Up by one score with three minutes to play and deep into their own territory, the Fayette varsity Falcons made a crucial fourth-down stop to preserve the win during their season opener against Carrollton, 14-6, Friday night on the road.

With half of their returning seniors not allowed to suit up in game one with not enough preseason practices, the Falcons turned to their remaining seniors to lead a crop of sophomores and freshmen to victory in a game beset by yellow flags, turnovers, and opening-night jitters.

Fayette coach Mike Thompson said his young players struggled in that first half adjusting to the speed of the game. “They struggled with holding because the game is so much faster. We struggled with getting our hands in good position and holding on when they were running. Some of its first-game jitters. It’s different when you step onto a Friday night field.”

Fayette started two freshmen and four sophomores on offense. Coach Thompson credited those young guys with stepping up in Friday’s win.

Sophomore tight end and backup quarterback Kaleb Friebe was sidelined following an appendectomy four days prior. He is not expected to return to the field until week three. Thompson credited freshman Jaron Cross who started at tight end.

“Everything he knows, he learned in two days,” Thompson said. “He did a great of learning this week. And then he got comfortable, and he got a lot better.”

Fayette senior quarterback Ben Wells took a deep breath of relief when the buzzer sounded the end of a long first game. “It was long. But I’m glad we fought through and pulled out the win.”

Wells was one of only five seniors to start in Friday’s opener.

While those underclassmen rose to the occasion, they were certainly led by the Fayette seniors. “Malakai Graves, Hayden, Caleb McComb…those seniors who played showed up and did what we needed them to do,” Thompson said. “They’re good leaders. They played well. I thought those seniors stepped up and gave us what we needed.”

On defense, Kelly made eight tackles on the night, of which five were unassisted. Graves finished with four solo tackles and two assists with one sack. He made three tackles for loss.

Coach Thompson’s team early on appeared to have lost little from last year’s 11-2 squad. The Falcons marched down the field on its first possession and scored when Wells connected with senior wide receiver Chase Allen-Jackman on a touchdown pass.

Fayette would fail on the two-point connection, making the score 6-0 with 9:36 remaining in the opening quarter.

The Falcons’ defense came up with the first of several fourth-down stops on Carrollton’s second series. Fayette held back the Trojans on fourth-and-one inside the 20-yard line. But after taking over on downs, a series of false starts backed up the Falcons to their own two-yard line. The drive ended with a fumble that was recovered by Carrollton on the one-yard line. Two plays later, the Trojans punched it in for their first touchdown of the season.

A failed point-after-attempt starting with a bad snap and ending with an incomplete pass kept the score tied at 6-6 with less than five minutes to play in the first quarter.

That would be all the scoring in a first half dominated by inconsistent plays, near-constant penalties, and turnovers. Fayette found the endzone once more in the second quarter on a one-yard dive by Wells that was set up by runs by freshman Carter Vroman and senior Caleb McComb. But the score was called back on a penalty. Moments later, a fumbled handoff was recovered by Carrollton on its own 13-yard line.

Fayette lost two fumbles during the second quarter but recovered three fumbles committed by Carrollton. Another Trojan turnover, an interception by Wells midway through the period, was undone by a roughing-the-passer call on Fayette.

In all, the Falcons racked up 16 penalties which set them back 108 yards, most of which came during the first half. Carrollton was flagged four times for a loss of 25 total yards.

While the first half was besieged by penalties and turnovers, the second saw Fayette’s game plan fluctuate when Jackman was sidelined for minutes at a time with leg cramps. The senior was replaced with freshman D’Andre Kioh who moved from cornerback to safety on defense. “A lot of these guys were moving around and didn’t really know the positions,” Thompson said. “But they stepped up and made their best efforts.”

Jackman said he had been hydrating all week but plans to increase his electrolyte intake before Friday’s home opener.

The absence of the Falcons’ speedy and athletic receiver meant the offense would focus more heavily on the ground game. Wells and Jackman have been scoring touchdowns together since middle school and know how to make plays with one another. Wells said he looks forward to working with Fayette’s younger crop of receivers to open up the passing game, especially when the high-profile Jackman is in double coverage. 

Wells went from a passer to a runner in the second half as he racked up most of his 109 total rushing yards in the third and fourth quarters.

