Bailey had 31 carries for 123 yards and the game-winning score to help the Big Blue knock off the Fairfield Indians 14-7 on Friday night at Virgil Schwarm Stadium.
“It’s about perseverance and grind,” Bailey said. “Being the man that you have to be. Just pushing through and persevering and being with your teammates — holding them accountable and picking them up on the next play. It’s about doing what we’ve got to do to win.”
And Crouch said his Big Blue needed a win like this one. That’s simply because they haven’t yet won the close games this season.
Hamilton (2-6, 2-5 Greater Miami Conference) snapped a five-game losing streak — which included two-possession losses to Oak Hills and Princeton and one-possession losses to Mason and Lakota East.
“Nothing’s easy when you’re playing in the GMC,” Crouch said. “Then our off-league game is Badin. There’s nothing easy on our schedule, man.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am of our kids and our coaches. It’s been tough. I think it hurts a lot more when you’re so close. We finally found a way to win one — and it feels like we’ve won the Super Bowl. I’m just really happy for our kids and our program.
“We needed this, and we needed this bad.”
Fairfield (4-4, 4-3 GMC) is undefeated at home but hasn’t won a game on the road.
“Blank. ... Frustrated. Angry. Disappointed,” Fairfield coach Justin Roden described Friday night’s loss.
“Kudos to Hamilton, Arvie, his kids played really well,” Roden added. “They did a great job the last couple of series up front on the offensive line. They physically won the battle in the box. And that was one of the things that I, going into the game, knew that we had to win — that area of the game — that phase. We did a really good job with it, I thought, for most of the game. And just the frustration part lies, when it mattered the most, we got tired and kind of felt sorry for ourselves and went back on our heels, and they ran the ball down our throats and scored a touchdown. And that’s frustrating.”
After a scoreless first quarter, Elijah Jones caught a 31-yard touchdown pass from Jayden McClain to give Hamilton a 7-0 lead with 10:07 left before the half.
Both defenses stood their ground until Fairfield’s Mason Thomas hauled in a 25-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Dominic Back to tie the game at 7-7 with 3:57 remaining in the third quarter.
Hamilton put the ball in Bailey’s hands during its final full offensive drive. Bailey scored on a 7-yard touchdown run to put the Big Blue on top 14-7 with 1:02 left to play.
Then a Chase Moak interception sealed it for Hamilton.
“Absolutely,” Crouch said when asked if he expected a tight game. “They’ve got some dudes, and they’re well-coached. Coach Roden’s doing a helluva job over there with Fairfield. Great guy — him and Tyler Elrod are awesome people.
“We placed all of our skill guys,” Crouch added. “It’s just taken a while for them to learn how to win a game. They’ve been close, man. They’ve been coming along here and there. It’s just one of those things where we’ve just got to keep grinding and doing what we’re supposed to be doing. Everything’s going to come together for us.”
Fairfield won the total yardage battle 244-229. Indians senior linebacker Gabe Ross wrapped up a game-high 12 tackles.
“Kudos to them. I don’t want to take anything away from Arv,” Roden said. “They lost a lot of close games this year, that record could be different. I knew that and just disappointed how we responded in that last drive.”
Fairfield heads back to Fairfield Alumni Stadium next Friday against Princeton, and Hamilton travels to Middletown.
“It means a lot,” Bailey said when asked how much Friday’s victory over Fairfield meant. “It means hopefully getting into the playoffs and showing them what we can do. Even though we don’t have the best season, I know what we can do, and I know every team doesn’t want to face us right now.”
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