Mules Win Third Straight Heading Into Final Week Of Regular Season

It took them a while to get going, but once they did Justin Townsend’s Fairfield Mules rolled to a 48-0 win at Edwards County Friday, improving to 5-3 on the year with their third straight win.

Russ Gerlach’s Lions held Fairfield to eight points in the first quarter, but the Mules then punched in 24 points in the first quarter and 16 in the third to play the majority of the second half with a running clock.

Fairfield scored on six of their first seven possessions and racked up 288 total yards, while holding the Lions to 44 total yards. Defensive coordinator Donnie Lyons have held Fairfield’s last two opponents to 91 total yards in two straight shutouts.

“Our defense tackled well in space tonight. We have simplified things the last few weeks and allowed our kids to just play fast and fly to the football,” Townsend said.

Junior Trey Mason busted out with 105 yards on seven carries, including three touchdowns, while Latrael Snyder continued his multi-touchdown streak with two more. He has score multiple touchdowns in three straight games. It was Mason’s first 100-plus yard rushing game of his career.

The Mules took the opening kickoff and marched 67 yards in eight plays with Snyder getting his first score from eight yards out.

Edwards County picked up a pair of first downs on their first possession, with fullback Drew Seibert running for both, before turning the ball over on downs in Fairfield territory. Those two first downs would be the only two the Lions would pick up all night.

Fairfield punted away their second possession, but the Lions had a fumble on the ensuing possession, with Justin Davis unable to haul in a backwards pass from Max Gerlach, with senior corner Reegan Taylor jumping on the loose ball.

Snyder scored against four plays later with a 13-yard score for a 16-0 lead. That kicked off a second-quarter flurry of Mule scores as the Lions offense was unable to run off much clock. The Snyder touchdown came at 9:34. At 5:51, Mason scored from five yards after a blocked punt gave Fairfield a short field.

“We took care of business tonight. We came out and had a great first drive. We had some penalties on the second drive, but then played pretty clean after that.” Townsend said.

The Lions went three-and-out again and Taylor had a 27-yard return to set up a 63-yard drive that included Mason spurting through the middle of the line for a 30-yard score with 23 seconds left in the half. That gave Fairfield a 32-0 lead at halftime.

The Lions got the ball to start the second half, went three-and-out, putting again. Nick Easton had a 32-yard return on the play to set up a short field again. Four plays later, quarterback Eric Rodgers kept the ball and ran in a 12-yard touchdown, then scored the two-point play for a 40-0 lead with 8:16 to play in the third quarter. That triggered a running clock for the rest of the game.

Fairfield scored once again in the third quarter, with Mason getting his third touchdown from 21 yards out.

Fairfield (5-3) will wrap up their regular season on the road Saturday at Vienna. It will be the first time the Mules have seen the Eagles (1-7) since 2019, as Vienna forfeited their 2020 matchup and then did not field a team last year. The Eagles have shown an ability to score this year, with 160 points, but has given up a league-high 401 points.

“We are qualified for the playoffs now, that is one of our goals every year. You get spoiled with success over the year and people just expect it to happen, but a lot of hard work goes into that.” Townsend said. “Our kids continue to take steps to get better and we are playing our best football right now. We need to do what we did tonight next week as well when we go down to Vienna. They are a different type of team. They like to sling the ball around and have one of the better receivers in southern Illinois.”

Week 8 Scores

Fairfield 48, Edwards Co. 0

Johnston City 37, Carmi 28

Sesser-Valier 28, Flora 12

Hamilton Co. 74, Vienna 30

Eldorado 48, CZR 28

BDC Standings

Johnston City     8-0

Carmi  7-1

Sesser-Valier      6-2

Fairfield              5-3

Hamilton Co.      4-4

Flora   4-4

Eldorado            3-5

CZR     2-6

Vienna 1-7

Edwards Co.       0-8

Week 9 Matchups

Fairfield at Vienna

Eldorado at Edwards Co.

Hamilton County at Sesser-Valier

Flora at Carmi

Johnston City at CZR