The Fayette Falcons suffered a heartbreaking loss Saturday as they fell to the Marceline Tigers 21-20 in the state quarterfinal round Saturday afternoon in Marceline.

If the Tigers thought it would be easy going, they were sorely mistaken as the Falcons gave them everything they could possibly handle, as Fayette came up just a few feet short of a victory. 

“There’s no easy way to lose,” said Fayette head coach Mike Thompson. “I think when you come back and have an opportunity to take the lead right there late in the game, it’s just a tough way to lose a football game. But I’m proud of these guys for the battle they put out. To put themselves into a position to try to win the game late.”

After taking the opening kickoff, Marceline’s first drive stopped as quickly as it started. The Tiger quarterback attempted a pass downfield only to be intercepted by Falcon senior Avery Powell who returned the ball to the Falcon 49-yard line.

From there, it was time for Fayette junior signal-caller Ben Wells and the Falcon offense to go to work. And that, they did, methodically driving 47 yards before giving the ball to senior Garren Vroman for a four-yard touchdown run with 7:14 to go in the first quarter. The Falcons would come up short on the two-point conversion attempt, leaving the score 6-0.

Fayette’s momentum would be short-lived, however, as Marceline would score on the ensuing drive on a 64-yard touchdown run by senior Hunter Nelson after only 20 seconds had elapsed. Marceline kicked the extra point making the score 7-6.

“Hunter got away from us one time on that first touchdown,” said Thompson. “That flipped the momentum back a little bit but I thought our guys battled through that and didn’t really concern themselves with that.” 

Marceline looked to be on the verge of piling more points on the board when the Fayette defense forced Marceline to fumble. Junior Malakai Graves alertly jumped on the ball giving Fayette possession on their own 28 with 3:14 left in the quarter.

As the teams switched ends at the quarter, the Falcons seemed to be charging toward another score when Vroman uncharacteristically gave up a fumble on the Marceline 18-yard line. 

Fayette’s defense stiffened and the teams exchanged possessions. 

With the clock showing 1:15 left in the half, the Tigers would push the ball across for a three-yard touchdown run by senior Hunter Nelson. Marceline would again convert the extra-point to give the Tigers a 14-6 lead going into the locker room a the half.

Having deferred after the coin toss at the start of the game, Fayette received the second-half kickoff then gave the ball up on downs. Marceline then picked up another score on a 49-yard touchdown pass to make the score 21-6 with 9:36 left in the third. Fayette’s hopes were raised with 1:23 left in the quarter when Marceline attempted a quick-punt from the shotgun formation. Senior Fayette defensive lineman Chris Brown was able to get a hand on the ball, causing it to drop to the left side of the line between junior Chase Allen-Jackman and senior Logan Wiswall. Wiswall scooped the ball up while Allen-Jackman delivered a crushing block. Wiswall took off downfield before being dragged down on the Tiger 35-yard line. After another play, the two teams changed ends to start the final stanza.

Fayette wasted little time in adding another score as junior DJ Moore carried the ball over from three yards out. Wells then connected with senior Dalton Collins for the two-point conversion to make the score 21-14 with 11:41 left in the game.

With 10:47 left in the game, the Tigers attempted to put the game away with the ball on the Fayette 35-yard line. Senior quarterback Jake Stello dropped back and attempted to hit senior receiver Jace Bixenman streaking down the right sideline. Stello’s pass floated out of reach of Bixenman, but not out of the speed and long reach of Fayette’s Dalton Collins who was able to gather the ball in at the Marceline five-yard line. Collins’ momentum carried him into the end zone for a touchback.

Wells then went back to work, mixing an aerial attack and a ground game that left Marceline reeling. First, it was Vroman up the middle. Wells then dropped back to pass and, finding no one open, rolled out to the right. While almost everyone in attendance gave up on the play, conceding a sack, Wells was having none of it. Somehow wriggling free, Wells managed to escape and run all the way back to the near sideline before cutting upfield and carrying the ball to about the 40-yard line to give Fayette a first down.

On the following play, Wells found Collins for another first down. Collins went high into the air with a Marceline defensive back draped over him to make the grab near the Marceline 43. 

On the next play, Marceline was able to stop Vroman after a nine-yard gain.

Wells then gave the ball back to Vroman who carried around the left end and avoided one tackle with a spin move, then another with a stiff-arm before Marceline was able to drag him down at the six.

