Fairland Survives Mud Bowl Against Portsmouth On A Failed Two-Point Conversion

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PROCTORVILLE, Ohio (WOUB) — A rain soaked first half caused problems on both sides of the ball, but the Fairland Dragons weathered the storm to defeat the Portsmouth Trojans by a slim margin of 15-14.

The wet field caused players to slip almost every run, and even posed some struggles when needing to change directions down field, thus forcing both teams to choose the run option.

Quarterback Drew Roe, the fighting force for the Trojans and one of the league’s leading passers, struggled to make connections.

On the other hand, Fairland a run-driven offense capitalized on these miscues. The Dragons opened up the scoring with a two-yard gain in the hands of JD Brumfield.

After the Trojans landed their first points with a 52-yard pass from Roe, Zander Schmidt answered immediately with an 84-yard kickoff return to the house. That’s all it took for the Dragons to hang onto the lead.

In a last-chance effort, with 1:12 on the clock, the Trojans scored again now narrowing the lead to just one. Portsmouth took a leap of faith and attempted the two point conversion to put the game away without overtime. But the Trojans came up empty handed, leading to the final score of 15-14.

This game held more importance than just a win-loss record. Both teams battling it out through the conference are looking to gain as many points for their playoff appearance as possible.

Although Fairland only won by one point, that point can make a big difference when the teams enter the tournament. Currently, Fairland is projected to hold the 3-seed in Region 23, while Portsmouth sits at the 8-seed in Region 19.

Both teams return to action at 7 p.m. next Friday. Fairland travels to Coal Grove (4-3, 3-2), Portsmouth welcomes South Point (1-6, 1-4).