By Brian McKim
The Falls City football team traveled to Fairbury on Friday, hoping to break into the win column. Unfortunately, they met a motivated Jeff football team that had other thoughts in mind. Fairbury led 28-0 after the first twelve minutes and 49-0 at the half. The Jeffs added one more score in the third quarter to go in front 56-0 before FC hit on a 33-yard TD run in the fourth to make the final 56-7.
The Jeffs got on the board first, scoring on a 51-yard pass play to go up 6-0. After a Tiger punt, Fairbury needed just one play to cover 48 yards to go in front 14-0 with 8:55 to play in the first.
Daniel Hollens stepped in front of a Jeff pass on the next Fairbury drive and got the INT, giving FC the ball at their 28-yard line. After another FC punt, Fairbury put together a 10-play 77-yard drive, ending with a 24-yard strike through the air to make it 21-0 with 1:30 to play in the first. The play could have resulted in a Tiger interception but went through the hands of the defender and right into the waiting arms of a Jeff receiver.
On the third play of the ensuing drive, QB Blakely Sells was picked off and the Jeff defender returned it 42 yards for the score to put Fairbury in front 28-0 with :13 left on the first.
FC opened the second with an excellent 15-yard pass from Sells to Kadyn Strecker; unfortunately, a fumbled option attempt gave the Jeffs the ball back five plays later.
The two teams exchanged three and outs on defense before Fairbury was back at it, scoring on a QB scramble from 24 yards out to make it 35-0 with 6:08 to play in the half. The Fairbury offense added another TD on the next drive as the QB avoided a sack and found a wide-open receiver for a 26-yard score to make it 42-0 with 2:51 to go.
Things got even worse for the Tigers. With :49 to play before intermission, a blocked punt was returned for a score, putting the Tigers down 49-0 heading into halftime.
On the opening drive of the third, Fairbury got their second blocked punt for a TD in the game, going in front 56-0 with 8:19 to play.
Falls City finally got on the board in the fourth as Hollens broke free for a 33-yard run to make it 56-7 with 5:58 to go in the game. That was the last score from either team as FC fell to 0-2 and Fairbury improved to 2-0.
Fairbury outgained FC 333-109, including a 40-27 edge on the ground. Starting at QB for the first time, freshman Blakely Sells completed 9-21 attempts for 82 yards. Hollens led the ground game with 58 yards and a TD on 17 carries. Defensively, Stiephan Fields led the Tigers with four stops. Isaac Frederick added three, and Hollens had two tackles and an interception.
The Tigers, 0-2, host Concordia, 1-1, on Friday at Jug Brown Stadium with kickoff for 7:00 p.m. Concordia fell to Syracuse 38-17 last Friday.
