High School Football: Springboro beats Fairmont for first time in three years

“It’s really cool,” Springboro coach Ryan Wilhite said. “We’re blessed.”

The Panthers were blessed on the scoreboard, too, in Week 8. They beat Fairmont 16-12 for their first victory in the series since 2022.

Springboro took the lead on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Max Miller to Brady Guttman with 7 minutes, 32 seconds remaining and then sealed the victory on an interception by Cole Henson with 2:16 to play.

Wilhite praised his team for overcoming injuries, not only throughout the season but during this game, where it lost a starting offensive lineman and a running back.

“It has been just the next man up,” he said. “All we got is all we need. That’s kind of the way it’s been for us. Guys have stepped up and made plays.”

Springboro (5-3, 3-2) ended a two-game losing streak in the series. It lost 24-7 at Fairmont in 2024 and 17-7 at home to Fairmont in 2023.

On the go-ahead touchdown, Guttman caught a screen pass on the left side of the field, ran right toward the center of the field and then cut back through two blockers, outracing four defenders to the end zone for his second touchdown catch of the season.

Guttman missed the last three games with an injury.

“We just got him back,” Wilhite said. “I’ve never seen (so many injuries) in 20 years as a coach here. I’ve never seen it happen to as many great kids who work so hard, but I’m just proud of the team. They don’t have any quit in them.”

Miller completed 13 of 20 passes for 166 yards with two touchdown passes. He has 13 touchdown passes this season. He threw a 40-yard pass to Weston Lewis to set up the Guttman touchdown.

“Weston has been another guy who’s playing in spots due to injuries,” Wilhite said, “and he came up big. A huge catch for him. He’s a senior who really works hard, so I’m happy for him to have that.”

Fairmont opened the game by recovering an onside kick and then took a 3-0 lead on a 44-yard field goal by Kole Krejny.

Springboro took a 7-3 lead on a 2-yard touchdown pass from Miller to Evan Weinberg with 8:40 remaining in the second quarter.

Krejny kicked a second field goal, this one from 33 yards, with 1:24 remaining in the half, and Springboro took a 7-6 lead into halftime.

Fairmont regained the lead, 12-7, on a 1-yard touchdown run by Skyler Slifer with 8:18 left in the third quarter. The conversion run failed.

With 45 seconds left in the third quarter, Jay Greenberg kicked a 21-yard field goal for Springboro, cutting Fairmont’s lead to 12-10.

Damien Pattin led the Fairmont offense with 32 rushes for 145 yards.

“I thought we had a good plan defensively,” Wilhite said. “I feel like they’re going to get you a few times, though, and we always talk about that. We felt like our defense would keep us in it. But offensively, we’ve got to score, too. It’s a two-way street there. Special teams wound up being really big in the game. There were some big special teams plays, some big kicks.”