Big plays make for long night in Keokuk

KEOKUK ? Keokuk?s big play gave the Fairfield football team big fits Friday at Calvert Stadium in Keokuk.

The Chiefs? Gabe Vandenberg completed four touchdown passes ? including long throws of 53, 44 and 26 yards ? to lead Keokuk to a 42-14 victory over Fairfield in Class 3A District 7 action. The Chiefs rolled up 525 total yards offense and scored four touchdowns in the second quarter alone to hand Fairfield its fourth loss in a row.

?I thought early in the game our kids hung in there pretty well,? said Fairfield head coach Mike Schenck. ?We just got worn down, and as the first half wore on we had a tough time tackling.?

Up 28-7 at the intermission, Keokuk scored two more touchdowns in the second half and used its size advantage in the trenches to wreak havoc in the Trojans? backfield. Fairfield quarterback Dillon Fry was sacked three times for negative-19 yards, and the Chiefs had another five tackles for a loss in the contest.

?We?re just so undersized on our offensive line that it?s very, very difficult to keep people out,? said Schenck. ?They were basically bringing seven ... and we only have six guys to block, so it comes down to can we get rid of the ball before they can get to us.?

Fry, who finished the game 17-for-49 passing for 245 yards, had no trouble getting rid of the ball early. With 2:10 remaining in the first quarter, the senior signal caller slung a pass to Vince Horras, who broke free in the middle of the field, for a 33-yard touchdown. The touchdown capped a six-play, 65-yard drive that also saw Fry hit Spencer Peterman for a 27-yard gain.

As the Trojans? offense stalled in the second quarter, however, the Keokuk offense got going.

Vandenberg threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Darrion Sanders to tie the game at 7-all with 10:05 remaining. Trevor Roth gave Keokuk the lead with a seven-yard run, and Vandenberg again threw touchdown passes of 44 yards to Sanders and 16 yards to Williams to take a 28-7 lead into halftime.

The game went from bad to worse for the Trojans in the third quarter.

On Keokuk?s first drive of the second half, the Chiefs ate up nearly six minutes on the clock before a 53-yard pass from Vandenberg to Sanders put the Trojans up 35-7. The two teams traded possession before Fairfield running back Mason Carnahan, who rumbled for 153 yards in 17 carries, darted into the end zone untouched to make it a three-score game with 1:27 left in the third.

?Because we are so small, we have to spread people out all over the field and get what we can out of the running game,? said Schenck. ?I thought Mason did a nice job in the running game and had a couple nice breakaways.?

Following the rushing score from Carnahan, it looked like the tides might have been turning when Nick Jackson picked off Vandenberg at midfield. But the Trojan offense stalled on a fourth-and-10 from the Keokuk 34, and Keokuk backup running back Matt Nye tacked on one final score for the home team with 10:11 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Peterman set a career high with 10 catches for 121 yards, and Horras caught four Fry passes for 56 yards. Justin Hammes hauled in three catches for 68 yards and returned six kickoffs for 110 yards.

Justin Leonard paced the Trojans from the defensive side with eight tackles and a sack. Aaron Gevock and Jonny Swanson had seven tackles apiece, and Austin Deao and Jake Mineart both made six stops.

Keokuk improved to 2-2 overall and 2-0 in Class 3A District 7. Fairfield is 0-4 (0-2), and it doesn?t get any easier with a game vs. Williamsburg this Friday as part of homecoming week.

?We just need to get better at what we can do,? said Schenck. ?We can?t do anything about being undersized, but we can do something about getting better at fundamentals. We?ll go back and work on blocking and tackling.?

Fairfield 14, Keokuk 42

FF K

17 First Downs 24

27-116 Rushing 44-273

17-49-245 Passing 15-28-253

361 Total Yards 526

1-2 TD-INT 4-1

1-0 Fumbles-lost 0-0

6-65 Penalties 2-25

Scoring Summary

1st ? 2:10 (FF) Fry 33-pass to Horras (Carr kick)

2nd ? 10:05 (K) Vandenberg 26-pass to Sanders (Ingratta kick); 3:31 (K) Roth 7-run; 2:53 (K) Vandenberg 44-pass to Sanders (Ingratta kick); 0:20 (K) Vandenberg 16-pass to Williams (Ingratta kick)

3rd ? 6:02 (K) Vandenberg 53-pass to Sanders; 1:27 (FF) Carnahan 6-run (Carr kick)

4th ? 10:11 (K) Nye 17-run (Ingratta kick)

Rushing ? (FF) Carnahan 17-153 (TD), Fry 10-(-37); (K) Roth 17-177 (TD), Nye 19-100 (TD), Meek 2-7, Sanders 1-6, Vandenberg 5-(-17)

Passing ? (FF) Fry 17-49-245 (TD); (K) Vandenberg 15-28-253 (4TD)

Receiving ? (FF) Peterman 10-121, Horras 4-56 (TD), Hammes 3-68; (K) Sanders 6-163 (3TD), Williams 5-47 (TD), Reiter 3-29, Baxter 1-14

Tackles ? (FF) Leonard 8 (sack), Gevock 7, Swanson 7, Deao 6, Mineart 6, Dimmitt 5, Davisson 5, Hammes 4, Jackson 3 (INT), Carnahan 3, Schwarz 3, Scott 3, Cohen 2, Dahlstrom 2, Christensen, Horras, Jaquez, Love, Martin, Whitney

Ninth-graders blanked

KEOKUK ? The Fairfield ninth-grade football team?s two-game win streak came to an end Friday in Keokuk.

The ninth-graders lost to the Chiefs 37-0. They had earned wins against Davis County and Washington in the two previous weeks.

Jordan Reid finished with 87 yards rushing and completed one pass of 11 yards to Alex Crile. Zach Martin rushed for 42 yards and had a team-high eight tackles, and Trevor Drish gained 23 yards on the ground along with seven tackles on defense. Reid contributed six stops.

Next up for the Trojan freshmen (2-2) is a game against Williamsburg Friday.