FAIRVIEW, Ala. – The Good Hope Raiders made the trip down SR-69 to Dafford Smith Stadium in Fairview on a wet, chilly Thursday night to take on the unbeaten Aggies and this was a hard-fought, physical clash between the county rivals. Good Hope got on the board early and went into the locker room with a 7-0 lead at halftime, but Fairview responded in the second half. The Aggies scored midway through the third quarter to tie things up at 7 and later in the fourth, Fairview quarterback Kolt Redding ran one into the end zone with less than two minutes on the clock to complete the comeback and seal a 14-7 win for the Aggies. Fairview finishes the regular season undefeated for the second straight year.
The Aggies faced a third and 11 early in the first quarter and quarterback Kolt Redding’s pass was picked off by Good Hope’s Carter Rutherford, giving the Raiders the ball near midfield. Good Hope took advantage of the field position and a big run by quarterback Parker Johnson moved the Raiders down to the 16-yard line. Two plays later, Johnson flipped one out to Rutherford for a 9-yard touchdown to give Good Hope the early lead. Chase Prewett split the uprights with the extra point, and the Raiders were up 7-0 with 4:39 to play in the first quarter.
Good Hope’s momentum carried over to the ensuing kickoff when Rutherford recovered a Fairview fumble and gave the ball back to the Raider offense. However, Good Hope was forced to punt it away a few plays later and Fairview regained possession with three minutes remaining in the opening period. Both defenses controlled the rest of the first half. The Aggies and Raiders exchanged punts until late in the second quarter when a tipped ball was intercepted by Fairview’s Conner Scott at Good Hope’s 33-yard line. However, the slick ball got the best of the Aggies two plays later when a fumble was recovered by Mason Drake and the Raiders took over possession with four minutes to play in the first half. Neither team gained another first down in the remaining time and we went to halftime with Good Hope on top 7-0.
The Raiders were forced to punt on their first possession of the third quarter. Fairview kept the chains moving with tough runs from Jake Harper, Rex Chandler and Redding, eventually driving down to Good Hope’s 6-yard line. That’s when Redding punched in his first score of the night from 6 yards and then tacked on the extra point to tie the game at 7 with five minutes remaining in the third. A big return by Karson Hollis on the ensuing kickoff gave the Raiders great field position but Redding’s big second half continued a few plays later when he made a leaping interception at the 13-yard line to give the ball back to the Aggie offense.
Runs by Harper and Redding moved the ball out near midfield, but Fairview was eventually forced to punt and Good Hope regained possession at the start of the fourth quarter. Both teams exchanged punts early in the fourth, but the Aggies got the ball back with around five minutes to play. Facing third and 18 with just under four minutes on the clock, Redding hit Jace Stevens down the seam for 40 yards and a first down to put Fairview in field goal range. After a run from Harper got the ball down to the 11, Redding made a field goal attempt unnecessary by running it into the end zone himself for an 11-yard touchdown, putting the Aggies on top 14-7 with two minutes on the clock.
Good Hope got the ball back with one more chance to tie it up but a sack by Joseph Harbison on third down put the Raiders way behind the chains. Good Hope heaved one downfield on fourth and long to try and come up with some yardage, but Scott came down with his second interception of the night to seal a 14-7 win for Fairview and cap the second straight undefeated regular season for the Aggies.
Fairview (10-0) will now turn its attention to a first-round playoff matchup against Arab next week and Good Hope (8-2) will return home to host Cherokee County in the first round.
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