The Fairbanks football team had something different in mind when West Jefferson came to town for the Panthers’ final
game of the 2020 regular season at Kyre Field. The passing game of Rough Rider’s quarterback Tyler Buescher was just
too much for the FHS defense to overcome as Fairbanks fell, 49-14.
Buescher threw for more than 400 yards, but it was nothing of which that FHS coach Patrick Cotter was unprepared.
“Buescher is a really good quarterback,” Cotter said. “If you give him time he is going to pick things apart.”
The Panthers did some picking apart of their own during their opening drive.
Brogan Green found some seams in West Jeff’sd defensive line.
Quarterback Ethan Kise also got the Panthers down to West Jefferson’s 15-yard line on a 40-yard run.
The drive stalled as FHS had to settle for a field goal attempt that Cade Ziegler kicked wide.
Cotter said he wanted his team to come out strong.
“We started out hot and had a great time,” he said. “We got down the field really well.
“The ‘O’ line was working really well and I had full faith in my kicker, but he pulled it.
“It is part of high school football, it happens.”
Once the Riders took over, it was one pass after another as they worked the ball down the field.
Their scoring play came on a six-yard run by Hayden Salyer.
Mason Cordetti converted the PAT to give the Riders a 7-0 lead.
Despite West Jefferson’s aerial antics, Cotter said he was happy with how is defensive backs played.
“Our DBs did a good job for a while and then they got beat at times,” he said. “But like I said that is a really good passing
offense and you’ve got to be on your toes the whole time.”
The Rough Riders struck again in the first quarter on a 21-yard pass to Tyler Oberle.
The extra point pushed West Jeff out to a 14-0 advantage.
The Riders made their third trip to the end zone after two quick plays early in the second stanza.
The TD came on a 26-yard pass to Oberle.
Cordetti converted his third PAT as West Jeff jumped to a 21-0 lead with just over 10 minutes left in the half.
Cotter found a pass-run combination that worked the ball down field.
They used an eight-play, 62-yard series that netted FHS its first points of the contest. Ziegler added the PAT to make it
a 21-7 game.
Cotter said his offense had to work hard against Rough Rider ‘D’ to pick points.
“We knew what we wanted to do,” he said. “We worked against their defense all week.
“Brogan ran really hard for us and got after it,” he said. “The line worked really hard for him and our skill guys worked the
edges to try and free him up.”
West Jeff’s passing game, however, could not be stopped.
The Riders threw the ball seven consecutive times to pick up their fourth TD. Buescher connected with Oberle for a third
time, from eight yards away.
Cordetti booted the PAT to push the score to 28-7.
The Panthers, though, found a way to score a second time in the first half. With 3:24 left on the clock, FHS used a
balanced attack to work the ball down to the four-yard line.
With less than a minute left in the second quarter, Kise handed the ball to Riordin Stauffer.
He bounced off West Jefferson tacklers on his way to his second TD.
Ziegler sailed the PAT through the uprights for FHS’ final point.
The second half was all Rough riders as they continued to attack the Panthers DBs through the air.
West Jeff went on its way to three more touchdowns to push the score to 49-14, where it would settle.
Even though the Panthers ended their regular season with a loss, there is still more football to play in the Division VI
playoffs.
Cotter said his team is going to learn from this game as they prepare for their post-season opener at Fort Recovery.
“You always want to end your season at home on a high note,” he said. “However, we are going to put things back
together and keep learning our game so we can go full steam against Fort Recovery.”
The Panthers (4-2) will get a week off with a first-round bye before taking their road trip on Oct.17.