“We gave this game away.””

Fayette coach Mike Thompson

The Fayette Falcons fell to the winless Marceline Tigers 14-12 on the road Friday night. The loss was Fayette’s first in the Lewis & Clark Conference and marked Marcelina’s first win after starting the season 0-4.

“We got beat,” Fayette coach Mike Thompson stated flatly after the game. 

Marceline was responsible for both of Fayette’s losses a year ago, the second of which was a one-point decision in the state quarterfinals. If there was one game the Falcons were expected to be hungry to win, this was it. But Thompson said his team had a terrible week of practice leading up to Friday’s matchup.

“It was the worst week of practice we’ve had all year,” he said. “And they understand that.”

After going three and out on their opening drive of the game, the Falcons marched down the field and scored on their second possession to take the first lead of the game. Fayette set up the score with a 33-yard pass from senior quarterback Ben Wells to senior Chase Allen-Jackman to the 1-yard line. Two plays later, freshman running back Carter Vroman ran the ball in for the touchdown.

The kick from sophomore Kaleb Friebe sailed to the right of the goalpost to make the score 6-0, a lead Fayette would hold until nearly halftime.

With 1:16 left to play in the second quarter, Marceline scored on a 50-yard pass reception by junior Caleb Stallo to tie the game. The Tigers’ point-after attempt was good to put Marceline in front 7-6 at halftime.

“Their halfback pass for a touchdown was the key play of the game,” Thompson said. “It was third and long, very little time in the half, and we got beat over the top. That should never, ever happen. There’s no excuse for that.”

The Tigers extended their lead on their second drive of the third quarter on a 13-yard run by junior Connor Quinn with 4:21 on the clock. The kick was good to make the score 14-6.

Fayette answered on its next drive. Thompson put the ball into the capable hands of his quarterback, who drove the field with his feet on all but one play. He capped off the drive with a three-yard rush into the endzone.

A pass from Wells to Jackman for the two-point conversion was dropped on contact from the Marceline defense to keep Fayette behind by two.

Despite coming up with two fourth-down stops in the final frame, the Falcons’ offense could not find the endzone. One drive was ended with a lost fumble. Another fizzled out with a failed fourth-down conversion with 3:21 left to play.

“A lot of it was us missing blocks,” Thompson explained. “It wasn’t that they did a whole lot different. It was more that we took a bad angle and went to the wrong spot.”

From then on, Marceline found a way to move the sticks and retain possession of the ball while keeping the clock ticking. Following Fayette’s final timeout out of the game with 1:48 left to play, the Tigers converted a third-and-11 situation for a first down to cement the win.

“This is the first game I remember where we physically dominated the game and still lost,” Thompson said. “Just too many mistakes. It’s simple. Too many mental mistakes. Too many things that we can control that we’re not doing right. It started in practice this week. We just weren’t as focused as we needed to be, and I think it carried over.”

Fayette had eight penalties on the night for 80 yards. Marceline was cited four times for 35 yards.

“When you’re jumping offsides and giving them free yards…we just didn’t control that stuff,” Thompson said. “I thought we were easily better than them, and that’s a team we should beat.”

Wells finished with five pass completions on 11 attempts for 74 yards and one interception. He continued to be Fayette’s leading rusher, racking up a game-high 148 yards on 24 carries and a touchdown.

He found two receivers on the night. Jackman had four catches for 38 yards, and Friebe made one reception, a 36-yard catch over the middle at the end of the first quarter.

Vroman was Fayette’s only other rusher with positive yardage. He picked up 38 on eight carries with a touchdown.

Defensively, senior Malakai Graves led the Falcons with eight solo tackles, four of which were for losses. Senior DJ Moore had seven tackles, five assists, and three tackles for loss. Friebe finished with two assists and three tackles for loss. Sophomore Corbin Tucker made four solo tackles and finished with three assists. Senior lineman Haden Kelly had three solo takedowns with one assist.

The Falcon defense allowed 95 yards on 5-for-11 passing from Marceline and gave up 130 rushing yards all game.

“Really, they didn’t do much. It was mostly our miscues. We just took ourselves out of position to make the big plays,” Thompson said.

With the loss, Fayette is now 3-2 on the season, and 2-1 in Lewis & Clark Conference play. Only one team remains undefeated in the conference. Harrisburg (4-1, 3-0) holds on to the top spot after taking down Salisbury on Friday.

But despite Friday’s letdown, Thompson said he hasn’t lost all hope in winning the conference. “We still control our destiny,” he said. “These guys have already lost one. We play everybody else. If we win out, we will be, at the worst, co-champions. We’re still in the driver’s seat.”

Fayette and Harrisburg have yet to face off. That will happen in the penultimate regular-season game on October 14.

On Friday, Fayette will host Paris for its  Homecoming game. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.

Paris (1-4, 0-3) fell to Westran 46-8 last week. The Coyotes’ only win this season came in week 2 with a 36-0 non-conference shutout of Missouri Military Academy.

“Right now, we just have to take care of Paris,” Thompson said. “They’re angry right now. They are upset with giving this game away. We gave this game away. They understand that. They are upset about that. It should work in our favor.”