Fairfield falls short in homecoming battle with Benton

FAIRFIELD — Fairfield football had its homecoming spoiled on Friday night in a Class 3A district 5 matchup with Benton, 29-14.

The Trojans gave the Bobcats all they could handle for three and a half quarters as the two squads were knotted at 14-14 heading into the fourth.

Benton looked as if they were going to run away with it early.

The Bobcats opened up the scoring on just four plays on its first drive of the evening.

Meanwhile, Fairfield showed signs that it could move the ball on its first drive, covering 23 yards in four plays.

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However, Voss Richardson was picked off on the Trojan’s next play and it was taken back 51 yards for a Bobcat score.

Just over three minutes into the game, the Trojans found themselves down 14-0.

Despite the tough start, the Trojan defense stood tall through the rest of the first half and the offense did enough to keep them right in it.

After back-to-back punts and forcing the Bobcats to turn the ball over on downs, the Trojans finally found life offensively mid-way through the second quarter.

The Trojan set off on a 14 play drive that culminated in six after an 11 yard quarterback keeper by Richardson.

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The Trojan’s point after was blocked, but the Bobcats led was cut to 14-6.

Fairfield kept the energy up through the rest of the quarter. On Benton’s ensuing drive, the Trojan’s forced a field-goal attempt, but got a hand on it to keep it a one possession game.

Once again the Trojans followed with a methodical drive, kicked off with a 15 yard rush by Luke Konczal. Fairfield rattled off 14 plays on the drive, spanning over 80 yards and once again ending with Richardson in the end zone after a one yard rush with just 14 seconds on the clock.

“We didn’t start the game particularly well tonight,” Fairfield head coach Matt Jones said. “We got down and that was a struggle, but we overcame that. We had a ton of momentum and that’s a huge testament to our guys to not give up on each other. Despite the loss, I’m really happy with our guys and how we battled.”

The Trojans elected to go for two to tie it up and Richardson was able to create some magic. The sophomore rolled out right being chased down by a slew of Benton defenders and as he was tackled out of bounds, Richardson lofted the ball up to Ethan Bisgard to tie it at the half.

Out of the break, neither team could find a rhythm offensively as the defensive side of the ball shined.

The Trojans threw an interception on their first drive, but were able to keep the Bobcats out of the end zone all the way down at their own five.

Benton tried a field goal, but the snap was mishandled and the Trojans took over on their side of the field.

Fairfield put together a nice 10 play drive, but was forced to punt.

That punt turned out to be Fairfield’s best opportunity to score in the second half.

Benton muffed the return and Bisgard was able to recover the ball deep in Bobcat territory.

However, the Trojans moved the ball just seven yards in four plays, turning the ball over on downs. They never got any closer than that.

Things began to go awry.

Benton regained the lead, 21-14, on the next possession and on the kickoff the Trojans miss handled the return as the ball rolled out at their own four yard line after being touched.

A false start pushed the Trojans back as far as they could go. After back-to-back rushes for no gains, the Trojans were tacked with intentional grounding in their own end zone giving the Bobcats two points on a safety making it 23-14.

With the ball back in their hands, the Bobcats added seven more on a 16 yard touchdown run all but ending it.

“My mind set is don’t define your self worth by a scoreboard,” Jones said. “You may have influence over that outcome, but you don’t have total control. What you can control is your attitude, your effort, preparation and your focus. That’s what we need to get better at.”

Voss Richardson threw for 60 yards in the loss, but ran for two touchdowns.

Zandrik Allison rushed for 92 yards and Luke Konczal ended with 56 yards.

Allison finished with 23 receiving yards and Konczal followed with 19. The pair along with Ethan Bisgard had two catches.

Defensively, Konczal ended with 11 tackles.

With the loss, Fairfield drops to 1-4. They will travel to No. 3 Williamsburg on Friday.