Fairfield football team fills out schedule

The wait is over and the Iowa High School Athletic Association has released the football schedules for the 2012 and 2013 football seasons.

For the Fairfield football team, plenty of familiar faces will be dotting the schedule come fall.

Outside of the already locked in district opponents and bye week opponent Chariton, Davis County and Albia have rounded out the Trojans? schedule as non-district opponents for 2012 and 2013. Fairfield will play Albia in Week 1 before facing the Mustangs in Week 2.

While the rivalry with Davis County has been developing ? with the two teams splitting the past two season?s matchups ? the Trojans will see Albia for the first time in three seasons. The last time the Trojans and Blue Demons met on the football field, on Aug. 27, 2009, Fairfield won 27-0.

Both Albia and Davis County are in Class 2A, but neither team should be considered a pushover. Both teams were postseason qualifiers one season ago, and one of the Mustangs? six wins was against Fairfield.

?There?s no question Albia and Davis County will provide us with a challenge,? Fairfield head coach Mike Schenck said. ?They are two of the top tier 2A teams in the state, so I think it?s a good fit for us.?

Another positive, agreed Schenck and Fairfield activities director Jeff Courtright, is that both opponents will be within a 45-minute drive.

?They?re close opponents and we can start natural rivalries there,? said Courtright. ?It?s a lot better than making a trip to Central DeWitt. You want to play the teams with a closer proximity because it means better rivalries, more crowds and more excitement.?

Although Fairfield did list Davis County as an opponent it wanted on its list of five choices submitted to the IHSAA, Albia was not included. One team missing from the schedule that Courtright would?ve liked to see on it is Ottumwa, as there was plenty of interest in rekindling the rivalry on both sides.

?Ottumwa had contacted us, and we were interested in playing each other with the history that?s there,? said Courtright. ?It was a good fit for us and we would?ve gladly played Ottumwa.?

?But,? he added, ?We?re excited about Davis County and Albia.?

Ottumwa?s non-district opponents will instead be Fairfield rivals Mount Pleasant and Keokuk.

The Trojans? 2012 season starts with five straight games against teams that qualified for postseason football in 2011. After traveling to Albia and hosting Davis County in the first two weeks, Fairfield will face playoff qualifiers Washington (5-5), Keokuk (7-3) and Williamsburg (6-4) in weeks 3-5.

In other area football action, Cardinal will be at Van Buren to open the 2012 season before facing Danville in Week 2. Van Buren, which dropped down to Class 1A, will travel to West Burlington-Notre Dame in its other non-district game. Pekin, which also dropped down a class to 1A, is set to host New London in Week 1 and rekindle a rivalry at Sigourney-Keota the following week.