COAL GROVE — Despite a cold front moving in this past week, Fairland’s offense continued to heat up ahead of the playoffs — scoring on its first seven possessions — and the Dragons defeated the Coal Grove Hornets 56-22 on Friday night at Lemaster Stadium.

The Dragons (8-1, 5-1 OVC) got their offense clicking early as Peyton Jackson tossed a screen pass out to Brycen Hunt who split between defenders and raced 63 yards to open up the scoring. Aiden Miller added the extra point and Fairland had a 7-0 lead.

Jackson went 18-of-26 for 247 yards through the air and tossed 4 touchdowns. He also had a 3-yard rushing score to push Fairland’s lead to 42-6 with 2:08 remaining in the first half. Hunt led all receivers with six catches for 122 yards — both game highs — and three touchdowns.

The Hornets (4-5, 1-5) responded with an 11-play drive that was capped off by a Whyatt Mannon 9-yard touchdown pass to Gavin Gipson to cut Fairland’s lead to 7-6 with 5:30 left in the first quarter.

However, the Dragons would roll off the next 28-straight points to take a 42-6 lead at halftime.

During the scoring run, Quentin Cremeans would notch rushing scores of 6 and 4 yards, as he led the Fairland ground attack with 56 yards on eight carries.

Jack Hayden would rip off the longest run of the game for the Dragons, as he took a handoff on sweep and outran the Hornet defense 64 yards to give Fairland a 28-6 lead to begin the second quarter.

In the second half, the Dragons would capitalize on two Hornet turnovers, as Jackson would connect with Hunt for the third time on a 7-yard score and then throw a six-yard touchdown pass to Christian Collins for the Dragons final score of the game.

Coal Grove would get into the end zone twice in the fourth quarter.

The first score would come from fullback Caden Turner would barrel his way in from 11 yards out and then Kaden Murphy took a handoff straight down the middle of the field 71 yards to make the final score 56-22.

Murphy led the Hornet offense with 131 yards on 21 rushes. Turner carried the ball 11 times for 81 yards.

Fairland will be on the road again next Friday as they face Chesapeake while Coal Grove will travel to Rock Hill.

Fairland   21 21 14 0 = 56

Coal Grove 6 0 0 16 = 22

First Quarter

Fa — Brycen Hunt 63 pass from Peyton Jackson (Aiden Miller kick), 11:06.

CG — Gavin Gipson 9 pass from Whyatt Mannon (pass failed), 5:30.

Fa — Quentin Cremeans 6 run (Aiden Miller kick), 3:31.

Fa — Brycen Hunt 17 pass from Peyton Jackson (Aiden Miller kick), 0:04.

Second Quarter

Fa — Jack Hayden 64 run (Aiden Miller kick), 7:21.

Fa — Quentin Cremeans 4 run (Aiden Miller kick), 4:47.

Fa — Peyton Jackson 3 run (Aiden Miller kick), 2:08.

Third Quarter

Fa — Brycen Hunt 7 pass from Peyton Jackson (Aiden Miller kick), 8:12.

Fa — Christian Collins 6 pass from Peyton Jackson (Aiden Miller kick), 3:28.

Fourth Quarter

CG — Caden Turner 11 run (Steven Simpson run), 9:41.

CG — Kaden Murphy 71 run (Steven Simpson run), 2:43.

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Fa CG

First downs 19 13

Rushes-yards 16-126 40-209

Passing yards 247 24

Total yards 373 233

Cmp-Att-Int 18-26-0 3-7-1

Fumbles-lost 0-0 3-2

Penalties-yards 2-30 4-50

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING–Fairland: Quentin Cremeans 8-56 2TD, Jack Hayden 1-64 TD, Peyton Jackson 1-3 TD, Lucas Bompus 1-2, Garrett Spence 5-0, Eli Pine 1-1; Coal Grove: Kaden Murphy 21-131 TD, Caden Turner 11-81 TD, Gavin Gipson 4-4, Whyatt Mannon 4-minus 7.

PASSING–Fairland: Peyton Jackson 18-26-0 247 4TD, Coal Grove: Whyatt Mannon 3-7-1 24 TD.

RECEIVING–Fairland: Brycen Hunt 6-122 3TD, Keegan Smith 1-14, CJ Graham 4-37, Jack Hayden 1-16, Christian Collins 2-16 TD, Will Davis 2-28, Quentin Cremeans 1-14 ; Coal Grove: Gavin Gipson 1-9 TD, Kaden Murphy 1-4, Devin Bloomfield 1-11.