A banged-up Fayette football team got off to a fast start and took an early lead, but ultimately, a series of mistakes against the Class 2 South Callaway Bulldogs resulted in a 40-6 loss on the road Friday.

The Falcons now drop to 1-6 overall with just two games left in the regular season and the Class 1 District 2 playoffs looming.

“Last year, we were in the same boat with not a lot of wins. We knew we were kind of building for this year,” said second-year Fayette coach Kole Hinton. “This year, we are a bit surprised by how this season has gone.”

Friday’s loss marked Fayette’s second to a team that will likely vie for the first-ever Central State 8 title. The Falcons lost to Tipton the week before. 

The winner of the new conference is expected to be decided when Tipton hosts South Callaway next Friday night, should both teams make it through this week unscathed. Both teams are 6-1 overall and hold 3-0 records so far in the CS8, which opened play for the first time this fall.

Fayette entered Friday’s contest short a host of key players. Sophomore linebacker Brodi Tucker, and freshmen defensive backs Blake Braden and Hunter Hampton were all sidelined with concussions. Sophomore Justin Felten was out sick. All are hoped to return for Friday’s final home game against rival Harrisburg.

Despite the shorthanded lineup on Friday, Fayette was able to score quickly and take an early lead. The Falcons marched down the field on their first drive. After nearly scoring twice, junior running back Carter Vroman broke across the line of scrimmage to put Fayette in the lead. A blocked point-after attempt held Fayette to six points.

The Falcons had a chance to go up by two scores. On South Callaway’s first drive, Fayette recovered a fumble to regain possession, but ultimately the drive stalled. Because of the blocked point-after attempt on the previous touchdown, Hinton said the decision was made to go for it on fourth down. But Fayette could not gain enough yards.

South Callaway answered on its next drive with an athletic pass reception, diving out of bounds from the back of the end zone to tie the game. A two-point conversion attempt was good, giving the Bulldogs the lead, 8-6.

Fayette’s last two drives of the first half stalled on a seemingly endless series of holding calls.

“We can’t keep shooting ourselves in the foot like that,” said Fayette coach Kole Hinton.

South Callaway scored again before halftime to take a 14-6 lead at the break.

“We felt confident at halftime, keeping them to 14 points,” Hinton said. “But in the second half, we just collapsed in on ourselves, which seems to be our M.O. at this point. Too many missed tackles, over-pursuing, not reading keys. We became frustrated and lacked focus.”

Hinton said missed blocks and assignments continued to stymie the offense in the second half.

Meanwhile, South Callaway kept putting points on the board, eventually claiming the lopsided victory.

Sophomore quarterback Ledgyr Conrow completed half of his passes (7 of 14) for 38 yards with an interception. Senior running back Micah Estes made three catches for 19 yards. Vroman had three grabs for 18 yards. Wide receiver Friebe made one catch for short yardage.

Once again, the running game led Fayette’s offense. Vroman managed to gain 51 yards on 21 carries with the touchdown. Estes racked up 40 yards on 13 rushes. Fullback Jaron Cross picked up 23 yards on three carries.

Defensively, Vroman led the team with 16 tackles, half of which were unassisted. Estes made nine assists. Junior Graden Kindle had two solo takedowns and one assist. Senior Jacob Wood made three tackles, one of which was for a loss.

The Falcons must now come together and regroup with the chance to win the final two games of the season. On Friday, they host area rival Harrisburg. The 3-4 Bulldogs are fresh off their first CS8 win of the season with a walloping of Russellville, 55-14, at home last week (see story this page).

Harrisburg has won the past two matchups against Fayette.

“Especially after what we saw in the jamboree, we think they’re beatable,” Hinton said. “They are well-coached, and they’re going to be big up front. Offensively, they’re pretty similar to Salisbury.”

Hinton said he is more concerned with how his team will show up on Friday. “Can we block well? Can we run well? And can we complete passes? At this point, that’s a question mark. It really depends on how well our kids want to finish the season. If we want to continue to fight or if we want to just fall into ourselves. I think we’re at 50/50 right now. So, each player has to figure that out for himself.”

Fayette concludes the regular season next Friday on the road at Russellville (3-4). The Indians won a 32-28 decision a year ago, for which Hinton and the Falcons still harbor some resentment.

“Russellville is a winnable game for us to get some revenge from last year,” Hinton said. “But we control our own destiny. The people we’re going to see are beatable teams.”

Currently, Fayette is eighth out of 10 teams in the Class 1 District 2 standings. The top two teams will likely receive first-round byes. If that is the case, and should the standings remain the same at the end of the regular season, Fayette would face longtime rival Westran—currently ranked 10th in the state—for the second time this season. The Falcons lost 34-21 to the Hornets (5-2) in Week 4.

Friday’s game against Harrisburg kicks off at 7 p.m. Senior athletes will be recognized during the game.