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Bears win a big one
By Will Smith
The Weekly Post
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Published October 16, 2008
RAINSVILLE—Undefeated and state-ranked, Fairview rolled into Rainsville Friday night with plans of continuing an unblemished 2008 season. By halftime, all those plans had pretty much been canceled.
Plainview, running out to a 42-19 halftime lead, routed No. 9 Fairview 49-33 in a crucial Class 4A, Region 7 contest. The victory, coming on the heels of a heartbreaking 43-42 double-overtime loss to Guntersville, keeps the Bears’ hopes of an opening-round home playoff game very much alive.
Plainview (5-2, 4-1 in the region) set the tone early against the Aggies, scoring three first-quarter touchdowns to go out front 21-0. Fairview never really threatened the Bears from that point forward.
“We came ready to play,” Plainview head coach Dale Pruitt said. “Our kids did a good job. Last week was a heartbreaker. They could have felt sorry for themselves, but they didn’t.”
Plainview struck first on the game’s opening drive, going 56 yards on 11 plays. Jordan Fee capped the march with a 2-yard scoring run with 8:25 remaining in the opening quarter.
Fairview didn’t gain a yard on the ensuing possession, handing the ball back to the Bears at their 39-yard line following a poor punt. Plainview took advantage of the good field position, scoring in seven plays. Fee ended the drive with his second TD of the night on a 3-yard run at the 3:10 mark of the first quarter to make it 14-0. The play was set up by a nine-yard pass from Gabe Graham to Josh Kidd.
The Bears’ defense again didn’t yield a yard on the following Fairview possession. However, Plainview fumbled the ensuing punt back to the Aggies at the Fairview 29-yard line.
Fairview’s drive lasted only one play, as Fee stepped in front of a pass at the Fairview 40, returning the interception to the 5. Two plays later, Graham threw to Briar Buchanan for a 4-yard scoring pass to widen Plainview’s lead to 21-0 with around a minute left in the opening period.
Fairview scored on their next drive on a 9-yard TD pass from Trett Hardeman to Eric King, closing the gap to 21-7 with 10:19 left in the second stanza. The Bears answered in a big way over the next several minutes, though, widening their lead to 35-7 with 3:57 remaining in the half on scoring runs by Graham (38 yards) and Kidd (17).
The Aggies tried to mount a comeback, getting a 97-yard kickoff return for a TD by Josh Millwood and a 61-yard scoring pass from Hardeman to Chase Talley to narrow the gap to 35-19 with 1:32 remaining in the second quarter.
Fairview, however, left too much time on the clock for the Plainview offense, which answered by driving 62 yards on just six plays for the final score of the half. Graham hit Kidd for a five-yard scoring pass with 4.4 seconds remaining to end the drive. Eduardo DeSouza, who finished the night 7-of-7 on extra-point attempts, kicked the PAT through the uprights for his team’s 42nd point of the first two quarters of play.
When the dust had settled on the opening half, Plainview had racked up 217 total yards on 41 offensive plays. They picked up 16 first downs along the way. Meanwhile, Fairview ran 26 offensive plays for 180 yards, getting six first downs.
Something that aided the Bears during the opening half was good field position. All but one of Plainview’s seven possessions in the first two quarters began at the Fairview 35 or better. Two of them—both in the first period—started in Fairview territory.
Fairview made the second half briefly interesting when Hardeman threw a 38-yard scoring strike to Alex Hipp with 6:31 remaining in the third period to make the score 42-27. As they had done all game, however, Plainview answered on the ensuing drive, going 56 yards on seven plays. Will Ingle capped the march with a 6-yard TD run with 3:41 in the third quarter to complete Plainview’s scoring and make it 49-27.
Fairview didn’t score again until late in the fourth quarter.
The Bears closed the night with 455 yards of total offense, 313 of which came on the ground. Fee, who suffered a hip injury in the third quarter, picked up 94 rushing yards on 20 carries. Graham had 73 yards on nine attempts while Kidd ran for 62 yards on four touches. Ingle gained 53 yards on six carries. Jesus Gonzales had 37 yards on 11 attempts.
Graham was 13-of-16 passing for 142 yards. Kidd caught six of those passes for 60 yards. Keenan Hodges grabbed two catches for 21 yards while Gonzales also had a pair of grabs for 17 yards. Fee (30 yards), J.T. Clark (10) and Buchanan (4) each had a catch apiece.
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