The Fayette defense made plays to keep Marceline out of the end zone in the first half on Friday, but eventually, the Falcons wore down in a 27-0 loss to the Tigers.

Dillan Lembke intercepted two passes in the first half and led Fayette with 11 tackles. His first pick gave Fayette its best field position of the night at Marceline’s 41-yard line. Garren Vroman had two rushes of seven yards and a five-yard catch as the Falcons moved the ball to the 12-yard line, but that would be as close as they would get.

Marceline scored the first points of the game on the first possession of the second half with an eight-play 57-yard drive.

“I thought (our defense) played really well in the first half, they bailed us out,” Fayette coach Mike Thompson said.

“When you’ve got a lot of guys playing both ways, when you’re struggling on one side of the ball, a lot of times it will carry over to the other side. They’re able to maintain that positive attitude on the other side of the ball for a while, but at some point it just starts to wear down.

“You come out in the second half and we give up a touchdown right there… Had we got a stop right there it probably changes the flow of the game.”

The Tigers started their second drive with even better field position at the Fayette 46, but after one first down, DJ Moore sacked the quarterback on fourth down for a 17-yard loss.

Fayette’s next offensive play was an interception that the Tigers ran back 46 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead.

“Giving up that first touchdown, all of a sudden now it’s ‘OK we’ve got to get something going on offense,’ and when that just didn’t happen, I think eventually it just starts to take a toll on them,” Thompson said.

“A lot of it is just mental. Yeah, you might get physically tired, but a lot of it is mental in regards to keeping your eyes where they need to go and your feet. Just playing a step slower, and if you play a step slower, you give up a big play.”

The Fayette defense forced five turnovers in the first half, but a lack of depth hurt the Falcons as the game went on. The Falcons were without linebackers Aaron Barber and Dawson Wiswall. Barber suffered a hand injury in week one, and Wiswall injured his leg last week against Slater.

Defensive lineman Hunter Bordoni and lineman Chris Brown were also unavailable. The offensive line also had to shuffle some players on the right side with Brown out.

Fayette struggled to run the ball against the Tigers. Ben Wells scrambled for 38 yards to the Marceline 24-yard line in the third quarter. The other 23 Falcon rushing attempts netted just 25 yards.

“Defensively they’re pretty good,” Thompson said. “They run to the ball real well, they’re aggressive.

“What they’re doing by shifting and moving and bringing backers from all different places it’s just difficult for a high school offensive line to pick up, especially when you’ve got two of them that are new to the position that they’re playing this week.

“It is difficult, but we just didn’t adjust to it very well either.”

Wells rushed for 46 yards on seven carries and completed 14 of 31 passes for 141 yards.

Cody Hilgedick had a catch for 16 yards, Zach Henderson had four catches for 31 yards, and Vroman caught eight balls for 94 yards.

Vroman caught a short pass and took it 55 yards in the second quarter. Unfortunately, the possession began at the Fayette 17-yard line and three false start penalties cost the Falcons 15 yards before a fumble ended the drive.

“There were things there,” Thompson said. “We just didn’t take advantage of it because we, for whatever reason, weren’t able to take the right angles when we needed to and we didn’t make the right decisions when we had some plays there to make.”

The Fayette defense forced five first-half turnovers, but the Falcons also turned the ball over five times and had a punt blocked. The two teams also combined for 19 penalties. 

Zane Rice had seven tackles, a sack, and forced a fumble that was recovered by Avery Powell. Robert Saunders and Moore each had 11 tackles.

After three straight home games, the Falcons (2-2) go back on the road this week to face Westran (4-0). The Hornets defeated Harrisburg 24-22 on Friday.