By Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

PROCTORVILLE — PASS!

The ball was in the air on Friday night as the Fairland Dragons toppled the South Point Pointers 35-22 in a game that saw the two quarterbacks combine to throw 68 passes.

Fairland’s Peyton Jackson was 16-of-28 for 329 yards and 3 touchdown while the Pointers’ Jordan Ermalovich was 17-of-40 for 248 yards and 3 touchdowns with a pair of interceptions.

Fairland’s Steeler Leap caught 5 passes for 119 yards and a score as he used his speed to turn screen passes into big gains.

The game didn’t start well for the Dragons who fumbled the opening kickoff and the Pointers recovered at the 26. But the Fairland defense held and got the ball back at the 33.

Fairland (5-2, 2-2) moved to the Pointers’ 48 and then Jackson hit Leap with a pair of screen passes that he tuned into 22- and 26-yard gains, the latter for the touchdown. Gabe Polcyn’s conversion kick made it 7-0 at the 8:04 mark.

After a Pointers’ punt, Leep took a swing pass and ran 34 yards to the Pointers’ 33.

Jackson scrambled for 17 yards, hit Hayden for 11 yards and finished the drive with a 3-yard slant to Keegan Smith and it was 13-0 with 3:20 left in the quarter.

The Dragons turned to a little trickery on their next possession to score.

Hayden had just one catch for 93 yards but he was credited with an additional 82 yards when he took a lateral on a hook-and-ladder play that went for a 90-yard scoring play. Brycen Hunt caught the past for an 8-yard gain and then tossed to Hayden who took it the rest of the way for the score and a 19-0 lead with 10:39 left in the first half.

The lead went to 25-0 with 2:48 left when Hunt returned a punt 56 yards for the touchdown.

After an interception by Christian Collins, Fairland took the ball 77 yards in 10 plays capped by Zion Martin’s 4-yard TD run with 5:21 on the clock. Polcyn kicked the conversion for a 32-0 lead.

South Point (2-5, 0-4) finally got going as Blaine Freeman turned a middle screen pass into a 79-yard gain to the Fairland 5-yard line.

Ermalovich hit Kamren Wilkerson on the next play and then threw to Jalyn Anderson for the conversion to make it a 32-8 game with 2:07 left in the quarter.

Fairland got a pass completion to the Pointers’ 19 only to fumble and Ermalovich returned the ball to the Dragons’ 47.

Seven plays later, Ermalovich scrambled and found Xathan Haney alone in the end zone for a 22-yard TD pass and it was 32-14 with 6:46 to go.

The Pointers recovered the onside kickoff but Hunt came up with an interception.

A 23-yard run by Quentin Cremeans got the ball to the Pointers’ 17 but the drive stalled and Polcyn kicked a 30-yard field goal to make it 35-14 with 3:32 left.

It took the Pointers just 4 plays to answer as Ermalovich hit Eli Wilburn with a 33-yard scoring strike. Ermalovich threw to Braydon Hanshsaw and it was 35-22 with 1:39 to play.

Fairland was forced to punt on its next possession but the Pointers only had time for 3 more plays.

The Dragons finished with 437 total yards including 108 on the ground, Martin ran 13 times for 57 yards and a TD.

South Point only managed 24 net rushing yards on 31 carries and had 272 total yards.

South Point 0 0 8 14 = 22

Fairland 13 12 7 3 = 35

First Quarter

Fa —Steeler Leap 26 pass from Peyton Jackson (Gabe Polcyn kick) 8:04

Fa — Keegan Smith 3 pass from Peyton Jackson (kick failed) 3:20

Second Quarter

Fa — Jack Hayden 82 lateral from Brycen Hunt (run failed) 10:39

Fa — Brycen Hunt 56 punt return (pass failed) 2:48

Third Quarter

Fa — Zion Martin 4 run (Gabe Polcyn kick) 5:21

SP — Kamren Wilkerson 5 pass from Jordan Ermalovich (Jalyn Anderson pass from Jordan Ermalovich) 2:07

Fourth Quarter

SP — Xathan Haney 22 pass from Jordan Ermalovich (run failed) 6:46

Fa — Gabe Polcyn 30 field goal 3:32

SP — Eli Wilburn 33 pass from Jordan Ermalovich (Braydon Hanshaw pass from Jordan Ermalovich) 1:39

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SP Ga

First downs 13 23

Rushes-yards 31-24 22-108

Passing yards 248 329

Total yards 272 437

Cmp-Att-Int 17-40-2 16-28-0

Fumbles-lost 3-1 3-2

Penalties-yards 10-101 8-87

Punts-average 3-36.7 1-35.0

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING–South Point: Blaine Freeman 11-19, Gage Chapman 8-15, Jordan Ermalovich 11-minus 9, Eli Wilburn 1-minus 1; Fairland: Zion Martin 13-57 TD, Peyton Jackson 7-30, Quentin Cremeans 1-23, Steeler Leap 1-minus 2.

PASSING–South Point: Jordan Ermalovich 17-40-2 248 3TD; Fairland: Peyton Jackson 16-28-0 329 3TD.

RECEIVING–South Point: Braydon Hanshaw 3-18, Blaine Freeman 3-97, Eli Wilburn 4-59 TD, Xathan Haney 4-55 TD, Rece Craft 1-11, Kamren Wilkerson 2-8; Fairland: Brycen Hunt 4-40, Steeler Leap 5-119 TD, Jack Hayden 1-93 TD, Zion Martin 2-26, Keegan Smith 3-30, Christian Collins 1-21.