“I don’t know how many penalties we had, but you can’t commit penalties and you can’t turn the ball over against good teams, and they’re a good team,” Fairfield coach Jason Krause said. “We were too sloppy.”
The penalties and senior defensive back Jacob Gapinski’s late interception helped Mason limit the Indians to 78 yards of offense in the second half and 240 in the game.
“The defense just kept grinding and grinding,” Mason coach Brian Castner said. “I think that second half — all of our second halves — started in the offseason. They were relentless. They won the line of scrimmage. They refused to lose the line of scrimmage.”
“They had us early,” said Gapinski, whose interception with 2:19 left stopped Fairfield’s last meaningful possession. “We rallied together and fixed some things at halftime and locked their offense down. This was a good win.”
Junior quarterback Jake Harris threw two touchdown passes and junior running back Matt Sora snapped a 14-14 tie with a 1-yard plunge with 4:59 left in the third quarter. The defense took over from there.
Fairfield needed a win to remain undefeated in the Greater Miami Conference going into its matchup next Friday at Colerain — ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press Division I state poll.
The Indians’ only loss going into the game was at Dublin Coffman, the state’s 10th-ranked team.
The Comets, who lost 30-16 to Colerain last week, needed a win to maintain its faint heartbeat in the conference race. They play at Lakota East next Friday.
Considering the staunch defenses fielded by both teams, the 14-14 first half was relatively wide open. Mason, which went into the game ranked sixth in the GMC with an average of 121 passing yards per game, had 110 by halftime.
Fairfield went into the game allowing an average of 8.8 points per game, second in the GMC and just ahead of third-place Mason at 13.7.
Both teams used pass plays of 40-plus yards to set up touchdowns on their opening possessions. Harris connected with junior wide receiver Christian Hutchinson for a 43-yard pass on the second play of the game and followed up three plays later with a 5-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Cameron Buford for a 7-0 Mason lead
Fairfield senior quarterback Aaron Carmack, who went into the game ranked second in the GMC with 1,113 passing yards, and junior wide receiver Chico Robinson teamed up on a 41-yard pass play on Fairfield’s second play of the game, putting the Indians in position for Carmack’s 7-yard scoring pass to senior wide receiver Ethan Burch.
Fairfield took advantage of a Mason violation during a punt to drive from the Comets’ 46 to the 1, setting up Carmack’s plunge for a 14-7 lead.
Mason tied it with 2:38 left in the first half on Harris’s 60-yard bomb to junior wide receiver Austin Croy on the Comets’ first play following an FHS punt.
Both teams are 5-2 overall and 3-1 in the GMC.
Fairfield 14-0-0-3—17
Mason 7-7-7-0—21
M: Cameron Buford 5 pass from Jake Harris (Andrew Hauer kick)
F: Ethan Burch 7 pass from Aaron Carmack (Jerred McGuire kick)
F: Carmack 1 run (McGuire kick)
M: Austin Croy 60 pass from Harris (Hauer kick)
M: Matt Sora 1 run (Hauer kick)
F: McGuire 21 field goal
About the Author