Gridiron Mules Fall Behind In First Half; Comeback Bid Falls Short

Falling behind 22-0 in the first half, Justin Townsend’s Fairfield Mules fell to 1-2 on the year with a 22-12 loss to visiting Sesser-Valier Friday.

The Red Devils scored on each of their first three possessions, converting key third downs early to keep drives alive, and they were in control from the get-go. The Mules were able to regroup and challenge in the second half, where they scored both of their touchdowns, but never got back within a score.

“We must show up in the first half. Sesser is a good football team. I would not be surprised if they won two or three games in the playoffs. They are talented, skilled, fast and they have a couple of physical offensive and defensive linemen,” Townsend noted after the game.

Sesser outgained the Mules 138 to 32 yards in the first quarter alone, led by senior quarterback Colt Packer. Packer started the game 9-of-10 throwing the ball, while also factoring in all three of their touchdowns. He would finish with 72 yards passing and 71 yards passing.

Ground Game Grounded

The Red Devil defense held the Fairfield ground game in check, allowing just 120 rushing yards on 32 carries, with nearly 1/3rd of that coming on one carry.

While the Devils scored on each of their first three drives, they had narrow escapes in all three as well.

On their first drive, they converted a third-and-11 with a wheel route completion to speedy back Dezmond Malone out of the backfield. That came four plays before Packer scored his first rushing touchdown from eight yards out.

On their second drive, they converted a third-and-15 with the exact same wheel route to Malone once again. Five plays later Packer scored from 13 yards out, running over a Mule defender at the goal line.

The Mules were able to string together three first downs on their second possession but turned the ball over on downs in the redzone. They had Sesser looking at another third-and-long before a pass interference flag was thrown when Sesser’s Jaxon Borta got his feet tangled up with a Mule defender. Five plays later, Packer hit Jaxon Borta for a seven-yard touchdown pass, firing a bullet on a slant route by the receiver.

That put the Devils up 22-0 with nearly five minutes to play in the first half. Neither team was able to threaten again before halftime.

“We thought we had a great game plan, we just missed a lot of tackles. We were in position to make plays, had them in some third and longs, but we could not get them off the field,” Townsend said.

On The Board

The Mules broke through on the opening possession of the second half, getting a third-down conversion and a fourth-down conversion, both from senior fullback Latrael Snyder. Snyder then busted free for a 35-yard touchdown run with 8:03 to play in the third. The extra-point run was stopped, with the two-pointers coming into play later in the game.

The Mules appeared to have completely swung momentum when they went with an onside kick on the next play, with kicker Alek Couch recovering his own kick. They fumbled the ball right back to Sesser two plays later, however, with Sesser’s Braden Genisia knocking the ball away from freshman quarterback Jaylen Maners.

The Mule defense held, however, helped by a lineman down field penalty bringing a pass play back. Fairfield got the ball back to midfield before having to punt away themselves. Sesser picked up a couple of first downs before punting the ball back, as the Mules started loading the box and blitzing frequently in the hopes the Devils would not be going to the air with the big lead.

The Mules did go to the air themselves, with Maners hooking up with senior tight end Landon Harrelson twice. The first was for 16 yards on a scramble drill. The second was a 63-yard streak down the Mule sideline for the second Mule score of the night.

Needing to covert the two-point play to get within a score, the Mules tried a halfback pass that fell incomplete for a 10-point difference. That left 5:39 on the clock.

The Mules tried another onside, but Sesser was able to recover. They got one first down before a penalty led to a third-and-19. Packer tried to go deep, but was picked off by Jay Snyder for Sesser’s only turnover of the game.

Last Chance

Fairfield was able to move the ball, converting a four-and-6 with a complete to Harrelson again. They hooked up for 10 more yards later in the drive, but Malone ended the Mules’ hopes when he picked off Maners near the goal line with just over a minute to play. Sesser was able to run out the clock with one more first down conversion.

Harrelson finished with 124 yards to lead the Mules in total yards. L. Snyder ran for 48 yards to lead the ground game, while Trey Mason had 32 and Israel Sargent had 20. The Devils held J. Snyder to 10 yards on seven carries. Malone finished with 146 total yards, including 114 on the ground.

Sesser improved to 3-0 with the win, while Fairfield fell to 1-2. The schedule does not let up for the Mules, who travel to state-ranked Johnston City this Friday. The Indians are the defending conference champions.

BDC Week 3

Flora 20, Edwards Co. 19

Hamilton Co. 50, CZR 12

Johnston City 38, Eldorado 0

Carmi received forfeit from Vienna

BDC Records

Johnston City     3-0

Carmi  3-0

Sesser-Valier      3-0

Flora   2-1

Fairfield              1-2

Eldorado            1-2

Hamilton Co.      1-2

CZR     0-3

Edwards Co.       0-3