On the next two plays, Marceline keyed on Vroman as they had all afternoon and stopped the Falcon offense at the three-yard line on third down. With Marceline fully expecting the ball to be put back in the hands of Vroman, Wells called a quarterback sneak and carried the ball over for a three-yard touchdown to make the score 21-20.

On the two-point conversion attempt, Marceline again keyed on Vroman and stopped him just short of the goal-line keeping the score 21-20 with 5:27 left in the game.

“That was an option play where we knew if Garren took the ball, it would be a challenge and we would have to block it up really well,” said Thompson. “Depending on what the linebackers did we either give it to Garren or we were going to throw the football. Garren got hit early and had to get it on his own. We just needed to block it up a little better and I think he could have gotten in.”

On the ensuing kickoff, Fayette kicker Kaleb Friebe popped the ball over the frontline where a Marceline player attempted to field it but dropped it. After the pileup, the ball was awarded to Marceline. 

On the following drive, Marceline runner Hunter Nelson carried around end and met up with Allen-Jackman who stripped him of the ball allowing Fayette to recover with another chance to score.

After mounting a short drive, which included receptions by Allen-Jackman and Wiswall, Fayette faced a fourth-and-19 from the 50-yard line with 1:22 left in the game. 

Wells dropped back and again found Collins. The pass was completed, but Collins was tackled well short of the first down resulting in Fayette turning the ball over on downs.

Marceline was able to go into victory formation and run the clock out at that point to finish out the game.

The heart of the Fayette team, senior Garren Vroman left everything he had on the field. On two separate occasions, he was slow to get up at the end of a play. “My knee doesn’t feel great right now,” he said, “I’ll get it iced up, have surgery pretty soon then get right back at it so I can get to 100%.

“We fought all season, I would not have wanted to fight with any other guys than the group of guys we had. I’m just really proud of my team,” said Vroman. “That’s not how we wanted to end it, but we gave everything 150%.”

 With Marceline putting most of their defensive focus into stopping Vroman, it made for a long day for the junior as he carried the ball 33 times for 193 yards and a touchdown. Vroman averaged 5.85 yards per carry on the game, well below his remarkable season average of 11.11 yards. Wells finished the day with 24 rushing yards and a touchdown on nine attempts. Fullback DJ Moore added the remaining touchdown and 18 yards on five carries.

Wells connected on 10 of his 16 passing attempts for 106 yards to contribute to the 1,612 yards he totaled on the year. For the season he completed 97 of his 170 attempts and had 21 touchdown passes.

Junior Chase Allen-Jackman had four receptions Saturday for 62 yards. On the year, Allen-Jackman caught 29 passes for 453 yards and three touchdowns. Senior Dalton Collins had three receptions for 31 yards on Saturday to add to his team-leading 603 yards on 27 receptions. Classmate Logan Wiswall caught two passes for nine yards to bring his season totals to 13 catches for 64 yards and two touchdowns. Moore added one catch for four yards.

Defensively, DJ Moore led the charge with 11 tackles. This contributed to his season-leading 81. Senior Tyler Bartholomew brought down nine Tiger runners to bring his season total to 71 along with four interceptions.

Seniors Chris Brown and Avery Powell each contributed four tackles Saturday leaving Powell with 60 on the year, and Brown with 78. Brown led the team on the season with 10.5 sacks.

Freshman Micah Estes and senior Cale Hudson each added three tackles taking Hudson’s season total to 31 and Estes’ to 68. Senior Logan Wiswall and junior Malakai Graves each recorded two tackles. Wiswall returned a blocked punt 22 yards while Graves recovered a fumble. Wells, Allen-Jackman, and Collins each recorded a tackle. Allen-Jackman also forced a fumble and recorded a sack, while Collins had an interception.  

 Vroman’s 2,901 rushing yards place him third in the country for 2021 according to MaxPreps, while his 44 total touchdowns rank him sixth. His 290 total points scored is good for third in the nation, only 10 points behind the national leader at 300. Each of these totals cause Vroman to be ranked first in the state of Missouri.

Marceline moves on to face Hayti on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the state semifinals. The winner will move to play either Thayer for East Buchanan for the Class 1 title at 3 p.m. on Saturday, December 4 at Faurot Field in Columbia. Hayti remains undefeated with a 12-0 record after defeating Monroe City 26-22 on Saturday.