The Fayette Falcons held on Friday night at Davis Field for a 52-42 semifinal win over area rival Harrisburg that may well have been the best game ever played at that locale.

The Bulldogs of Harrisburg led in almost every offensive category possible, with the exception of rushing yardage and the ever-important points scored. “Harrisburg made us play better,”  said Fayette head coach Mike Thompson. “Those guys played hard, they never quit and did a great job. I really appreciate the fact that they challenged us.”

“I don’t want to take anything away from Fayette, they earned every point,”  said Harrisburg coach Steve Hopkins. “They have some great, great players that made great plays. They proved they were a great team tonight.”

“I’m so proud of our kids,” said Hopkins. “When there was a 20 to 30-point difference, we could have said it was over. Instead, we made them nervous and made them work to the very end. This is by far the greatest program in the eight-year varsity history of our school.”

Once again, Fayette senior Garren Vroman paced both teams in rushing yardage with 322 yards on 32 carries while scoring three touchdowns. He also added four two-point conversions to make his total scoring contribution 26 points.

It was not Vroman, however, who broke the scoring ice early in the game. Instead, Falcon senior Logan Wiswall got open on the left sideline in the end zone. Junior quarterback Ben Wells fired the ball to Wiswall who caught the six-yard pass for the score. Vroman pushed the ball across for the two-point conversion to give Fayette an 8-0 lead.

Undaunted, Harrisburg senior signal-caller Tanner Lanes connected with junior Braden Wyatt on a 26-yard touchdown pass with 1:02 left in the first quarter. The Bulldogs were unable to complete the two-point conversion allowing Fayette to keep the 8-6 lead.

Fayette added to their lead with 10:45 left in the second quarter as Vroman bulled ahead on a 12-yard touchdown run. He scored on the two-point conversion as well, making the score16-6 in favor of the Falcons.

Once again, the Bulldogs answered when Lanes connected on another touchdown pass, this time to junior Austin Darwent on a six-yarder. The Bulldogs could not complete the two-point conversion leaving the Falcons with a 16-12 lead.

As the half wound down, Harrisburg mounted a drive that took the ball to within the 10-yard line where the Fayette defense came up with what may have been the pivotal play of the game. With four seconds left, Lanes dropped back to pass and let go toward the left side of the end zone. Fayette’s senior safety Tyler Bartholomew jumped into the passing lane and intercepted the pass, keeping Harrisburg from taking a lead into the locker room. Not only did the interception stop the Harrisburg drive that would have given the Bulldogs the lead, Fayette had the added advantage of receiving the second-half kickoff.

“Couldn’t have happened to a better kid,” said Thompson. “The only thing that could have made it better is if he could have taken it all the way back. That may have been the most important play of the game.”

As play resumed in the second half, Fayette took the ball on the kickoff and drove downfield. That drive culminated with Wells hitting senior wide receiver Dalton Collins on a 43-yard pass for a touchdown. Vroman added the two-point conversion to make the Fayette lead 24-12.

Harrisburg sophomore running back Hayven Samuels capped off the next Bulldog drive with a 27-yard touchdown run. Harrisburg then broke its string of unsuccessful conversion attempts as Lanes hit junior Anthony Alicea for the two-pointer making the score 24-20. 

Fayette only took three and a half minutes to reply, this time on a 42-yard touchdown run by Vroman, his second of the night. He then added the conversion to put Fayette ahead by the score of 32-20 with 4:41 left in the third.

After the kickoff, as Harrisburg was moving down the field, junior Chase Allen-Jackman seemingly appeared out of nowhere and for the third time in as many weeks and plucked a pass out of the air at the line of scrimmage.  Allen-Jackman returned the ball to the Harrisburg 30-yard line, handing the Fayette offense an opportunity to put the game away. Moments later, junior DJ Moore bulled across the goal line from 18 yards out. Senior Avery Powell pushed the two-point conversion across and Fayette had a 40-20 lead with 2:58 left in the third.

The Bulldogs, however, were not willing to let the quarter end on a Falcon score. Lanes quickly drove the team downfield and hit Wyatt again, this time for a seven-yard touchdown pass. The two-point conversion made it a two-touchdown game as Harrisburg inched closer, making the score 40-26 as the quarter ended.

The fourth quarter began rather quietly and continued that way until with 8:10 left on the clock, Vroman earned his third touchdown of the night to give Fayette a 46-26 lead. Just three minutes later following a Fayette defensive stand that gave the offense the ball back on downs, the Falcons gave the ball to Moore again. He crashed across the goal line from three yards out for Fayette’s final score of the night to put the Falcons ahead 52-26.