“He was cramping. And I was cramping up a little at the end,” Wells said. “We ran the ball a lot more when he was gone.”

The ground attack hit paydirt late in the third period on a 12-yard touchdown run by sophomore Micah Estes. Wells capped off the drive with a quarterback keeper for the two-point conversion to open Fayette’s lead to 14-6.

“We all did our part,” Wells said. “We had a lot of new players coming up. I think tonight was a good experience for all of us.”

One of those new players was Carter Vroman. The freshman had 16 carries for 76 yards. 

The Fayette defense poured on the pressure in the final quarter and stopped Carrollton’s offensive momentum with two crucial fourth-down denials. The first came with 7:33 on the clock. Fayette took over on its own 36-yard line, but 84 seconds later lost its fourth fumble of the game at midfield.

“I told the guys, every time it’s close to the goalline, or when it’s second or third down, I said, ‘just two or three more plays, give all you got,’” Jackman said after the game. “We came together as a unit. We started and ended as a unit.”

Carrollton would methodically move the ball downfield on the back of junior quarterback Parker Minnick in the game’s final minutes. But the Fayette defense held again once more when it mattered the most, stopping the Trojans on the Falcon 15-yard line on fourth down. From there, Fayette was able to run down the clock with a 14-6 lead that held until the final second ticked off.

“We always made plays when we really needed it,” Thompson said. “Jacob Wood did a great job of keeping [Carrollton’s quarterback] in the pocket. And when he was trying to run around and scramble, he did a good job of forcing him to stay inside. Then Micah and Corbin cleaned it up. That’s really what we needed.

“I thought everyone played really well in crucial situations. Defensively, we just won up front when we needed.”

Fayette won the defensive game with 63 tackles on the night and three fumble recoveries. Micah Estes recovered two of those fumbles after forcing one. Sophomore Noah Tecumseh scooped up one fumble.

Estes, McComb, and sophomore Corbin Tucker led the Falcons with nine tackles apiece on the night.

“I thought Micah Estes and Corbin Tucker played really well at linebacker tonight,” Thompson said. The two sophomores combined for 18 tackles on the night.

Tucker finished the night with two tackles for loss. “I hadn’t seen him come downhill as much as he did tonight,” Thompson said. “I knew he was a football player. There was no doubt in my mind. Tonight, he was really playing well.”

Estes made a big play in the final three minutes that gave Fayette a necessary first down and stayed in bounds to keep the clock running. “He really played well tonight on both sides of the ball.”

Jackman said his team came together when it really counted, mentally and physically. “Us and Carrollton… we were going through the same things. Tired in that first game, cramps. Just give it time, and we’ll definitely be something great this year.”

Jackman finished the night with a team-high six receptions for 50 yards and one touchdown. “They were double-covering Chase all night long. It still didn’t help that much,” Thompson said. “We just couldn’t go to him in the second half because cramping up so much. So we had to change and evolve a little bit.”

Wells completed six of 13 passing attempts on the night for 50 yards and one touchdown. But most of his damage came on the ground as he ran for 109 yards on 10 carries with a two-point conversion. 

“Ben’s a good football player,” Thompson said. “He’s got a really good arm. And he’s got good feet. When he starts putting that kind of pressure on people, he makes it difficult for them.”

Wells barreled through the Carrollton defense and even knocked the helmet from a would-be tackler.

“Ben is going to be a threat to people. These guys weren’t ready for him to start rolling out of the pocket,” said Thompson.

Fayette opens its home season Friday night against non-conference opponent Houston. The Falcons will be at nearly full strength as they return all but one senior. At 6’2-235, senior Wesley Miner will make a noticeable return to the offensive and defensive lines. 

Also anticipated to make a major difference is DJ Moore.

Coach Thompson calls Moore the team’s most physical player. The 230-lb. senior returns to full back on offense and inside linebacker on defense.

Houston is coming off a big 49-8 win over Orchard Farm in week one. The Tigers racked up 373 rushing yards last week, made two interceptions, and recovered three fumbles.

“Next week, we get these other seniors back. That’ll shore up our offensive line a little bit and give us a little added depth on both sides of the ball,” Thompson said.

Friday’s game will kick off at 7 p.m. at Thomas S. Davis Memorial Field in Fayette.