by Tonight’s recap is dedicated to Fairview graduate John Haney who tragically passed away in 2017 during his freshman year of college. His family has started the JCH Foundation and I would encourage everyone to check that out and understand that we are truly never alone.
Xavier Balson and and Jared Kelley had their way with the Fairview defense tonight as the Eagles took down the Fairview Warriors 45-0 in Fairview. Balson had the best game of his career as he went 16 of 23 for 257 yards with 2 touchdowns. Both touchdowns were caught by Jared Kelley as part of his masterful 7 catch, 168-yard performance. They simply could not be stopped as Kelley got behind the defensive secondary at will.
Balson was surrounded by weapons as his main tailback Bryson Burgess picked up 55 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. Balson also chipped in with 68 yards on 6 carries including a brilliant touchdown run late in the first that was called back. On that play, Balson had broke 4 tackles on his way into the endzone in which he jumped over a Warrior defender to break the goal line.
Also hauling in passes from Balson was Brady Haug with 4 catches for 34 yards. Eric Wasen showed up and showed out tonight as well with 3 catches for 33 yards.
Sometimes the scoreboard doesn’t show the true heart of a player however and I wanted to mention that when it comes to Warriors quarterback Sean McNamara. This young man did everything tonight. He not only played QB and was responsible for the teams only positive yardage, but he also played defensive back, and punted. McNamara was everywhere tonight, despite the lopsided score.
It was all North Olmsted early and often as they dominated the first quarter outscoring the Warriors 21-0 in a wild first 12 minutes. The stingy defense wouldn’t allow the Warriors offense to gain positive yards and kept the Eagles working with a short field the whole time.
The Eagles began their first drive on the Warrior 38 and only needed a few plays to find pay dirt. A 25-yard run by Balson put them on the doorstep and then a 2-yard touchdown run by Kelley would cap it off at 7-0 with 7:52 left.
Another 3 and out for Fairview set up another short field for the Eagles to work with. This time it only took one play for Balson to hook up with Jared Kelley for a 40-yard touchdown pitch and catch. They would score one more time before the quarter was over as a 20-yard Balson breakout run set up an eventual 8-yard Bryson Burgess touchdown run to make it 21-0 after one.
The Eagles would use a beautiful 2-minute drill ran by Balson to increase the lead to 28-0 at the break. Balson hit Brady Haug numerous times on the drive to set up shop deep inside Warrior territory. It was Logan Dangerfield finishing it off with a 2-yard touchdown run to finish the first half scoring.
The second half would pick up where the first half left off. The Eagles had the ball to start the second half and went right to work. After a few quick first downs, the Eagles went for broke as the dynamic duo of Xavier Balson and Jared Kelley hooked up again. This time with a 55-touchdown bomb over the middle of the field.
The Eagles would tack on a 28 yard field goal from Gannon Graf with 43 ticks of the clock remaining in the third. Then, late fourth, it was Tommy Horsfall connecting with David Datta to finish the scoring at 45-0.
Tonight’s players of the game are Xavier Balson and Jared Kelley
What a great game!!
SO MANY BLOW OUTS THIS YEAR!