Trojans slam the door on Mount Pleasant

The Fairfield defense reached a new level of nastiness and Mount Pleasant endured the full brunt of it.

In a must-win game for the Panthers, the hard-hitting Trojan defense accounted for two of Fairfield?s three scores to slam the door on Mount Pleasant?s postseason hopes. A win would have given last year?s district champ a second-place finish, but Friday?s 20-0 loss at Trojan Stadium leaves Mount Pleasant (5-4, 4-3) out in the cold due to a lost tiebreaker to Washington for the fourth and final playoff slot.

?It?s always disappointing when you lose ? whether there?s anything on the line or not,? said Panther head coach Bob Jensen.

Meanwhile, Fairfield (7-2, 5-2) came to play from the opening kickoff to nab third place and set up Wednesday?s sub-state game vs. Grinnell. While the Trojans clinched their spot in the postseason with a 10-0 win at Washington one week earlier, Friday?s victory kept Fairfield away from a first-round match-up with undefeated and second-ranked Centerville.

?I was very impressed with our kids,? said head coach Mike Schenck. ?I think they showed up to play when it would have been easy to take a Friday night off knowing we were already playing on Wednesday.?

Trojan safety Grant Curran intercepted two passes and scored two touchdowns to lead the vicious defense and put Fairfield on the scoreboard mid-way through the first quarter. On the first play of Mount Pleasant?s second possession, a botched snap sailed over the head of quarterback Cody Vaughn and 20 yards into the end zone. Curran pounced on the loose ball moments later for what proved to be the game-winning score.

?It was a huge play to get us going, but the defense played big all night,? Curran said. ?It?s fun for us to go out there and be able to shut people down like we have been.?

With just more than a minute remaining in the game, Curran sealed the win with his second interception and 35-yard run back that put Fairfield up 20-0. The shutout is the second in as many weeks, and Fairfield is now allowing less than 12 points per game.

?The defense is playing very, very well,? said Schenck. ?I can?t ask for much more than consecutive shutouts against Washington and Mount Pleasant. They played outstanding, came up with big turnovers when we needed them and didn?t give up any big plays.?

On the Panthers? third possession, Darian Cotton hit back with a 23-yard burst that led to Mount Pleasant?s deepest penetration into Fairfield territory the entire night. However, on a third-and-17 play from the 23-yard line, Curran picked off his first pass of the game to put an abrupt end to the Panther drive.

On a wet, sloppy field, the Trojans ran almost exclusively out of the I-formation and put the offense into the sure hands of running back Michael Hammes. The junior carried the ball 30 times for 147 yards including a 33-yard run through several would-be tacklers to put the Trojans up 14-0 mid-way through the third quarter.

?We didn?t do a lot of high risk kind of things ? field conditions kind of limited that ? but again we just did what we needed to do to win the football game,? said Schenck.

With the 14-0 lead, Fairfield kept the ball on the ground and behind their big offensive line to effectively burn the clock. Following an Austin Atwood interception, Hammes and quarterback Jordan Leazer led a fourth-quarter drive that didn?t result in points, but took more than six minutes off the clock. The Trojans took the ball 70 yards down field before finally giving the ball back to Mount Pleasant deep in their own territory.

?It was a field position game, and we didn?t do well with that in the second half ? Fairfield did a good job of moving the ball and taking control of field position,? Jensen said. ?We just didn?t make any plays offensively to get back in the ball game. [Fairfield] played better than we did tonight.?

Down two scores and set up at their own two-yard line, Curran?s interception and subsequent score ended the Panther comeback attempt before it started.

?I?ll tell you what ? it?s all about team effort. Getting off the line, swarming to the ball and playing tough football ? that?s what it?s all about,? said Fairfield lineman Matt Hotek who leads the Trojans with 15 tackles for loss on the season.

In the end, Mount Pleasant ? playing without its top two receivers Henry Krieger-Coble and Evan Franzen ? couldn?t rebound from a turnover differential that finished plus-4 in Fairfield?s favor.

?We?ve been up against a couple things the past few weeks, but I think the kids came out and gave a good effort as short-handed as we were and against a team that has quite a bit of size on us,? said Jensen. ?Fairfield has a good ball club ? they?re very physical up front and they had a good defensive scheme.

Cotton led the Panthers with 14 carries for 44 yards on the ground.

Jeff Guttry tallied eight tackles to lead the way for Fairfield who now get set for Wednesday?s do-or-die game at Grinnell. Grinnell claimed the two-seed out of District 6 after erasing a 14-0 deficit and posting a 15-14 win vs. Carlisle Friday. The eighth-ranked Tigers move to 8-1 on the season with the lone loss coming to Centerville by a score of 29-21 Oct. 9.