As Friday approaches, two football teams, the Fayette Falcons and the Harrisburg Bulldogs, each have one simple goal: To beat the other team. They’ll prepare by studying film, devising plays, and trying to develop schemes to stop the opposing team. All the plans will be laid out at 7 p.m. Friday evening at Fayette High School and a few hours later, one of the two teams will emerge victoriously and find themselves sitting atop the Class 1 District 5 standings.

“It should be a very emotional, physical, exciting rivalry game,” said Fayette coach Mike Thompson. “We’ll have to play mistake-free football to compete with the undefeated, state-ranked Bulldogs.”

Harrisburg head coach Steve Hopkins said he looks forward to the challenge. “Fayette is obviously supremely talented and well tested by their schedule. We know of their abilities and we look forward to the challenge. They’re well-coached and present both a great running game, and their quarterback is so much more experienced and has developed into a tremendous run and pass threat.”

The teams are evenly matched across the board and separated by only one loss, that of Fayette to perennial powerhouse Marceline, which Harrisburg has yet to face.

Starting with the quarterbacks, let’s take a look at both teams.

Ben Wells of Fayette and Tanner Lanes of Harrisburg represent a great deal of what is right about high school sports today. Aside from Lanes being taller and left-handed, they have a lot of similarities. Soft-spoken, they each quietly lead their teams, providing input to their coaches not in a forceful way, but in a much more helpful manner. Lanes is a senior who has passed this year for 1,185 yards and 15 touchdowns with only two interceptions. He has completed 68 of the 116 passes he has thrown. He is not afraid to pull the ball down and run with it, having carried the ball 28 times for 186 yards, the second-most on his team. He has run for seven touchdowns.

Wells, on the other hand, has completed 47 of the 88 passes he has attempted. He has thrown 11 touchdown passes and five interceptions. He has passed for 871 yards on the year. He, too, is not afraid to run the ball, carrying 35 times for 312 yards and three touchdowns. 

Wells passing statistics may have suffered somewhat this season due to the offensive powerhouse otherwise known as #2, Garren Vroman. So far this year Vroman has carried the ball 92 times for 1,142 yards and 14 touchdowns. He averages 12.41 yards per carry. In other words, he averages a first down and more every time he runs the ball. And, oh, by the way, he’s also caught 14 passes for 321-yards and five touchdowns.

The Falcon fullback is DJ Moore. A straightforward smash-mouth runner, Moore has carried 20 times for 103 yards and a touchdown.

The bulk of the running game for Harrisburg falls on the capable shoulders of Hayven Samuels. The sophomore has carried the ball 94 times for 579 yards and seven touchdowns. 

The receiving corps for both teams is notable. Harrisburg leads with senior Jace Carr who has made 31 catches for 532-yards and eight touchdowns. Right behind Carr is junior Austin Darwent with  18 receptions for 337-yards and four touchdowns. Now that junior Anthony Alicea is able to be back on the field after an injury, the third option falls into his capable hands. Alicea has caught nine passes this year for 224 yards.

On the Fayette side, Junior Chase Allen-Jackman was expected to lead the Falcon receivers, but a hamstring injury has limited his abilities early on. Only recently has he been returned to full speed. When he is full-speed his length is phenomenal and he has great hands. Allen-Jackman has 14 receptions for 186 yards and just last week was able to nab his first touchdown. 

In his absence, the No. 1 receiver role fell to senior Dalton Collins, who has filled in masterfully, allowing the Falcon offense to click on all cylinders. He has hauled in 12 passes for 322 yards and five touchdowns so far this year. In addition to those two, senior Logan Wiswall has returned this year after a catastrophic ankle injury a year ago to become a force as a tight end. He has brought down seven passes for 30 yards. In addition to those three, the aforementioned Vroman out of the backfield makes for a very dangerous quartet.

On defense, Harrisburg looks to senior linebacker Tanner Fike to be around the ball at all times. Fike has 51 tackles and assists on the year to lead the team to go along with senior Brayton Stephenson’s 48, and junior Logan Fritts’ 47. Carr leads the team with three interceptions.

The Falcons are led defensively by senior defensive tackle Chris Brown with 36 tackles, 20 of those for a loss. Safety Tyler Bartholomew, along with fellow senior Moore, and freshman Micah Estes, each have 33 tackles this year. Senior linebacker Wiswall has 32.

No matter how you look at it, this game shapes up to be one for the ages and one you probably do not want to miss.