From the sideline: Whoever wants it more may just get it

For the record, there was no point aside from the final minutes Friday night that I considered the game to be even close to over.

I?ve watched enough sports in my day, and, in particular, an adequate amount of high school events the last few years, that I can count on things changing with so much time left on the clock. The bad news was that Central Clinton scored so quick to start the game, and at the same time, the good news was that Central Clinton scored so quick. There was still three-and-a-half quarters to play by the time the worst was over with.

The Trojans gave up touchdowns of 74, 70 and 76 yards in the first seven minutes. That?s not good, but the first quarter is the time to have that happen. From there, if you just relax, avoid getting your undies in a bundle and play like you know how, things may just work out.

Coaches and players will talk about how proud they are of the team for stepping up when the tough got going. And yada, yada, yada with the clichés. But it really does take some degree of mental toughness to come back from what happened on the very first play of the game, and again, that?s what having experience on the field can do for you.

While I think it gets exaggerated from time-to-time, having seniors is more than just having guys with one more year of practice behind them and a better handle on what to do in situations.

?These guys have been though it all. Everyone took it like champs, played hard the whole way and we really put our heads down in the second half,? running back Michael Hammes said of coming back from the first-quarter blows.

It also didn?t hurt that Hammes saved his biggest runs for the times his team was in a two-possession hole. The 64-yarder in the first quarter to make the score 14-7 was a nice way of saying ?hey, we can do that too,? and the 58-yarder on the first play of the second half was a nice way of saying ?hey, we?re going to come out and win the game.?

To look at the game from the first quarter, and then the fourth quarter, there was quite a difference. The Trojans decided they were going to be the ones to initiate contact, and in football, that is the name of the game. It takes on a special importance when you are, quite simply, physically bigger than your opponent, which will be the case for Fairfield in just about every game it plays.

Central Clinton did provide a tougher match-up in the trenches than Davis County in Week 1, and maybe it was a case of some Fairfield players just thinking it was going to be that easy again. Clearly, that wasn?t the situation by the end of the night, and the officials even went out of their way on the sideline to mention how physical Fairfield had become.

And then there were the injuries.

It began to seem like there was a Saber laying on the field every other play, which became quite annoying to yours truly. Of course, you don?t hope for things to happen, but in the end, it ended up helping Fairfield in a big way.

Central Clinton lost its quarterback, its running back that scored the first two touchdowns of the game and a slew of others. Not good when you?re trying to win a game.

And it?s not just that. When you see your teammates dropping like flies, you may start to look over your shoulder on every play. Good luck with that.

All in all, the game was downright nuts. It?s going to be pretty rare that you see that many big plays followed up by the complete opposite with the side scoring 27 points in the first 15 minutes not adding to it the rest of the game. When I put it like that, I can?t help but think the only explanation is just a drastic change of fortunes, which happened at right about halftime.

But what Friday night also told me is that Fairfield does care enough to push back when someone lands a blow. It takes more than talent and luck to win tough football games like that.