Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

CHESAPEAKE — The Chesapeake Panthers needed to score and they needed to keep Keedrick Cunningham from scoring too much.
Number one, check. Number two, check.
The Panthers rolled up 357 total yards and the limited Cunningham to two touchdowns in a 35-18 Ohio Valley Conference win on Friday.
“We had to contain Cunningham. He had two big runs. He got 85 on one play. We held the others in check. Defensively we played well. We did a better job of tackling in the second half,” said Panthers’ coach Andy Clark.
Quarterback Casey McComas ran 17 times for 152 yards and a touchdown as the Panthers ran for 334 as a team. Cecil Fletcher ran eight times for 50 yards and a touchdown and also returned a kickoff for a score. Will Scott added 68 yards on seven attempts with two touchdowns.
Chesapeake finishes the regular season 9-1 and 6-1 in the OVC. The Panthers will host a first round Division VI Region 23 playoff game on Friday, probably against Barnesville.
Cunningham finished with 190 yards on 20 carries and two touchdowns The Dragons (3-7, 3-4) finished with 319 total yards including 255 on the ground.
“Give credit to Fairland. Offensively they are playing pretty well right now. Cunningham has some speed and he had two big plays against us,” Clark said of Fairland’s three wins in the last five games.
Cunningham had a 26-yard touchdown run with 17 seconds left in the first quarter that gave Fairland a 6-0 lead.
But an 8-yard run by Fletcher and Dalton Nida’s conversion kick put the Panthers ahead 7-6 with 10:36 left in the half.

A 4-yard scoring run by Chase Fisher gave the Dragons their last lead at 12-7 with 6:06 to go in the half.
But Fletcher returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown and the Panthers were on top 14-12.
“He’s going to do that,” Clark said of Fletcher.
Scott had a 14-yard touchdown run with just under a minute to go in the half to extend the lead to 21-12.
Cunningham came out to start the second half with an 85-yard scoring run and the lead was cut to 21-18.
But Scott ran 18 yards for a touchdown minutes later and McComas added an insurance touchdown with 11:22 to play and seal the win.
“Offensively we were our biggest enemy. We still made to many penalties. We moved the ball but killed ourselves with penalties,” said Clark as the Panthers had 85 yards on 13 penalties.
Fairland       6    6    6    0    =    18
Chesapeake    0    21    7    7    =    35
First Quarter
Fa — Keedrick Cunningham 26 run (run failed) 0:17
Second Quarter
Ch — Cecil Fletcher 8 run (Dalton Nida kick) 10:36
Fa — Chase Fisher 4 run (pass failed) 6:06
Ch — Cecil Fletcher 80 kickoff return (Dalton Nida kick) 5:51
Ch — Will Scott 14 run (Dalton Nida kick) 0:59
Third Quarter
Fa — Keedrick Cunningham 85 run (run failed) 10:27
Ch — Will Scott 18 run (Dalton Nida kick) 9:19
Fourth Quarter
Ch — Casey McComas 1 run (Dalton Nida kick) 11:22
—————
Fa    Ch
First downs    12    13
Rushes-yards    47-255    38-334
Passing yards    64    23
Total yards    319    357
Cmp-Att-Int    7-10-2    2-4-0
Fumbles-lost    3-2    2-1
Penalties-yards    8-63    13-85
Punts-average    1-37.0    0-00.0
—————
Individual Leaders
RUSHING Fairland: Chase Fisher 15-44 TD, Keedrick Cunningham 20-190 2-TD, Seth Clay 2-minus 2, Joel Lambiotte 10-23; Chesapeake: Cecil Fletcher 8-50 TD, Casey McComas 17-152 TD, J.W. Bartrum 3-40, Ty Wilcoxon 3-24, Will Scott 7-68 2-TD.
PASSING—Fairland: Joel Lambiotte 7-10-2 64; Chesapeake: Casey McComas 2-4-0 23.
RECEIVING—Fairland: Chase Fisher 3-13, Seth Clay 4-51; Chesapeake: Wes Malavenda 1-17, J.W. Bartrum 1-6.