Beavercreek rallies, defeats Fairmont in OT

Beavercreek defeated Fairmont 21-14 in a wild overtime game.
Fairmont (0-5) dominated for majority of the game, as they led 14-0 with just over five minutes left, but Beavercreek (4-1) was not going to be the team to give the Firebirds their first win.

The Beavers got on the board for the first time when junior fullback Kaden Wenger ran the ball in from 36-yards out with 4:58 remaining in the game.

Beavercreek Head Coach Nic Black (photo by David Wysong/TriStateFootball.com)

A botched snap on Beavercreek’s extra point caused them to trail the Firebirds by eight points, instead of seven, as the score was 14-6.
Fairmont had an opportunity to run the clock out and ice the game, but Beavercreek thought otherwise, as senior linebacker Noah Elam picked off sophomore quarterback Miles Johnson to give his offense possession of the ball.

The Beavercreek offense took advantage of the turnover by driving down the field and scoring a touchdown on another Wenger run with 17 seconds left.

Due to the earlier botched snap, the Beavers still needed to covert a two-point conversion if they wanted to force overtime ― and they did just that.

Following the conversion, Fairmont chose to take a knee with their limited time remaining and go into overtime.
Beavercreek was awarded possession first in overtime and their offense went right back to what had been working for them ― feeding the ball to Wenger.

The fullback found the end zone for the third time on a 24-yard rush, giving his team a 21-14 lead. Wenger finished the game with 95 yards on 10 rushes.

Fairmont’s offense got the ball with an opportunity to force a second overtime, but the Beaver defense came through again, stopping them on fourth down to win the game.

“I was super proud of how resilient they were, how tough they played, shut them out in the second half and then win it in overtime, sometimes 48 minutes isn’t enough to decide a game,” said Beavercreek head coach Nic Black.

Heading into overtime, Black did not tell his players anything special.

“I just told them to do their job,” Black said. “That’s what I told them all night, that’s what I told them all week, that’s what I tell them every week, just to do their job, trust their buddies and play hard.”

Beavercreek’s defense played lights out, not allowing Fairmont to score a single point in the second half, and only giving up their two touchdowns within the final three minutes of the second quarter.

Senior linebacker Jackson Knipper led the team with 14 total tackles and senior defensive back Julian Linkhart was right behind him with 11.

“They were aggressive early and hit a couple passes,” Black said. “What we did consistently and we have done consistently is really stuff the run.”

The defense forced Fairmont to only gain 2.6 yards per carry as a team and did not allow them to beat them in the passing game again, as Johnson only attempted four total passes.

This marks the second-straight year that the Beavers defeated Fairmont. They were too much for them last season, winning 62-15.
Beavercreek plays Springboro (3-2) in their next matchup on 7 p.m. Thursday.

“We got a short week,” Black said. “It’s going to be a huge challenge, they got a pretty good quarterback, a very good receiver, an aggressive defense so we’re going to have our hands full getting ready for that.”

Fairmont faces Miamisburg (4-1) in their next game on 7 p.m. Sept. 30.

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