Proud is the word Fayette coach Kole Hinton used to express how he felt about his team following the Falcons’ 34-21 loss to Westran on Friday, Not because they lost. But because they played what Hinton said was their best game of the season.

The Falcons dropped to 0-4 with loss and remain the only team without a win in the new Central State 8 Conference after Linn won its first varsity game ever 30-0 over Missouri Military Academy. And while Hinton said he was disappointed with losing, he told his players that success will come if they keep putting in the work.

“You feel very proud because we did work. We have gotten so much better from week one to week four,” Hinton said.

Westran improved to 2-2 on the season, winning its second game in a row. The Hornets are longtime rivals of Fayette, both having competed in the now-defunct Lewis & Clark Conference.

Fayette trailed from the start of the game. After the coin toss, the Falcons were expecting to receive the kickoff. But Westran recovered an onside kick to seize possession and quickly marched downfield to score the first points of the night on a 10-yard pass from quarterback Gage Adler to receiver Marshall Kitchen to go up by six.

Fayette sputtered on its first possession, which ended in a punt to the Westran 27. The Hornets made their way to midfield before senior running back Korbin Perry broke loose for 45 yards to make the score 12-0 with 2:19 left in the opening period.

Fayette ended the first quarter knocking on the door from the Westran seven yard line. On the first play of the second quarter, junior running back Carter Vroman made his way down the home sideline, pushing through the Hornet defenders for Fayette’s first score of the night.

The extra-point kick from senior Caleb Friebe split the uprights to make the score 12-7.

The teams traded fumble turnovers as the second quarter wore on. Finally, it was Westran that found the end zone again from short yardage with 2:20 left in the first half. A two-point conversion made the score 20-7 in favor of the Hornets.

Westran was on the verge of putting the game out of reach midway through the third quarter. But the Fayette defense held on fourth down, giving the Falcons possession at their own 16-yard line.

Facing a long field, Fayette quarterback Ledgyr Conrow put the ball in the sure hands of Vroman, who found room on the left side, exploding for an 84-yard touchdown run.

Friebe’s point-after attempt was blocked, but the Falcons remained within seven points of their old rival.

Once again, Westran was able to maintain a two-score margin. With 2:18 left in the third quarter, the Hornets capped off a 75-yard drive with a 13-yard pass to Kitchen to lead by 13.

The Hornets would pull away early in the fourth quarter. After Fayette converted a fourth down to the Westran 40, Kitchen’s tall reach tipped a pass attempt from Conrow. He then snatched the loose ball and ran 60 yards for a flamboyant pick-six.

Down 34-13 and facing a fourth-and-11 situation, Fayette brought out one of its trick plays from the week before. A pass from Conrow found the diving hands of Colton Cross. Before hitting the ground, the sophomore wide receiver chucked the ball back to Vroman, who ran the ball across the goal line. The hook-and-ladder went for 17 yards. Senior running back Micah Estes pushed across the goal line for a two-point conversion to make the score 34-21.

Hinton was was critical of his defense, which often allowed Westran runners to gain extra yards after breaking multiple Fayette tackle attempts.

“We beat ourselves,” he said. “This week, it wasn’t necessary mistakes or penalties or offsides and things like that. Just missed tackles. They probably had 100 yards of YAC just after our first attempted tackle. And that’s really it. 

But kudos to them. They’re off a line, firing off the ball. Their running back is able to run full speed. It’s hard to to stop that when we’re not quite as big as some of the dudes out front, and we’re getting pushed back a little bit. But at the end of the day, we did well. We gave up 28 points, which is the lowest of the season.”

Sophomore Brodi Tucker led Fayette’s defense with nine solo tackles and four assists, with three tackles for loss. Jacob Wood finished with five solo tackles, followed by Vroman with three tackles and two assists, Colton Cross with three tackles and one assist, and Kai Cunningham and Noah Tecumseh each with two solo takedowns and one assist. Tecumseh also recorded one tackle for loss. 

In the backfield, Friebe had one tackle and one assist while forcing his third fumble in four games this season. 

“Jacob’s been a dog, going both ways. Carter’s been a dog, Brodi’s been a dog. Jaron is playing pretty well. Caleb Friebe’s been a good guy. All those guys are playing both ways,” Hinton said about his defense.

Hinton also gave a shout-out out sophomore Kai Cunningham. “He’s improved so much. He’s tall. He’s super athletic, super coachable.”

Offensively, Fayette amassed 272 yards of offense, mostly on the ground. 

Hinton said his offense performed well but once again struggled to get out of its own way. “I feel like a broken record. It’s hard to dig ourselves out of the hole. The good part is we’ve gotten a lot better at digging ourselves out of those holes. I think we’ve improved a lot more, for sure.”

Conrow was forced to contend with the hands of Kitchen in his face all night but still managed to complete half of his 12 passes for 39 yards.

“You’ve got people who are tall and lanky. If the guy’s getting double-teamed still has the time, awareness, and athleticism to put his hand up not only bat it but to grab it, kudos to that kid,” Hinton said about Kitchen’s interception and touchdown.

Vroman led Fayette’s rushing game with 142 on 15 carries and all three Falcon touchdowns. Estes ran the ball nine times for 64 yards and scored a two-point conversion. Fullback Jaron Cross pushed his way to 16 yards on three carries with a fumble.

Estes led all receivers with 22 yards on two catches out of the backfield. Vroman picked up nine yards on two grabs. Colton Cross made two catches for eight yards, including the athletic reception and lateral on the hook-and-ladder touchdown play.

Hinton and the Falcons will take their 0-4 record on the road for their first-ever Central State 8 game at Linn. The Wildcats were shut out in the first three games of their very first varsity season after a successful junior varsity season a year ago. They flipped the script against Missouri Military Academy last week to win their first varsity game in program history, 30-0.

Friday’s game in Linn is Fayette’s best chance of the season to get in the win column. 

“I told them they’re going to be hungry for a win, too. So, if you don’t think that people aren’t going to come in here and try to punch us in the mouth, you’re wrong. The good part is we’ve learned how to fight from last year. But now we’ve got to figure out how to put our combinations together. It may not look like it from the scores, but every single game that we’ve played has been winnable, period. Last year, I couldn’t say that. And it’s no disrespect for our team last year. But every game has been winnable. Our margin of error is so little. But we’re narrowing the gap.”

Next week, Fayette returns home to face a formidable Tipton (3-1) team that blanked Windsor 18-0 last week. The Falcons finish off the season against South Callaway, Harrisburg, and Russellville, all tough CS8 teams.