Early special teams’ errors dug the Fairfield Eagles in a deep hole and they could not get out of a 41-13 loss to the Lorena Leopards in the District 8-4A DII opener Friday night in Lorena.
All three home teams in the district won the opening week so it should show how important it is to protect the home field. Mexia defeated Madisonville and Salado beat Conally in the other openers.
The Eagles made some self-inflicted mistakes that set up short drives for the Leopards and they capitalized on them to build a 21-7 first quarter lead.
Fairfield had to punt on their opening drive. Tyler Haynes launched a good punt and Zane Grimm fielded it and returned it up the far sideline 49 yards deep into Eagle territory. Lorena began their first drive on the Fairfield 14-yard line. On fourth and three from the seven, Lorena star running back A.J. Bell took the inside handoff and bolted up the middle for the game’s first score. Quarterback Bradley Lina knocked through the extra point for the early 7-0 lead.
The Eagle offense were forced to punt on the second possession and a disaster of a different kind struck the Eagle special teams. The snap sailed wide of the punter and Haynes had to retreat to pick it up. He managed to get off a short put of 17 yards and the Lorena offense came back on the field.
Lorena could do nothing with the break on good field position and sent the punt team onto the field. Kam Ransom mishandled the kick and the Leopards recovered on the Fairfield 16-yard line. Ben Craig carried down to the two and Bell punched in his second touchdown of the night finishing off the short two play drive. Lina again added the extra point for a 14-0 Leopard lead.
Fairfield seem to overcome the early mistakes on their next possession. Beginning at their own 17-yard line, quarterback Blake Posey hit Ty Bachtel with a pass that covered 31 yards to midfield. Two plays later, Ransom took the handoff and ran past the defense for a 47-yard touchdown to cut the lead in half.
The Eagle defense held on the next possession and forced a Leopard punt and the fourth special teams’ error of the first quarter struck Fairfield. Kadarius Walker fumbled the punt and the Leopards recovered and began their third drive of the first quarter inside the Fairfield 30-yard line.
It only took one play for the Leopards to cash the Eagle mistake into points. Lina found Jett Forrest for the touchdown near the end of the first quarter and the Lorena lead stretched out to 21-7.
After the teams exchanged punts, the Leopards began a drive at their 19-yard line. Lina completed all four of his passes on the drive and the final one going to Ty Moore for a 40-yard score just before the half. The point after set the Lorena lead at 28-7 heading into the locker room.
Near the end of the third quarter, Jar-Mychael Hudson scored on a two-yard run to cut the lead to 28-13. Lorena added two more fourth quarter touchdowns to set the final score at 41-13.
Robinson was the team that was idle this week and they are in the middle of the district standings behind Lorena, Madisonville and Salado and ahead of Fairfield, Mexia and Conally. Fairfield returns to Eagle Field to take on the Madisonville Mustangs in a key district game this Friday. Salado visits Robinson and Lorena travels to Conally. Mexia draws the bye week on Friday.
(Sports Photography by Melissa Lee)
