander Schmidt 1-5, Brennan West 1-16, Tevin Taylor 1-33, Michael Stitt 2-97.