FAIRVIEW – Hanceville and Fairview faced off in a jamboree game on a beautiful night for football on Friday. The Aggies jumped on the Bulldogs early and quickly, and they wound up taking the game, 31-20.
On their first series, Fairview found the end zone on eight plays to take a 7-0 lead. Alex Campbell got intercepted by Scoot Bennett on Hanceville's first series, and the Aggies took advantage of the turnover as Dayne Black scored on a 9-yard quarterback keeper to increase the lead to 14-0. Hanceville scored on their first play in their next series as R.J. Evans broke free for a 80-yard touchdown run to put the Bulldogs on the board, but they still trailed, 14-6.
Fairview used the run game to get into field goal range, and Jaxxon Swann nailed a 25-yarder to push the lead to 17-6. Hanceville countered with a fierce running attack by Evans and Romael Simmons as they quickly closed in on the end zone, but on a first-and-10 at the 35-yard line, Campbell forced a pass and it got picked off by Jordan Earwood, and Fairview, again, capitalized on a Bulldog turnover. On just the third play of the series, Black threw a pass to Ethan Holland, and he ran down the right sideline, breaking a few Bulldog tackles, and stayed in bounds for a 73-yard touchdown reception to make it 24-6.
Hanceville looked for some momentum before the half, and behind the duo of Evans and Simmons, they wore down the Aggie defense on their path to the end zone. Campbell got the final 7 yards of the drive, including a 2-yard touchdown run on the keeper to make it a 24-12 game, which was the score at the half.
The JV squads played the final two quarters. A bad snap by the Aggies landed out of the end zone and their lead was cut to 24-14. After a three-and-out by Hanceville, Fairview found the end zone again, through the air, as Oakley Mullican connected with Donte Dumas on a 31-yard touchdown pass to push the lead to 31-12. Hanceville looked to make things interesting later in the game as a 47-yard touchdown run cut the Fairview lead to just 11 at 31-20, but they could not get closer as Fairview held on for the win.
Fairview will take on East Limestone on Aug. 25 in a fall jamboree game, while Hanceville starts their regular season on the same day at home vs. Cold Springs.
"I thought my guys came out with some great intensity," Fairview coach George Redding said. "Black had a great game tonight. He threw and ran the ball really good. He took control of the game tonight. We wanted him to take some chances downfield, and he did that. We worked on filling some space in our roster after losing a lot of seniors last year, and replacing them with new guys. We came out with some great intensity, but we still made a lot of mistakes in the game. I do not want us to think that we are starting over. I want my guys to play really hard, but also, have some fun in the process."
"We have 22 ninth graders on the team, so we kept everything basic," Hanceville coach Craig Flanigan said. "We could have worked on our offense and defense more during our spring practices. We made a lot of mistakes tonight, but we will work on that. I really liked that they did not quit. That's one thing I like about this team."
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