Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

PROCTORVILLE — When Keedrick Cunningham came out of the locker room to start the third quarter, he had only one more half in his high school career.

Cunningham put an exclamation point in the excellent career as he rallied the Fairland Dragons to a 46-28 Ohio Valley Conference win over the Chesapeake Panthers in the season finale on Friday.

After just 25 yards on eight carries in the first half, Cunningham ran only five times for 316 and four touchdowns in the second half. He finished with 341 yards on 13 carries and also caught a 19-yard touchdown pass and turned a swing pass into a 50-yard gain.

“We competed and fought to the end,” said Panthers’ coach Andy Clark. “Their big plays killed us. Cunningham got in space and we couldn’t catch him. He’s a nice player.”

Besides Cunningham, Fairland’s Ty Wilcoxon ran twice for 42 yards and touchdowns. The Dragons finished with 423 yards on the ground and 492 total yards.

Chesapeake racked up 399 yards rushing and 424 total yards. Austin Browning led the Panthers again as he carried 27 times for 250 yards and two touchdowns.

Quarterback Donald Richendollar ran 13 times for 80 yards and was 3-of-4 passing for 25 yards.

Fairland finished the season 6-4 and 6-1 in the OVC, one game behind Coal Grove. Chesapeake ends 4-6 and 1-6.

Joel Lambiotte hit Cunningham with a 19-yard pass and run for a touchdown and a 6-0 lead just before the end of the first quarter.

Chesapeake came back to take a 7-6 lead on a 30-yard touchdown run with 7:21 left in the half. Dalton Nida kicked the conversion.

Then came the second half and Cunningham had three touchdowns in the third quarter as Fairland outscored the Panthers 25-7 to take a 31-14 lead.

Cunningham ran 59 and 70 yards for touchdowns and it was 18-7 with 7:56 left in the quarter.

Wilcoxon scored on a 3-yard run and it was 24-7.

Browning broke free on a 63-yard gallop and the Panthers cut the deficit to 24-14 with 4:02 on the clock.

But Cunningham answered 20 seconds later with a 66-yard scoring run and Tayton Hunt’s conversion kick extended the lead to 31-14.

The Panthers scored on a 12-yard run by Richendollar with 6:58 to play and it was 31-21.

Cunningham then made yet another big play with a 70-yard touchdown run and it was 38-21.

The Panthers recovered the onside kick-off and Richendollar hit Tylan Hutchison with a 15-yard scoring pass to cut the deficit to 38-28 with just 1:10 to play.

The Dragons put an insurance touchdown on the board as Wilcoxon bolted 39 yards for the score with 57 seconds to play.

Chesapeake     0          7          7          14        =          28

Fairland           6          0          25        15        =          46

First Quarter

Fa – Keedrick Cunningham 19 pass from Joel Lambiotte (kick failed) 0:16

Second Quarter

Ch – Austin Browning 30 run (Dalton Nida kick) 7:21

Third Quarter

Fa – Keedrick Cunningham 59 run (pass failed) 11:40

Fa – Keedrick Cunningham 70 run (run failed) 7:56

Fa – Ty Wilcoxon 3 run (run failed) 5:46

Ch – Austin Browning 63 run (Dalton Nida kick) 4:02

Fa – Keedrick Cunningham 66 run (Tayton Hunt kick) 3:42

Fourth Quarter

Ch – Donald Richendollar 12 run (Dalton Nida kick) 6:58

Fa – Keedrick Cunningham 70 run (Tayton Hunt kick) 5:04

Ch – Tylan Hutchison 15 pass from Donald Richendollar (Dalton Nida kick) 1:10

Fa – Ty Wilcoxon 39 run (Greg Keeney run) 0:57

——

Ch       Fa

First downs     17        12

Rushes-yards  61-399 28-423

Passing yards  25        69

Total yards      424      492

Cmp-Att-Int    4-6-1   2-5-0

Fumbles-lost   0-0       1-1

Penalties-yards            5-35     6-75

Punts-average  3-12.7  1-23.0

——

Individual Leaders

RUSHING — Chesapeake: Austin Browning 27-250, Kamren Harless 9-20, Donald Richendollar 13-80, Tyler Eddy 11-45, Kelton Jones 1-4; Fairland: Keedrick Cunningham 13-341, Ty Wilcoxon 2-42, Chase Fisher 9-28, Greg Keeney 1-3, Joel Lambiotte 3-9.

PASSING — Chesapeake: Donald Richendollar 3-4-1 26, Austin Browning 1-2-0 minus-1; Fairland: Joel Lambiotte 2-5-0 69.

RECEIVING — Chesapeake: Kamren Harless 1-minus 1, Tyler Hutchison 1-15, Zach Wright 1-11; Fairland: Keedrick Cuningham 2-69.