By Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

FRANKLIN FURNACE — When you have that big of an open house, you want to give your visitors a great experience they will remember.

The Green Bobcats had an open house on Saturday as they opened the gates to their new state of the art football stadium and christened it with a thrilling 15-13 overtime win over the Fairfield Christian Academy Knights.

“To be in this atmosphere, the opening of the new stadium, so many past players and people coming back this weekend, it was really emotional,” said Green coach Chad Coffman.

“Then to go into overtime and it comes down to one play, it only adds to that emotion piece. The relief of success. The kids wanted this one bad.”

Green scored first in overtime when Landan Lodwick ran 15 yards to set up a first-and-goal at the Knights’ 10-yard line.

Quarterback Abe McBee had been going in and out of the game due to an injury but came back in to score from 2 yards out and put the Bobcats up 13-7.

Nathaniel Brannigan ran for the conversion as his teammates helped push him into the end zone for a 15-7 lead.

It didn’t take FCA long to answer as Danny Blair ran 20 yards on the first play from scrimmage to score and make it 5-13.

But on the all important conversion, the Bobcats’ defense refused to give ground as they kept Blair out of the end zone to set off a wild celebration.

“It’s really exciting to open this place up like this. We will go down and be remembered forever for this win,” said Coffman.

“We have worked so hard for this and this community has waited a long time for a facility like this. There’s nothing better than getting a win for these guys and this Green community. This is one I’ll never forget.”

The game was scoreless until the second quarter and then the two teams scored four and a half minutes apart.

Green took a 7-0 lead with 7:52 on the second quarter clock as a high snap over quarterback Game Welsh’s head for 20 yards into the end zone where McBee recovered for the touchdown. Quincy Merrill added the conversion kick.

The Knights tied the game at the 3:28 mark as Sam Rauch shook loose on a 65-yard scoring run. Rusty Hutchinson kicked the game-tying conversion.

Green had 228 total yards with 208 coming on the ground. Brannigan did most of the damage as he ran 23 times for 110 yards. Trevor Sparks added 51 yards on 7 carries, Lodwick 32 yards on 9 tries and McBee 20 yards on 8 attempts.

McBee was 3-of-7 passing for 20 yards.

“The consistency piece, we were much better defensively other than their one touchdown run. We were more consistent moving the ball but we couldn’t finish drives. Our offense, whatever it was, wasn’t as consistent as we wanted it to be,” said Coffman.

The Knights were limited to 141 total yards with 107 rushing and 34 passing.

Blair had 75 yards on 12 carries and Rauch 61 yards on a pair of rushes.

Welsh was 3-of-8 passing for 34 yards. Parker Couch attempted one pass that was intercepted.

Green will host Lancaster Fisher Catholic on Friday.

Fairfield CA   0     7     0     0     6     =     13

Green      0     7     0     0     8     =     15

Second Quarter

Gr — Abe McBee fumble recovery in end zone (Quincy Merrill kick), 7:52

FCA — Sam Rauch 65 run (Rusty Hutchinson kick), 3:28

OVERTIME

Gr — Abe McBee 2 run (Nathaniel Brannigan run)

FCA — Danny Blair 20 run (run failed)

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Team Statistics

FCA       Gr

First downs     6     10

Rushes-yards  30-107    51-208

Passing yards  34    20

Total yards     141  228

Cmp-Att-Int.   3-9-1       3-8-1

Fumbles-lost   4-3  4-2

Penalties-yards       5-27 3-25

Punts-Ave.     6-31.3     6-29.7

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING—Fairfield Christian: Danny Blair 12-75 TD, Sam Rauch 2-61 TD, Randy Hutchinson 3-9, Gabe Welsh 9-minus 15, Parker Couch 1-2, Brayden Stem 1-minus 2, team 2-minus 23: Green: Nathaniel Brannigan 23-110, Landan Lodwick 9-32, Abe McBee 8-20 TD, Trevor Sparks 7-51, Blake Smith 1-1, Jon Knapp 1-minus 6, team 2-0

PASSING—Fairfield Christian: Gabe Welsh 3-8-0-34, Parker Couch 0-1-1-0; Green: Abe McBee 3-7-0-20, Jon Knapp 0-1-1-0

RECEIVING—Fairfield Christian: Sam Rauch 1-35, Nate Hampton 1-4, Danny Blair 1-minus 5; Green: Nathaniel Brannigan 2-15, Blake Smith 1-5.