Deja vu: Fairfield falls by one to Mustangs

Falling to Davis County by one point a season ago was painful enough.

But two years in a row? Heartbreaking.

One year removed from a 30-29 loss to Davis County, the Trojans again found themselves on the losing end Friday as Mustang kicker Ryan Fullenkamp split the uprights for his first career field goal. The Mustangs won 27-26 Friday at Trojan Stadium.

Though the Mustangs couldn?t seem to buy an extra point Friday, the 18-yard make with 18 ticks remaining was the only kick that mattered. Fullenkamp missed an extra point in the first quarter and the Mustang offense went for two points following their next three touchdowns.

?That was a heartbreaker,? said Fairfield head coach Mike Schenck. ?I felt really pretty good when they decided they were going to kick the field goal.?

The finish was eerily similar to last season?s matchup between the two southeast Iowa teams. The Mustangs came from behind in that game, too, scoring a touchdown and succeeding on the game-winning two-point conversion with two minutes left.

Once again, in a game where every drive and every point mattered, the Trojans simply made too many mistakes. After turning the ball over three times in Week 1, turnovers again plagued Fairfield Friday. Fairfield lost three fumbles, two of which came in the decisive fourth quarter, and threw another two interceptions.

?You?re not going to win a lot of games with five turnovers,? said Schenck. ?We just shot ourselves in the foot and shot ourselves in the foot.?

The Mustangs struck first with 7:10 remaining in the first quarter as Davis County quarterback Calvin Utt connected with wideout Park Mikels for a 48-yard touchdown pass. Three minutes later, the Trojans answered with a touchdown of their own when Dillon Fry scampered into the end zone untouched for a 6-yard rushing touchdown.

In the second quarter, the Trojans broke the 6-all tie on a nine-yard Jonathan Hoehne rushing touchdown. Hoehne, Fairfield?s backup running back, gained 21 yards on three carries, and Mason Carnahan rushed for 55 yards on 15 carries.

Utt continued to find success through the air, however, and found Damen Dixon for a 30-yard passing touchdown with 6:05 left in the second quarter. Davis County failed on its two-point conversion attempt, and Fairfield led 13-12 at halftime.

?They did a nice job of running a wheel route, and we were having trouble getting our flat coverage,? said Schenck. ?Second half we did a lot better job at covering the flat and kind of eliminated that play, but then we didn?t make plays when Utt scrambled.?

Two touchdown passes from Fry in the third quarter ? with one touchdown run by Utt sprinkled in between ? kept the Trojans on top 26-18 headed into the fourth quarter. Fry hit Peterman with an eight-yard pass and then found Justin Hammes in the end zone from six yards out. The senior quarterback finished 9-for-17 passing for 160 yards and two touchdowns.

At the end of the third quarter, Jonny Swanson intercepted a pass and returned it 26 yards to the Davis County 28 before a fumble one play later handed the ball back to the Mustangs. The Mustangs then drove 56 yards in six plays, capped by a 21-yard touchdown run by Utt, to pull within two. Fairfield and Davis County traded possessions on fumbles before one final five-minute drive by Davis County set up the winning field goal.

Though Davis County out-gained Fairfield 432-371 in total yardage, the Trojans kept the Mustangs relatively quiet in the rushing game outside of a few big plays. Davis County running back Colton Roberts mustered just 45 yards on 17 carries after eclipsing the 100-yard rushing mark against Centerville in Week 1. Leading the defensive effort for Fairfield was inside linebacker Seth Davisson, who came up with 6 1/2 tackles, and defensive back Swanson with 5 1/2 tackles and one pick. Linemen Gabe Jaquez and Jake Mineart had one sack apiece.

The Week 2 loss was the second straight for Fairfield. The Trojans lost to Albia 27-20 in Week 1.

?Our kids have to find a way to win. We?re finding a way to lose right now. It?s like we don?t expect to win when we step on the field,? said Schenck. ?We have to get over that. We?re too good a football team to go out and find ways to lose.?

The Trojans aren?t the only team experiencing early season woes, however. Each of the seven Class 3A District 7 squads has at least one loss after Week 2. Fort Madison, Washington and Williamsburg are the only three district opponents to have notched a win in the first two weeks.

The 0-2 Trojans? slate is relatively clean as they prepare to open district play Friday at home against 1-1 Washington.

?Next week with Washington we?re looking at the best team we?ve played so far, so we?re going to have to take huge steps,? Schenck added.

Fairfield 20, Davis County 27

FF DC

20 First Downs 21

40-211 Rushing 34-184

9-17-160 Passing 16-34-248

371 Total Yards 432

2-2 TD-INT 2-1

3-3 Fumbles-lost 1-1

4-30 Penalties 4-30

Scoring Summary

1st ? 7:10 (DC) Utt 48-pass to Mikels (kick failed); 4:05 (FF) Fry 6-run (kick failed)

2nd ? 7:05 (FF) Hoehne 9-run (Carr kick); 6:05 (DC) Utt 30-pass to Dixon (2-point failed)

3rd ? 6:26 (FF) Fry 29-pass to Peterman (Carr kick); 4:12 (DC) Utt 43-run (2-point failed); 1:53 (FF) Fry 6-pass to Peterman (kick failed)

4th ? 8:04 (DC) Utt 21-run (2-point failed); 0:18 (DC) Fullenkamp 18-field goal

Rushing ? (FF) Fry 17-107 (TD), Carnahan 15-55, Hammes 5-28, Hoehne 3-21 (TD); (DC) Utt 13-112 (2TD), Roberts 16-42, Bassett 4-21, Dixon 1-9

Passing ? (FF) Fry 9-17-160 (2TD); (DC) Utt 16-32-248 (2TD), Dixon 0-2-0

Receiving ? (FF) Horras 3-65, Hammes 3-51, Peterman 3-44 (2TD); (DC) Dixon 5-93 (TD), Mikels 2-55 (TD), McClure 2-32, Fullenkamp 2-25, Roberts 2-18, Knapp 1-16, Anderson 1-9, Bassett 1-0

Tackles ? (FF) Davisson 6.5, Swanson 5.5 (int), Jaquez 4.5 (sack), Dimmitt 4, Leonard 4, Hammel 3.5, Schwarz 3.5, Gevock 3.5, Mineart 3 (sack), Scott 2.5, Hoehne 2, Deao 2, Hammes 1, Peterman 1, Dahlstrom 1, Carnahan 1, Ives 1