Rodriguez Edmonds slips a Trojan tackle Friday. (Photo/Joe Seibles)
WINNSBORO (Aug. 22, 2016) – It was a wet, stormy Friday night at E.K. McLendon stadium for the Fairfield Central Griffins’ regular season opener. The Griffins throttled the Hunter Kinard Tyler Trojans to the tune of 42-14, for their first opening game victory since 2013.
“It was exciting,” Griffins’ head coach Demetrius Davis said. “It was good to be able to be 1-0. We started off 0-1 the past two seasons, so to be 1-0 feels better.”
Noticeably absent for the Griffins were star running backs Jerrell Suber-O’Neal and Tony Ruff Jr. Instead, third string sophomore Rodriguez Edmonds got the nod at tailback.
“Both of them is still a little banged up,” Davis said on O’Neal and Ruff’s conditions. “We haven’t really done much with them the past couple of weeks. Suber will probably be able to play next week but Tony Ruff is still a week or two out.”
Edmonds made his presence felt early as he scampered into the end zone on a 7-yard rushing score early for the first score of the game. The Edmonds’ touchdown came off an HKT fumble that was recovered by senior defensive back Jeff Russell.
HKT fumbled the ball on their second drive as well. The Trojans’ second turnover of the night led to more points for the Griffins, by way of an 11-yard touchdown pass from Stanley McManus to J.R. Edmonds.
After the Edmonds touchdown reception the game was delayed due to lightning strikes, and the fans and players were made to leave the area for over 30 minutes.
“Delay is big,” Davis said. “Weather is not a big deal. Anytime you’re in the middle of a football game and you have to delay it’s not good because it’s sort of like having to restart after you already restarted.”
On the first drive back from the weather delay, Trojan quarterback Davonte Scott hooked up with his wide-out Camry James for a 68-yard score. The two had already connected on a 51-yard bomb early in the game, but the Trojans turned the ball over before they could convert it into points.
“That’s a big concern,” Davis said. “Right now, defensively, that is an area we have a lot of concern in. All of those guys that are back there are first-year guys, so hopefully we can get a little bit better. We have to do a better job of preparing those guys back there.”
McManus scrambled away from the HKT defense for a 17-yard score early in the second quarter to squash any Trojan momentum from their long touchdown score. On the next Trojan drive, HKT fumbled yet again, this time into the waiting arms of Daryl Camack who returned the ball 23 yards to the house.
Again, on the very next HKT drive, the Griffins forced another turnover, an interception by Quay McBride. The Griffins, just as they had all night, converted the turnover into more points.
It was Edmonds scoring this time on a 30-yard rushing score, his second of the night. Edmonds racked up 107 yards on 11 rushing attempts in his first start.
“It’s exciting to have a tenth-grader that stepped up and ran the ball the way he ran the ball,” Davis said. “Sometimes it takes a couple of injuries before you can realize what you really do have. We put him in at the Jamboree last week and I thought he ran the ball really well, and tonight I thought he did the same.”
The Trojans, just to cap things off, threw another pick midway through the second quarter for their fifth turnover of the night. McManus, who had a solid night but few attempts, hit tight end Tykedrist Gibson for a 21-yard score.
Fairfield scored 27 unanswered points in the second to go into half with a comfortable 42-6 lead. Due to the heavy rain and large deficit, the third and fourth quarters were shortened to eight minutes apiece, and Davis took the opportunity to give some of his bench players some early season playing time.
“Week zero, the JV team doesn’t have a game so we were able to put a lot of our JV kids out there and kind of get them some experience on a Friday night, so when they play next Thursday at Keenan they should be good to go,” Davis said.
The only score of the second half was a 2-yard rushing touchdown by junior Trojan running back Tremahrey Jerido to get the team in double digits, but the 42-14 blowout was sealed.
Fairfield will be back in action this Friday night at home against the Keenan Raiders. Keenan suffered a brutal 47-14 loss to Newberry in their season opener.
“We’ve got to get better,” Davis said. “We’re just very young, we don’t have a lot of experience on defense right now, and right now we’re just not very good right there. Offensively we just have to continue to get a little bit better, but we’ve still got to be able to make the small plays, so we have a lot of work cut out for us.”
HKT: 6-0-0-8 – 14
FC: 15-27-0-0 – 42
Scoring
First Quarter
FC – Rodriguez Edmonds 7 run (J.R. Edmonds 3 pass from S. McManus). 9:49.
FC – J.R. Edmonds 11 pass from Stanley McManus (McManus kick). 4:14.
HKT – Camry James 68 pass from Davonte Scott (Kick failed). 2:59.
Second Quarter
FC – S. McManus 17 run (Kick failed). 10:45.
FC – Daryl Camack 23 fumble return (McManus kick). 10:10.
FC – R. Edmonds 30 run (McManus kick). 7:41.
FC – Tykedrist Gibson 21 pass from S. McManus (R. Edmonds kick). 3:01.
Fourth Quarter
HKT- Tremahrey Jerido 2 run (Jerido run). 5:41.
HKT FC
Rushes/Yards 23-148 28-196
Passing Yards 135 69
C-A-I-TD 5-9-2-1 5-7-0-2
Fumbles/ Lost 3/3 0/0
Penalties/Yards 5-25 3-30
RUSHING: HKT – Tremahrey Jerido 7-41, Keron Barr 2-(-2), Davonte Scott 14-109. FC – Rodriguez Edmonds 11-107, Stanley McManus 4-39, NyDarious Williamson 1-(-3), Antoine Young 2-8, Zarretrious Evans 6-43, Antonio Jackson 1-(-3), Bettis Stevenson 1-13, Chris Suber 2-(-8).
RECEIVING: HKT – Camry James 2-119, Jerrious Coleman 1-8, Keron Barr 2-8. FC – Rodric Woodard 1-17, Antonio Jackson 2-20, J.R. Edmonds 1-11, Tykedrist Gibson 1-21.
PASSING: HKT – Davonte Scott 5-9, 135 yards, 2 INT, TD. FC – Stanley McManus 5-7, 69 yards, 2 TD.
