FAIRVIEW, Ala. – Nothing less than an AHSAA Class 4A, Region 7 football championship was on the line when the Danville Hawks traveled to face the Fairview Aggies Thursday night. A win by Danville and a loss by Priceville would give the Hawks the championship. A win by the Aggies would give Fairview the championship. The Aggies made things easy to figure out pretty early.
Fairview forced the Hawks to punt on their first possession and took over at its own 28-yard line. Two rushes by Tyvn Ellis of 23 yards and a 49-yard touchdown run quickly gave Fairview a 7-0 lead with 10:39 left in the first quarter.
On Danville’s ninth play of its next drive, Parker Martin intercepted Luke Nail’s pass at the Fairview 15-yard line and Martin returned the interception 36 yards to Danville’s 49-yard line.
It took Fairview only six plays to get to Danville’s 13-yard line, but facing a fourth-and-6, Martin’s pass was incomplete and the Hawks took over on downs with 3:46 left to go in the first quarter.
Another punt by Danville gave the Aggies the ball near midfield. Aided by a facemask penalty against the Hawks, Fairview scored after five straight runs by Tyler Simmons, capped off by a run from 2 yards out that gave the Aggies a 14-0 lead with 31.7 seconds left in the first quarter.
Danville started the second quarter with a long drive and the Hawks were aided by three major Fairview penalties. On the ninth play of the drive, the Hawks fumbled the ball on Fairview’s 5-yard line and Mason Black recovered it.
After a couple of short runs, Martin hit Black for a 67-yard pass down to the Danville 15-yard line. Ellis completed the drive scoring on the next play making the score 21-0 with 6:06 left in the half.
Danville’s next drive was ended early again when Martin once again intercepted Nail. It only took Fairview three plays to score when Martin scored on a 48-yard touchdown pass to J.T. White, stretching the lead to 28-0 with 3:43 left in the second quarter.
Danville took over on its own 35-yard line and Nail hit William Waddell on back-to-back passes of 36 yards and a 26-yard touchdown pass for Danville’s first score of the night. The PAT was no good and Fairview’s lead was cut to 28-6 as the first half came to an end.
Having won the toss and deferring to the second half, the Aggies began their drive at their own 36-yard line. Out of an eight-play drive, seven were runs and Black scored on a 19-yard run with 8:38 left in the third quarter, making Fairview’s lead 35-6.
Danville’s next drive stalled on a fourth-and-5 when Nail’s run was short, giving the Aggies the ball at their own 38-yard line. White ran the ball for 10 yards and on the next play, Martin completed a pass to Black for 52 yards and another Fairview touchdown. With 6:10 left in the third quarter, the Aggies extended their lead to 41-6.
Fairview pinned the Hawks deep on its own end of the field on the kickoff, and on the second play of the Danville drive, Eli Speegle intercepted Nail’s pass at Fairview’s 44-yard line. On the fifth play of the ensuing drive, Martin’s pass to Oakley Mullican was completed for a 39-yard touchdown and Fairview took a commanding 48-6 lead.
Replicating a drive from the third quarter, Fairview used seven consecutive runs by Dalton Payne, and on the seventh, Payne scored from 22 yards out with 9:26 left in the game, extending Fairview’s lead to 55-6.
Danville took over on its own 36-yard line. It appeared that Fairview had stopped Danville when the Hawks lined up to punt on a fourth-and-10 on the seventh play of the drive. Cameron Moore ran for 13 yards for a Hawks first down, and six plays later, it once again appeared the Aggies had stopped the Hawks when a penalty against Fairview gave Danville a first down at Fairview’s 9-yard line. Tanner Colburn scored a 1-yard touchdown and Justice Huff ran in a successful 2-point conversion, but it was too little too late for the Hawks and Fairview pulled away to win this year’s 4A, Region 7 Championship with a final score of 55-14.
Fairview dominated the game gaining 551 total yards to Danville’s 228. Fairview’s defense held the Hawks to just 83 yards total offense in the second half. Ellis led all rushers with 150 yards. Martin ended the night going 6-of-10, passing for 215 yards. He was perfect in the second half going 4-for-4 through the air.
After the game, Fairview’s Coach George Redding said, “I’m very proud of this team. I’m happy for the players, our school and our fans. This is our first region championship since the AHSAA went to regional play.”
As region champion, Fairview will host its first-round playoff game in two weeks. The Aggies have to await completion of games this week to find out which team will come to town. In the meantime, they will travel to Holly Pond next week to renew their annual rivalry game with the Broncos.
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