Harrisburg did not let up, even down by 26. With 5:09 left Lanes hit Alicea from 14 yards out for his third touchdown pass of the night. Lanes then found senior Jace Carr for the two-point conversion to cut the Fayette lead to 52-34.

The Bulldogs used the kickoff to convert an onside kick and recovered the ball at the Fayette 49 with 5:05 left in the game. On the next play, Fayette was flagged for defensive pass interference, giving Harrisburg a first-down on the Fayette 34-yard line. After moving the ball to the Fayette 26, Lanes found Darwent again, this time for a 26-yard touchdown. Lanes then took the ball across on the two-point conversion to make the score 52-42 with 4:09 left to play.

“All of a sudden our guys are sayin’, ‘Maybe this can happen,’” said Hopkins. “But, it shouldn’t have been this close.” 

Needing to get the ball back, Harrisburg followed that score by attempting another onside kick. This time, it was unsuccessful as Fayette’s special team was able to recover and allow the Falcon offense to attempt to eat up as much clock as possible. Obviously, the best way for that to happen was to get the ball in the hands of Vroman and Moore. Fayette drove down the field and looked as it might score again, until, for only the first time this season, Vroman gave up a turnover as he fumbled and Harrisburg senior Tanner Fike recovered. “That fumble was the first one he gave up the entire year,” said Thompson. “That’s why the ball was in his hands a lot.”

Lanes and the Bulldog offense continued to attempt to drive to give themselves one more chance but ended up turning the ball over on downs. After two more offensive plays garnered the Falcons a first-down, Fayette was able to go into victory formation. Wells then dropped to a knee twice then watched the clock run out as Fayette held on to the 52-42 win.

Lanes, despite coming out on the short end of the final score, had a tremendous night, completing 28 of his 42 passing attempts for 348 yards and five touchdowns.

Sophomore running back Hayven Samuels rushed for 74 yards on 13 carries and scored the only rushing touchdown for the Bulldogs. 

Junior Austin Darwent garnered 137 receiving yards on 10 receptions and scored two touchdowns, while classmate Braden Wyatt recorded two touchdowns with eight catches and 91 yards. Senior Jace Carr hauled in seven passes for 82 yards while junior Anthony Alicea pulled down three for 33 yards and a score.

Defensively, Carr and junior Bryce Rowden paced the Bulldogs with five tackles apiece. Two of Rowden’s were for a loss. Darwent and senior teammate Brayton Stephenson each recorded four tackles with two of Stephenson’s going for a loss. Alicea and junior Logan Fritts pulled down two Fayette ball carriers apiece, while senior Tanner Fike, junior Harley Whitaker, and sophomore Hunter Cole each registered one tackle.

Fayette rode the back of Vroman to Friday night’s victory as he carried the ball 37 times for 322 yards and three touchdowns. DJ Moore had two touchdowns on seven carries while he picked up 48 yards. “The officials were coming up to me and telling me ‘no. 2 (Vroman) is something special,’” said coach Thompson. “Then, the first time we give it to DJ, he takes it to the house. We’ve got dudes that can do some things.”

Quarterback Ben Wells ran twice for 17 yards while Allen-Jackman and Powell each carried one time for eight and three yards, respectively. 

With the game plan focusing more on the rush, Wells completed four of the five passes he threw for 73 yards and two touchdowns. “I thought Ben was outstanding,” said Thompson. “He called the one pass play for the touchdown, he said ‘hey, let me pull it and let’s do this.’ Every time we asked him to throw the football, he was outstanding making plays with his arm.” Logan Wiswall was the recipient of two of those passes for 17 yards and a touchdown, while Dalton Collins had one reception for 43 yards and Allen-Jackman garnered 13 yards on one catch.

While Harrisburg’s season is over, the Bulldogs finish the season at 8-3 with two of those losses coming at the hands of Fayette. The other loss was to Marceline in the final regular-season game. Marceline (9-1) had defeated Fayette 37-0 in week four.

Fayette (10-1) goes now to the district final against Sweet Springs/Malta Bend (8-3). That game will be played in Fayette Friday night at 7 p.m.

Fayette holds a huge edge against common opponents with Sweet Springs as Fayette has won four and lost none while Sweet Springs has two wins and two losses.

The winner of the district final will go on to face the winner of the Marceline (9-1) and Highland (8-3) game on November 19.