“Obviously you saw the end of the game, and if we don’t have those, it’s questionable,” Fairmont coach Dave Miller said.
The two-touchdown lead wasn’t enough because Alter got its offense moving in the second half. However, the early mistakes were too great to overcome, and Fairmont held on for a 24-21 victory at Roush Stadium.
“You can’t help them,” said Alter coach Ed Domsitz, whose team lost to Fairmont for the third straight year and the fifth time in six years.
Wilkins had a front-row seat to the fumbles that gave the Firebirds a 14-0 lead. Seaton returned the first one 20 yards with 9:50 left in the first quarter.
“It was raining a lot and it was one of those plays something needed to happen, and you kind of felt that something was going to happen,” Wilkins said. “Then Matthew Lamberth blew the quarterback up, and you just saw the ball flying over. I’m right there – I’m going to get it – and then next thing you know Daniel Seaton comes out of nowhere. I started blocking for him, and Daniel just runs it in.”
On the next one Lamberth made the hit again while Wilkins dropped into pass coverage. When he saw the ball bouncing loose, he went after it and pounced on it at the Alter 9-yard line. Quarterback Brock Baker ran to the 1 on the next play then sneaked into the end zone for a 14-0 lead with 4:22 left in the first half.
“Those early plays I think were the driving factor of our win,” Wilkins said. “Without those plays I don’t know if we would be where we are right now because Alter came back strong.”
With the rain stopped, Alter responded with a 2-yard touchdown run by Mikey Rose to cut the lead to 14-7 at halftime.
Fairmont came out in the second half with a little different game plan than usual. Miller, whose method has been to pound away on the ground with the triple option, wants to be more balanced this year with some passing. So he opened the second half with Baker throwing a 6-yard pass to Asa Dunlevey. Six running plays later, Dunlevey caught an 8-yard pass on a second-down play.
And six plays later new fullback Justin Turner scored from the 1-yard line for a 21-7 lead with 3:10 left in third. Those were Fairmont’s only two passes, but they made a difference.
When the Firebirds did run it was mostly Turner and Baker getting the tough three- and four-yard carries and breaking a few in the 10- to 15-yard range to keep drives moving. Baker is a returning starter, but Turner ran on the JV team last year and is replacing record-setter Drew Baker.
“It’s fun, but my line really helped me out,” Turner said. “I take it very seriously. I don’t want to make any mistakes so I’m nervous, but I just go out there give it my all.”
Domsitz likes to wear teams down as well with the wishbone running attack, but he has confidence in junior quarterback Gavin Connor to move the team. Connor got some help from a fumble and led the Knights on late scoring drive with a variety of passes over the middle and to running backs out of the backfield.
Fairmont’s Stevie Doty, who intercepted Connor in the first half, tried to field a bouncing punt that the Knights recovered at the 11. Two plays later Connor tossed a 5-yard touchdown pass to Joe Doorley with 10:19 left. Fairmont responded with a 25-yard field goal by Max Gehring for a 24-14 lead with 5:09 left.
Connor then led an 80-yard drive in just under three minutes, capped by Rose’s 1-yard run with 2:20 left. Fairmont was then able to run out the clock.
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