Winner of 1-point game: Refs

BURLINGTON - The score doesn't always tell the whole story of a football game and often the yardage totals reveal some truths about a contest. That certainly was the case Friday in a Class 3A District 6 16-15 Burlington win over Fairfield.

The winner of the yardage battle? Burlington rushed for 213 and threw for six to total 219 yards. Fairfield rushed for 101 yards and threw for 48 to total 149. The referees threw 29 flags for 328 total yards, which does not take into account six declined penalties, including one that flustered the referees for several minutes despite repeated conferences. The team with striped shirts won the yardage battle and for those watching the referees march this way and that during the 3-hour contest, it seemed they took over the game.

'High school football games are hard to win,” Burlington head coach Jim Krekel said. 'Nothing comes easy sometimes. If I would have had to come here until two in the morning to earn it, I would have gladly stayed until two in the morning.”

With the number of timeouts instituted this year and the teams' called timeouts, the officials' timeouts and times the clock stopped for injuries, the Grayhounds and Trojans were looking at a late night.

'There were several times we could've gotten off the field defensively, and we extended their drive with a penalty,” Fairfield assistant coach Woody Orne said. Head coach Nate Weaton was not on the sidelines because of a health issue.

The Trojans may have had a longer night, but for defensive coordinator Shawn Dorman's adjustments after the Grayhounds scored on each of their first two possessions with 146 yards rushing.

'We probably should have made the adjustment a couple plays sooner,” Orne said. 'But that's a great example of how the kids stepped up and responded. In the past, things would've started to fold up and go downhill at that point.”

Things went up for the Trojans on both sides of the ball. The defense held BHS to minus-2 yards in the second quarter. The offense, which had totaled 32 yards on its first five possessions, drove 75 yards to score on its sixth. Peyton Cline rushes accounted for 53 of those yards and it was 14-8 after a Max Weaton TD reception from Isaac Harris and a Cline PAT run with 1 minute, 48 seconds before halftime.

Cline's tackle on fourth-and-2 gave Fairfield its first possession of the second half. Starting at its own 42, a late hit was a first down and Cline went 11 yards on a third-and-7. Facing third-and-17 at the BHS 43, Aiden Lyons snagged a pass between two defenders, then ran another 18 yards for a first-and-goal at the 2. Harris swept into the end zone on third-and-goal to tie the game. The PAT kick by Tate Allen hit the upright, then fell straight down, good by an inch for a 15-14 Trojan lead with 4:02 to go in the third quarter.

BHS then reeled off a 12-play drive to the Trojans 24, but Lyons leapt and snagged an interception. Fairfield ball at its own 10. The next play the ball sailed over Harris on the snap and out of the end zone for a safety and BHS had the 16-15 lead with 10:15 remaining.

'That's high school sports,” Orne said. 'We did make some big plays when we needed them, but we made some equally big negative plays,”

BHS fumbled on the first play after the safety punt and Fairfield took over at midfield. Two Cline runs, then a pass to Weaton, who caught the ball across the middle and rumbled toward the end zone before being pushed out at the 2-yard line.

No football was played for the next 10 minutes as refs debated the flag, debated the spot, debated how to implement the penalty (15 yards from the 2 or scrimmage or spot of foul). Three incomplete passes ended the drive.

'I really don't know what that was all about,” Orne said. 'I don't know that they did either. I know we get a play to the end zone and it comes back on a penalty that wasn't necessary.”

The Trojans had four take-aways, the last with 3:04 left on the next play after Dorman exhorted the Trojans to strip that ball. The offense turned it over on downs. Nick Kaska and Kyle Godwin each recovered a fumble and Lyons and Allen each had an interception.

'I'll give their kids credit,” Krekel said. 'They toughened up on us and made it really tough for us to move the ball. That's a credit to them.”

Cline had 18 carries for 81 yards. Weaton had five receptions for 42 yards.

'The great thing is the effort. It's hard to get up and continue to respond when it's been a long time since things have gone your way, but these guys are doing it,” Orne said. 'That's important when you're trying to build a program. The culture can be the hardest to change, but it's changing. I know that we will get better. I know that we will do a better job of it as the year goes on.”

Burlington is 1-2 overall, 1-1 in district and hosts Fort Madison (3-1, 1-1) Friday while Fairfield (1-3, 0-2) goes to No. 5 Washington.