The Fairfield Eagles defense held the explosive Palestine Westwood offense to zero first half points and won the game and the District 9-3A Division one title with a 42-21 win in Westwood on Friday night.
The Eagles claimed the title outright with the win and created a four-way tie for second between the Palestine Westwood Panthers, Teague Lions, Diboll Lumberjacks, and Crockett Bulldogs. They will settle out the remaining playoff teams when the dust settles Friday night when Fairfield hosts Crockett, Teague plays at Diboll and Westwood takes on Huntington.
Fairfield ran through the Westwood defense with relative ease and senior quarterback Kohl Collins had a modest night through the air completing 13 of 17 passes for 191 yards and a touchdown. He had a big night in the running game, joining classmate Jason Brackens with over 100 yards rushing. Collins carried the ball for 124 yards on only 12 carries and a pair of scores and Brackens tallied 128 yards on 15 carries and also two touchdowns.
The Eagles took the first possession and faced a quick third down. Collins stepped up in the pocket with outstanding protection from the offensive line, completed a pass to Finn Smith covering 58 yards to inside the Panther 20. Collins then dialed his own number and raced 19 yards for the first touchdown of the game and a 7-0 lead following the Kieran King point after.
The Fairfield offense went immediately back to work when Markel Morrow took the ensuing kickoff up the far sideline for the 75-yard return touchdown and cut the lead on one. The point after was no good and the Eagles maintained the lead.
Fairfield wasted no time getting that score back when they took the kickoff. Three Collins carries netted a first down inside the Panther 35. He passed to Connor Colvert for 17 more to the ten, and Brackens finished off the drive with a two-yard touchdown run and the lead was restored to a score at 14-6.
The Panther offense turned the ball over on downs when a quick snap was mishandled by junior quarterback Kavian Bryant and he had to improvise and was stopped short of the line to gain.
The Eagle offense ended the quarter with a 21-yard pass to Finn Smith, and the rest of the drive was using the bruising ground game and Brackens scored his second touchdown of the game on a 19-yard burst up the middle and the King point after made the score 21-6.
Westwood put their offense to the task of getting back in the game and ate away a lot of time in the second quarter. The sixteen-play drive took the Panthers from their 23 to inside the Eagle ten, but a sack and an incomplete pass turned the ball over on downs back to the Eagles.
Fairfield used the last few moments in the first half to put three scores between them and the Panthers. Khamarion Ingram caught a short pass for a first down and Brackens broke loose on a 24-yard run to near midfield. He added a 17-yard run and on fourth down for the Eagles, Collins found Kavion Hicks for the 31-yard touchdown and the 28-6 halftime lead.
Westwood opened the second half with a drive to cut the score in half. Bryant passed to Morrow for 13 yards and had a 28-yard run on a scramble. He passed to Morrow for a 21-yard touchdown and cut the lead to 28-14 when the two connected for the conversion pass.
As was the case with each Westwood score, the Eagles would answer on the following drive. Collins completed three of four on the eleven-play drive that covered 87 yards and Collins scored his second touchdown on the ground with a 23-yard run up the seam and the lead grew to 35-14.
The kickoff for the Panthers went by the receiver and rolled to a stop at the two-yard line and the coverage stopped them there and the drive would start at the Panther two. They used the remaining time in the third quarter, and the Panthers opened the fourth quarter with a pair of Bryant completions, the second for a 20-yard touchdown to Kaysen Dial. The point after was good and the Eagle lead was 35-21.
The Eagles again matched the score with a 13-play drive that covered 72 yards. Tylon Davis caught a key pass that converted a third down and Ingram pushed through later for the one-yard touchdown and the 42-21 lead.
Fairfield put the defensive clamps on and did not allow a first down and finished the game with a 12-yard loss on a sack on fourth down and completed the 42-21 district clinching win.
The Fairfield Eagles will return home to complete the regular season when they play host to the Crockett Bulldogs.
