Fayette regrouped from a tough season opener the week before to fend off a late challenge from Trenton to win 12-7 in front of a home crowd on the team’s home opener Friday night. The win was the Falcons’ first in a new era under head coach Kenny Grubb.

Both teams entered the game 0-1, but Fayette came away all smiles after the offense walked off the field as the seconds ticked off the clock.

Coach Grubb told his players he wanted to end the game with the ball in the Falcons’ hands. Behind by five points, Trenton was forced to punt with 3:32. Fayette worked the clock, but a fumble at midfield was recovered by the Bulldogs with two minutes left. A minute later, the Falcon defense forced back-to-back incomplete passes, the second of which was on fourth, to regain possession.

Fayette hoped to end the game in victory formation, but Trenton had three timeouts left. Eventually, Fayette was able to kill the clock, thanks to a quarterback scamble that erased more than 10 seconds off the clock.

“I told our guys with three minutes left in the game, we need to finish with the ball in our hands. I didn’t mean fumble and give it to them for three players and then finish with the ball in our hands,” said a relieved Coach Grubb after the game.

The Falcons set the tone early, scoring on their first drive after taking the ball 80 yards to the endzone. The big play of the drive was a 40-yard pass from senior quarterback Colten Cross to senior wide receiver Ky Cunningham down the right sideline to the Trenton 34 on the second play from scrimmage.

“Colten’s pass to Ky was huge,” Grubb said. “If we overthrow it or it’s incomplete, we at least put it in their minds, and maybe we can get those corners to back out. But he hit it.”

Fayette kept it on the ground the rest of the drive. Sophomore Kielin Pulliam broke loose down the right sideline to the 11-yard line. Cross then ran to the 1-yard line to set up a first-and-goal. Moments later, after a five-yard penalty, Pulliam capped off the drive with a six-yard run through the middle for the Falcons’ first touchdown of the season.

The two-point attempt failed, giving the Falcons a 6-0 lead just over three minutes into the game.

The Falcon defense kept the momentum up, forcing a stop on Trenton’s first drive of the game. Cunningham ended the Bulldogs’ effort with a sack of senior quarterback Camden Skipper on their own 10-yard line.

A short punt to the 49 gave the Falcons a short field for their second drive.

Fayette took its time, working downfield and eating up clock on a hot, humid night. On a fourth-and-one situation, Fayette senior fullback Brodi Tucker converted with a six-yard run up the middle to set up the Falcons a first-and-goal from the 9.

The Falcons were back up, but two minutes later Tucker finished what he started with an 11-yard touchdown run just outside the left hashmarks.

The two-point attempt again failed, but the Falcons added to their lead, 12-0, with a minute left to play in the first period.

Trenton nearly made it a one-score game before halftime. The Bulldogs shrugged off a quarterback sack early in the second quarter and marched their way downfield with a solid mix of run and pass plays, eventually setting up a first-and-goal from the Fayette 8. But a bad snap on the following play resulted in a 16-yard loss that the Bulldogs wouldn’t overcome. Finally, on fourth-and-goal from the 16, Trenton attempted a field goal, but the kick fell short, keeping the teams separated by 12 points at halftime.

The hot, humid weather took its toll on Fayette in the second half. The Falcons’ first drive of the third quarter ended in a two-yard loss. But the ensuing punt pinned down Trenton at its own 11-yard line.

After inching to the Fayette 31, Trenton senior running back Bradly Miller found a seam up the middle, breaking loose on a 69-yard sprint for the Bulldogs’ only touchdown of the night. The point-after attempt split the uprights, cutting Fayette’s lead to just five points, 12-7 with 6:09 left in the third quarter.

“When we were fresh, we were pretty doggone good. The problem is we don’t stay fresh for long enough on nights like tonight,” said Coach Grubb about his team’s second-half fatigue. The start of the game was pushed back 30 minutes to allow for the sun to set behind the western tree line as the afternoon’s heat index soared into triple digits.

The two teams battled back and forth at midfield for the rest of the game, each punting and neither getting closer than 33 yards to the endzone. But it came down to the final three minutes before the game was decided. Fayette’s fumble turnover with two minutes left could have meant doom for the Falcons. But Grubb and his staff kept their players on high alert. A defining moment came when Trenton completed a pass to midfield, with Pulliam making the stop. He kept the receiver in bounds, allowing the clock to keep ticking.

“When he tackled that guy and kept him in bounds, that was a huge play. That was a difference-maker,” Grubb said.

With the game on the line in the final minute, the Falcons didn’t have enough time to kneel for the win. They needed one more extended play to clinch the win. Cross took the snap, then ran between the sidelines, keeping the clock running long enough to run enough time off the board so the ensuing play clock would eliminate a final snap of the ball on fourth down.

“Colten’s got that kind of talent,” Grubb said about his senior quarterback. “And he ran the ball really well tonight. He read the option pretty well.”

The Falcons, now 1-0 overall, return to the road on Friday to face longtime rival Salisbury, ranked No. 2 in the state in Class 1, in a pre-district showdown. The Panthers are 2-0 after defeating Milan 46-2 in the season opener and taking down former Lewis & Clark Conference powerhouse Marceline 26-13 last week.

Salisbury won the district championship last season before bowing out in the Class 1 state quarterfinals.

“Their coach does a great job over there. He’s not going to hold back this week, and we can’t either,” Grubb said. “We just have to get ready and be really sound defensively. They run a lot of boot and counter stuff. Defensively, they will be really solid and try to blitz us in the middle.”

Kickoff on Friday is 7 p.m. in Salisbury. Fayette will return home next week to host another former conference rival, Westran (1-1), on Homecoming.