Junior quarterback Talon Fisher, the Greater Miami Conference’s leading rusher and fourth-leading passer during the regular season, gained 204 yards and scored three touchdowns on the ground and threw for a fourth score, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Indians from suffering their third loss in their last four games on the way to finishing 7-4.
The Bombers recovered two Fairfield fumbles and turned them into combined 11 points, including junior running back Gage Patrick’s 3-yard touchdown run that gave St. Xavier a 28-21 lead with 4:31 left in the third quarter. The Indians came back to tie the score, but they never could regain the lead.
“In Week 11 against a good football team, you can’t give up turnovers like that,” said Fairfield coach Jason Krause, who was on crutches with his knee in a large, black plastic brace. “That one stung.”
The 5-foot-6, 166-pound Patrick, running mostly between the tackles, gained 110 yards and scored three touchdowns on 29 carries. Sophomore quarterback Chase Herbstreit was 12-of-24 for 232 yards and a touchdown and also showed some acting chops. The Bombers were lined up for a two-point conversion when he looked frantically to the sideline as if confused while the ball was snapped directly to Patrick, who took it in for a 28-21 lead.
Fisher immediately answered with a 75-yard scoring run on Fairfield’s first play from scrimmage, helping the Indians tie the score, but Greater Catholic League South Division Bombers put together back-to-back scoring drives of nine and 12 plays to take command.
“We couldn’t get off the field,” Krause said. “Then we had to get outside of our playbook a little bit.”
St. Xavier (5-6) has won three of its last four games after a three-game losing streak and is scheduled to play top-seeded and 10-1 Moeller in the second round next Friday. The Crusaders advanced with a 39-14 win over 16th-seeded Hamilton.
Fairfield, making its second straight playoff appearance and 14th overall, took a quick 7-0 lead with Fisher’s 51-yard touchdown run on the Indians’ third play of the game.
St. Xavier senior defensive back Max Bonner recovered a fumble on the first play of Fairfield’s next possession and Bombers’ junior Jake Cengia converted with a 25-yard field goal.
Bombers coach Steve Specht reached into his bag of tricks and pulled out a 44-yard pass from senior wide receiver Jamaal Sharp, the GCL South’s leading receiver, to junior wide receiver Jack McClatchey for a 10-7 St. Xavier lead. Patrick scored his first touchdown on a five-yard run with 1:02 left before halftime, but Fisher connected with senior slot receiver Mike Figgins for a 75-yard touchdown pass just 20 seconds later to pull within 17-14 by halftime.
Fairfield regained the lead at 21-17 on Fisher’s six-yard run to cap the Indians’ first drive of the second half. Cengia cut the lead to 21-20 with a 25-yard field goal and took the Bombers grabbed the lead as Patrick scored his second touchdown after junior linebacker Noah Beck recovered a Fairfield fumble at midfield.
The Indians finished with advantages of 271-112 advantage in rushing yards and 456-388 in total yards, but St. Xavier piled up 276 passing yards to Fairfield’s 185.
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