What did it take?
“Togetherness,” Fairmont coach Dave Miller said. “Belief. We really gelled this week. We had a good talk on Monday about a lot of things I won’t talk about here, but after everything we’ve been through — the adversity — I’ve been doing this for 37 years, and I couldn’t be more proud of a group of kids than I am right now. They just overcame, kept going and put it all together tonight. We played Firebird football, so it was a great win."
Fairmont celebrates a victory over Springfield with crowd-surfing coaches. pic.twitter.com/qOEaz1uszp
— David Jablonski (@DavidPJablonski) October 18, 2025
Fairmont (4-5, 3-2) moved into a three-way tie for second place with Wayne (5-4, 4-2) and Springboro (6-3, 4-2).
Thanks to Wayne’s 20-17 loss at Beavercreek (4-5, 3-3), Springfield (5-4, 5-1) remained in first place and clinched a share of the GWOC title, its first since 2022. Springfield missed a chance to become the first GWOC champion to finish undefeated in league play since Northmont in 2020.
Springfield can clinch the GWOC title outright with a victory at home against Northmont in Week 10.
Fairmont improved its chance of making the playoffs. It entered the week ranked 14th out of 18 teams in Division I, Region 2. Springfield was fourth. The top 12 teams reach the postseason. Fairmont plays at Beavercreek in Week 10.
This victory came one week after a 16-12 loss at Springboro. Fairmont had another close loss, 21-18 to Wayne, in Week 5, and it opened the season with three losses by a total of nine points to Alter, Trotwood-Madison and La Salle.
“If you go back and look at our losses, it’s 16 points,” Miller said, “but that says a lot about our kids and our character and grit. They’re staying together and getting it done.”
Fairmont beat Springfield in the regular season for the fourth straight year.
The Firebirds beat Springfield 24-21 in 2022, but Springfield beat Fairmont 21-0 in the second round of the playoffs that season. In 2023, Fairmont won 10-7. Last season, Fairmont won 17-13 on a touchdown run by Logan Doty with 20 seconds remaining.
In this game, Fairmont took a 7-0 lead on a 2-yard touchdown run by Skyler Slifer with 34 seconds remaining in the first quarter. It was the second touchdown run of the season for Slifer.
Springfield tied the game with a 7-yard touchdown run by quarterback Christopher Wallace with 4:53 left in the first half.
Springfield had strong field position twice early in the third quarter, once after a fumble by Fairmont, but couldn’t take advantage.
Fairmont dominated time of possession, holding the ball for more than 31 minutes, almost twice as long as Springfield. An interception by Slifer ended one Springfield drive in the second half.
Fairmont clinched the victory by stopping Wallace on a 4th-and-1 run with under two minutes to play.
“(The defense) has been getting better and better,” Miller said. “They played Firebird defense.”
Krejny’s winning field goal came after he missed one from almost the same spot in the first half. He has made 11 of 12 field goals. No one else in the GWOC has made more than five.
“The hold was a little bit off early,” Miller said, “and so we didn’t get that one, but he came back strong and that unit did a good job and made up for it.”
Damien Pattin led Fairmont’s rushing attack with 122 yards on 27 carries.
“He has done a tremendous job the last couple weeks,” Miller said. “He really has been playing tailback for us up until this point. He played fullback as a freshman. He’s gotten more reps the last two weeks of fullback and really came through. Our O line did a great job all the way around.”
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