Two games into the season Fair Grove fans are feeling pretty good about their state-ranked high-soaring Eagles after two lopsided victories.
Two games into their season and Skyline fans don’t know quite what to make of their Tigers, who despite losing 17 starters from last season’s state semifinal team, felt they would still have a pretty competitive team this year. But after two lopsided losses, there’s cause for concern for a team that started the season ranked 6th in Class 1.
After finishing third in the Mid-Lakes conference last year behind Skyline and Marionville, Fair Grove was optimistic about this year with 10 starters returning from an 8-4 team that lost in the Class 2 district championship to Mtn. View/Birch Tree-Liberty. And on Friday night, their 50-14 trouncing of the defending league champs was certainly a sign that the Eagles are contenders for the top of the league.
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“We’re on a mission,” Fair Grove head coach Bill Voorhis told his team gathered around him after the dominating performance. “I told you a big win would put us in the driver’s seat (of the Mid-Lakes conference) and now you control your own destiny. Take care of business and you’re going to hang a banner-up in there that you can come back and look at.”
The Eagles, ranked 10th in the state in Class 2, showed just how serious they were about taking out the defending conference champs by needing just three plays to go 64-yards on their opening drive. On the second play from scrimmage quarterback Brayden Lumley busted loose 59 yards down to the Skyline five-yard-line, and on the next play Austin Fodge would score to complet a 64-yard drive 58-seconds into the game.
On their next possession, Fair Grove took just five plays to go 51-yards with Dalton Cloyd chewed up 32-yards on one-carry and Fodge got the final-yard-plunge to make it 14-0 just over six minutes into the game.
Less than three minutes later, Fodge, who had 104-yards and three touchdowns on the night, got 70 of those yards on one-play for another touchdown to make it 21-0.
And after Skyline fumbled on the ensuing kick-off, Isaac Mauldin broke free 23-yards down to the Skyline two-yard-line where Cloyd would go over to make it 28-0 with 1:54 still left in the first quarter.
Skyline, who started the season with a surprising 35-0 loss to unranked Lextington, fell behind Fair Grove 36-0 by 10:23 of the second quarter when Cloyd, who had 89-yards on the night, scored on a 52-yard scamper (with a two-point conversion).
Even the Eagles admitted they had no idea they take command that easily,
“No,” smiled Fodge. “We were preparing like it was a championship game. We knew we’d have to come out and compete and stick it to ‘em early.”
And they did just that. Not only scoring 36-points in just over a quarter, but with a defense that held Skyline to just 17-yards passing and 60-yards rushing in the first half. And they got a little help from the Fair Grove high school student section.
Before the game, some students appeared carrying propane tanks that were painted in the purple school colors.
“They’re full of nuts-and-bolts,” explained senior Lorin Weaver of the propane tanks. “And they’re our noisemakers. (Defensive coordinator) Mark Talbert came up with the idea and we use them when we’re on defense to distract the other team’s offense.”
The tanks were a little cumbersome and heavy, though. And by the half Weaver and her fellow shakers were sweating and a little tired in their first-time venture with the new noisemakers.
“It’s quite a work-out,” Weaver said of the heavy-lifting. “I’ve got blisters on my hand and my ears hurt.”
But how many points had the defense given up at that point?
“ZERO!” Weaver shouted. “So it’s definitely been worth it.”
So maybe you’ll be seeing those propane tank noisemakers at some more Fair Grove games in the near-future. The Eagles have so far started the season with a 49-7 thumping of Buffalo and a 50-14 dominance of Skyline so both the offense and defense are looking sharp so far. Against theTigers, Fair Grove amassed 325-yards rushing and 132-yards through-the-air.
Skyline has been outscored 85-14 in its first-two games and it’s obvious the loss of those nine-starters on offense and eight-starters on defense from last year has taken a toll. One optimistic note though is that both losses came against bigger Class 2 schools that Skyline won’t have to deal with in their Class 1 playoffs.
