Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

PROCTORVILLE — The Fairland Dragons have been in the football postseason playoffs before, and thanks to seniors J.D. Brumfield and Zander Schmidt they’re coming back next week, too.

Brumfield ran 14 times for 197 yards and 3 touchdowns and had an interception while Schmidt caught 3 passes for 82 yards and two scores and had an interception as the Dragons rolled the Buckeye Trail Warriors 47-0 in the opening round of the Division 6 playoffs on Saturday night.

The Dragons (9-1) will host Worthington Christian in the quarterfinals at 7 p.m. on Saturday in somewhat of a revenge game. Worthington Christian beat the Dragons in the basketball regional finals in March.

The Dragons racked up 413 total yards with 277 coming on the ground. Quarterback Peyton Jackson was 6-of-12 for 131 yards and 3 TD passes. Jackson also ran 5 times for 33 yards.

Fairland’s defense slammed the door on the Warriors’ offense. The Warriors had 75 total yards — all on the ground — and failed to complete any of their 11 passes except for 3 interceptions by the Dragons.

Brumfield had a big 34-yard run in the Dragons’ first series and did the scoring honors with a 3-yard run. Alex Bruce kicked the conversion for a quick 7-0 lead.

Fairland came right back on its next possession to score as Jackson and Schmidt clicked on a 17-yard touchdown pass and it was 14-0.

Schmidt intercepted a pass to give Fairland the ball at the Warriors’ 34-yard line to set up a 24-yard touchdown pass from Jackson to Steeler Leep and the lead jumped to 21-0.

Buckeye Trail turned the ball over on downs at the 34-yard line on its next possession and the Dragons took advantage of the short field to score yet again as Brumfield ran 1-yard for a touchdown and a 28-0 lead.

Following a 24-yard Warriors’ punt at their own 15, the Dragons didn’t take long to cover the 39 yards as Brumfield raced 18 yards for a touchdown and Bruce’s fifth conversion kick made it 35-0.

Brumfield came up with an interception and that set up a 58-yard scoring pass from Jackson to Schmidt and the lead ballooned to 41-0 just before the half.

Leep had an interception in the end zone for a touchback with less than a minute to play in the half.

Buckeye Trail took the second half kickoff and was unable to move the ball and the Dragons had the ball back with less than 10 minutes left in the third quarter.

Brumfield capped the scoring and he burst through the defense for a 65-yard touchdown gallop and it was 47-0.

Buckeye Trail 0 0 0 0 = 0

Fairland 21 20 6 0 = 47

First Quarter

Fa – J.D. Brumfield 3 run (Alex Bruce kick)

Fa – Zander Schmidt 17 pass from Peyton Jackson (Alex Bruce kick)

Fa – Steeler Leep 24 pass from Peyton Jackson (Alex Bruce kick)

Second Quarter

Fa – J.D. Brumfield 1 run (Alex Bruce kick)

Fa – J.D. Brumfield 18 run (Alex Bruce kick)

Fa – Zander Schmidt 58 pass from Peyton Jackson (kick failed)

Third Quarter

Fa – J.D. Brumfield 65 run (kick failed)

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BT Fa

First downs 6 10

Rushes-yards 35-75 28-277

Passing yards 0 136

Total yards 75 413

Cmp-Att-Int 0-11-3 8-13-0

Fumbles-lost 3-1 1-1

Penalties-yards 1-5 4-50

Punts-average 3-33.3 1-47.0

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING — Buckeye Trail: Franko Rome 18-36, Nick Neuhart 9-43, Donovan Geiger 2-minus 5, Noah Betts 2-minus 1, Brendan Bates 4-2; Fairland: J.D. Brumfield 14-197, Peyton Jackson 5-33, Zion Martin 4-16, Kam Kitts 1-9.

PASSING — Buckeye Trail: Nick Neuhart 0-11-3; Fairland: Peyton Jackson 6-12-0 131, Ethan Wall 1-2-0 5.

RECEIVING — Buckeye Trail: None; Fairland: Zander Schmidt 3-82 2TD, Steeler Leep 1-24 TD, Christian Collins 1-12, Kam Kitts 1-13, C.J. Graham 1-5.