A Madison Plains defender tries to bring down Fairbanks’ Riordin Stauffer Friday evening. Stauffer rushed for more than 100 yards during a 47-0 verdict over the Golden Eagles. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
Fairbanks High School football coach Patrick Cotter has long preached the Panthers win and lose as a team.
There are no individual stars, just guys who give all they’ve got for their teammates with the goal of making FHS the best possible squad it can be.
That was proven Friday evening when a number of Panther ball carriers helped account for 396 rushing yards during a 47-0 victory over Madison Plains.
“We did what we wanted to do tonight, which was to give a lot of different guys touches on the ball,” said Cotter as the Panthers raised their record to 3-2.
Riordin Stauffer led FHS (which will host West Liberty-Salem for Homecoming on Friday) with 101 yards on only nine carries.
However, he was far from being the only Panther weapon.
Ethan Kise tallied 86 yards, Nick Rhea added 67, Brogan Green finished with 53 and Coby Dellinger racked up 49.
The vast majority of Fairbanks’ offense came on the ground.
The Panthers attempted only one pass, but it was a big one.
Quarterback A.J. Landon completed that aerial which covered 70 yards and a touchdown to Ryker Green.
The problem for Madison Plains was the fact its defense was forced to remain on the field for extended periods of time.
That was due to the fact the Eagles’ offense was basically non-existent.
The Madison County team managed just 17 total yards of offense, all on the ground.
The Panthers took the game’s opening kickoff and scored on their first series.
FHS covered 58 yards on 11 plays.
Fairbanks used Stauffer, Green, Grant Rausch and Rhea to move through the Plains defense like a hot knife through butter.
Rhea capped the series with a 14-yard burst into the end zone.
Cade Ziegler’s conversion gave FHS a 7-0 lead.
The Eagles had to punt after just three plays on their next possession.
Their third series ended after one snap when Fairbanks’ Ethan Hoffman recovered a fumble.
The Panthers, on the other hand, took a 14-0 lead after Landon’s only pass of the night.
Stauffer softened Plains’ defense with a couple of hard-barreling runs.
Landon then took a snap and rolled out to his right.
He found Ryker Green without any coverage and rifled the ball.
The speedy Green outran the trailing Eagle defenders into the end zone to complete the 70-yard play.
Ziegler’s conversion upped FHS’ margin to 14-0.
Hoffman’s later fumble recovery gave FHS an extremely short field at the Madison Plains’ 18-yard-line.
Stauffer carried twice, including a five-yard run into the end zone.
Ziegler’s third extra point gave the Panthers a 21-0 lead.
The Eagles had to punt as the opening quarter was coming to an end.
The Panthers got down inside the Plains’ four early in the second stanza.
FHS lost a fumble, but forced an Eagle punt.
The Panthers once again had a short field from the MP 38 after that kick.
Rausch scored from seven yards out and Ziegler’s extra point pushed FHS out to a 28-0 lead.
Fairbanks’ ensuing kickoff pinned the Eagles at their own seven-yard-line.
A trio of plays later, Rhea buried Plains quarterback Evan Coil for a safety.
Fairbanks, however, was not content with a 30-0 lead at the 8:07 mark of the opening half.
A return by Jackson Stage on Plains’ free kick gave FHS excellent field position at the Eagles’ 38.
A couple of holding penalties momentarily stalled the Panthers’ series.
Stauffer, though, raced 27 yards into the end zone with 5:19 remaining until the break.
Ziegler’s PAT padded Fairbanks’ lead at 37-0.
Madison Plains’ next punt resulted in Fairbanks’ final TD of the opening half.
Kise and Brogan Green took turns carrying the ball.
FHS advanced the pigskin down to the Eagles’ three-yard-line.
The clock read 4.3 seconds when Cotter send Ziegler on for a field-goal try.
His 23-yard boot sent the Panthers into halftime with a 40-0 lead.
The running clock rule was invoked for the entire second half.
The only scoring during the final two quarters came with a little less than nine minutes left in the third quarter.
Rhea went on a 34-yard scoring jaunt and Ziegler added the last extra point for the Panthers’ 47-0 margin of victory.
“We played pretty clean football tonight,” said Cotter. “We fumbled only once and it didn’t hurt us.”
Although pleased with the victory, the Panther boss knows there is still much improvement to be made.
“We’ll enjoy this win tonight, but it’s back to work on Saturday,” he said.
What the Panthers need to address are the seven holding penalties they incurred.
“We’ve got to clean that up,” said Cotter. “We just can’t have that.”