CHESAPEAKE – Good things come to those who wait.

Saturday, October 07, 2000

CHESAPEAKE – Good things come to those who wait. So what happens when things come without waiting very long?

For the Chesapeake Panthers, good and bad things came Friday night in rapid fashion. Fortunately, the good outweighed the bad as the Panthers shut out the Fairland Dragons 17-0 in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

Chesapeake, 5-2 and 1-0 in the OVC, got out on top 14-0 in the first quarter. But the Panthers struggled with fumbles as the Fairland defense stiffened.

"We got 14 too quick. I think we lost our intensity and then we dropped the ball over the place. We were dominant early. But give Fairland credit. They played hard," said Davis.

The Dragons defense wasn’t the only impressive unit. Chesapeake’s defense held Fairland to 110 total yards and stopped a first-and-goal situation at the 1-yard line.

"The defense played well the whole ball game. We got Zeb Best back and he had a good game at linebacker," said Davis. "Our four down people did a good job. I think we only gave up 38 yards rushing."

It was the Panthers third straight win.

Fairland dropped to 2-4 and 0-2, but Davis wasn’t discounting the win. He noted that Fairland’s 14-13 loss to South Point last week made teams step up and recognize them.

"Just the fact this is a rivalry, you had to be concerned. Fairland has played good defense all year. We knew it would be hard to move the ball," said Davis.

While Davis was pleased to get the win, he was unhappy his team lost four fumbles and suffered an interception

"Our defense did what it had to do, but the offense hurt itself. Our kids were very physical and we had a good goal line stand. We just didn’t hold onto the ball," said Davis.

Chesapeake marched 71 yards on its first possession with Beach keeping on a 1-yard run for the touchdown. Jimmy Kinder kicked the extra point and it was 7-0 at the 3:17 mark

Fairland fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Michael Hunt recovered the ball at the 25.

Foul plays later Beach kept the ball and darted 15 yards for the touchdown to make it 14-0 with 1:14 on the clock.

‘That really let the air out of our sails. That hurt," Fairland coach Bryan Ward said. "But we can’t point toward one play. We have to score more than one time."

Chesapeake added a 25-yard field goal by Kinder in the second quarter for a 17-0 lead.

The Panthers racked up 316 total yards. Beach ran 12 times for 90 yards, Best had 16 carries for 81 yards, and Waugh ran for 57 yards while catching three passes for 44 yards.

Darin Thomas ran nine times for 39 yards for the Dragons and quarterback J. W. Jones was 11-of-21 for 72 yards.

"They’re too good of a team to turn the ball over to that many times," Ward said.

"The defense played fairly well. We didn’t seem to show the excitement you’d think in a Chesapeake-Fairland rivalry, and that disappointed me," Ward said. "We weren’t very aggressive."

Waugh had two interceptions and Hunt one as Fairland also suffered five turnovers.