Joseph Young (21) finds the hole in the Capitals’ defense. (Photo/DeAnna Robinson)
WINNSBORO – The Fairfield Central Griffins blasted their way into region play Friday night with a merciless slaying of the Columbia Capitals, 50-0, at E.K. McLendon Stadium. While the Griffins offense wasn’t at its sharpest, particularly in the first quarter, they still hung more than 300 yards on the Caps, while the defense put forth their best effort of the season. Holding the Columbia ground game to just 25 net yards, the Fairfield defense smothered the passing game while limiting the Caps to only seven first downs – the majority of which were earned on penalties.
“That’s good to see,” Griffin head coach Demetrius Davis said. “We need to get our defense to playing good, and we’re getting better each week. We’ve got some guys that, even though they played last year, they didn’t play a lot as a unit, so they’re getting better over there. In order to win anything, you’ve got to be good on defense. We can talk about offense – we can do this, or we can do that – but at the end of the day, if we’re not good on defense, we’re not going to be able to win anything.”
After sputtering on their first possession, the Fairfield offense clicked on their second try, going 40 yards on six plays in just under 2 minutes. An 18-yards run by Joseph Young converted a second-and-10 on the Columbia 40 to a first down on the 22. Javahnne Neal pounded the ball to the 16, and a DeAndre Belton pass to Kewaun Squirewell set up the first-and-goal on the Capitals’ 4. Belton came up shy of the goal line on a keeper, but Larry G. Bell finished off the drive on the next snap. Stanley McManus, again pulling PAT duties while Compton Walker’s shoulder mends, snuck in with the 2-point conversion to put the Griffins up 8-0 with 7:20 to go in the first quarter.
The offense stumbled again on their next drive and, uncharacteristically, appeared to be headed for their second three-and-out of the night. But a roughing the punter penalty against the Caps on the Griffin punt gave Fairfield a first down at the Columbia 35. That second chance was all the Griffins required. Bell got them to the 31, setting up an end-around run by Tyren White for the lightning-fast score. The Griffins tallied 51 yards rushing by their otherwise receivers Friday night, an element of the Fairfield offense heretofore unseen in 2013.
“There’s a lot that this offense can do, and we’ve got a lot of guys that can do some things,” Davis said. “Each week we just say, OK, we’re going to work on this this week. They’re pretty big inside, so we felt like we had to get on the perimeter. Part of why we were struggling early was we couldn’t get any push inside. All those big sweeps, you’re running them because they’ve got to turn and chase.”
McManus chucked the PAT to Neal to put Fairfield up 16-0 with 2:07 left in the first.
As the quarter drew to a close, the Griffins were launching yet another scoring drive, this time from their own 23, their worst field position of the night. As time expired in the first, the Griffins had driven to the Columbia 46. Belton, who was held to just 25 rushing yards by the Caps, used a pair of 10-yard scampers to guide the Griffins to the Columbia 4. From there, Belton closed the deal, slipping into the end zone for the score. The point after was wide right, but the Griffins held a commanding 22-0 lead with 11:02 left in the half.
After floundering on their next possession, the Griffins were put back in business when Shadarius Hopkins picked off a William Gossette pass at the Fairfield 44 with 6:39 to go in the half. The turnover set in motion a drive that, behind the Young-Bell combo, marched down to the Columbia 17. Neal ate up two more yards and Belton hit Tavaris Cook with a pass to the 1-yard line. Young capped the drive with the score and McManus added the kick to make it 29-0 Griffins with 4:27 left in the second.
The Griffins went up 36-0 just before the break, and did so in typical Griffin fashion, using four plays and 39 seconds to go from their own 44 and into the Columbia end zone. Belton hit Bell on a screen pass from 32-yards out and Bell did the rest, pounding in for the score with 1:13 to go.
Young added his second touchdown of the night to polish off the next Griffin drive, as Fairfield advanced from their own 41 to the Columbia 5. Young took the direct snap on the wildcat formation and followed his blockers into the end zone. McManus’s kick made it 43-0 Fairfield with 6:50 to play in the third.
With a 43-point cushion, Davis called in the reserves, but the largely JV unit wanted a piece of the action and the Columbia defense was simply too gassed to stop them. On the first play from scrimmage featuring the back-up squad, ninth-grader Randanion Sampson exploded for a 29-yard touchdown run with 55 second left in the quarter. McManus was good for the point after to close out the massacre.
The Griffins are now 6-0 on the season and 1-0 in region play. They host Eau Claire next Friday for homecoming.
“It’s big to get a chance to get that first (region win),” Davis said. “Now we have four more that we’ve got to get. We’ll just take it one week at a time. We got one, now we’ve got to focus our attention on Eau Claire next week.”
CHS: 0-0-0-0 – 0
FCHS: 16-20-14-0 – 50
First Quarter
FC – Larry G. Bell 1-run. Stanley McManus 2-run. (7:02)
FC – Tyren White 32-run. Javahnne Neal 2-pass from S. McManus. (2:07)
Second Quarter
FC – DeAndre Belton 4-run. Kick failed. (11:02)
FC – Joseph Young 1-run. S. McManus kick. (4:27)
FC – L.G. Bell 32-pass from D. Belton. S. McManus kick. (1:13)
Third Quarter
FC – J. Young 5-run. S. McManus kick. (6:50)
FC – Randanion Sampson 29-run. S. McManus kick. (0:18)
FC CHS
First Downs 14 7
Rushes/Yards 32-235 30-25
Passing Yards 120 9
C-A-I-TD 8-15-0-1 1-14-1-0
Penalties/Yards 8-95 12-85
Fumbles/Lost 1-1 3-1
Third Down Conv. 1-5 1-10
RUSHING: CHS – Kimone Shaw 12-25, Wayne Brown 2-(-1), William Gossette 9-(-12), Quinn Carolina 5-17, Mike Williams 2-(-4). FCHS – DeAndre Belton 8-29, Joseph Young 8-89, Tavaris Cook 1-(-4), Larry G. Bell 8-25, Kewaun Squirewell 1-13, Javahnne Neal 2-7, Javaris Cook 2-11, Stanley McManus 1-2, Tyren White 1-31, Jerrell Suber-O’Neal 1-(-4), Chanti Jones 1-7, Randanion Sampson 1-29.
RECEIVING: CHS – Paris Jackson 1-9. FCHS – Kewaun Squirewell 2-46, Javaris Cook 2-19, Tavaris Cook 2-19, Larry G. Bell 1-32, Javahnne Neal 1-2.
PASSING: CHS – William Gossette 1-11, 9 yards, INT; Mike Williams 0-3. FCHS – DeAndre Belton 7-13, 118 yards, 1 TD; Stanley McManus 1-2, 2 yards, PAT.
