Riding a two-game losing streak, the Fairfield High School football team came out angry Friday night.
The Indians punished visiting Middletown with a crushing ground attack and suffocated the Middies with a relentless defense in a 48-0 win at Fairfield Stadium.
The Indians needed a win and now wait to see if they have done enough to qualify for the Division I, Region 4 playoffs. The Ohio High School Athletic Association announces the field Sunday.
“Yeah, we are in the tough position that even a win doesn’t get us in,” Fairfield coach Jason Krause said. “The one thing we knew was we had to take care of tonight and we did. That is all we could do. Now we have to wait and see.”
The Indians, Moeller and Elder all are in line to make the playoffs, but the fates of all three won’t be determined until Saturday’s games are concluded.
Armed with the knowledge they had to win, the Indians wasted no time against the Middies, scoring on four straight possessions in building a 34-0 halftime lead.
Playing in a driving rainstorm, Fairfield rushed 40 times for 339 yards while only attempting seven passes. Taimar Boykin had 120 yards and two scores, Jutahn McClain added 93 yards and two scores, and Jordan Jones chipped in 53 yards and a pair of TDs as the Tribe finished the regular season 6-4 overall and 6-2 in the Greater Miami Conference.
“Our game plan was to come out and establish the run,” Krause said. “We were going to stay in a two-back set and ride the Boykin-McClain Express. We ran the ball well.”
The Indians struck first on Malik Vann’s 2-yard run. After the Middies fumbled on the next play from scrimmage, McClain went untouched 27 yards to give the Tribe a 14-0 lead.
Middletown turned the ball over on downs and Fairfield went six plays capped off by Boykin’s 28-yard scoring run for a 21-0 lead.
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Following a punt, Fairfield once again only needed six plays finishing with McClain’s 17-yard run for a 27-0 bulge.
Boykin ended the onslaught with a 31-yard run for a 34-0 halftime bulge, putting the game in running-clock mode for the entire second half.
Jones scored two touchdowns in the third quarter to put the Indians up 48-0.
While the Indians were running over the Middies defense, the other side of the ball was a nightmare for Middletown.
Dominating the line of scrimmage, the Indians swarmed the backfield on every play, holding the Middies to minus-14 yards for the game and no first downs.
“Obviously our defense played well,” said Krause, who wasn’t aware Middletown didn’t have a first down. “The coaches were talking about it as we couldn’t remember them getting one. Really we just played fast, played hard, swarmed the ball and controlled the line of scrimmage.”
While the Indians wait and see about their playoff future, Middletown coach Lance Engleka didn’t mince words about his team’s performance.
“You can say it was the weather, they had motivation, whatever … they were just better than us,” Engleka said. “They came out and smacked us in the mouth, and we didn’t respond.”
The Middies (1-9, 1-7) snapped a 18-game losing streak last week, but the momentum didn’t carry over.
Middletown ran 36 plays for minus-14 yards and completed 1 of 12 passes. The Middies also punted seven times and had six fumbles result in three turnovers.
Middletown 0-0-0-0—0
Fairfield 14-20-14-0—48
F: Malik Vann 2 run (Elgin Phillips kick)
F: Jutahn McClain 27 run (Phillips kick)
F: Taimar Boykin 28 run (Phillips kick)
F: McClain 17 run (Kick failed)
F: Boykin 31 run (Phillips kick)
F: Jordan Jones 12 run (Alex Pinkney kick)
F: Jones 18 run (Pinkney kick)
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