CINCINNATI, OH – As the football philosophy goes… you play for the tie at home and go for the win on the road. Fairmont opted for the latter at La Salle and came up short, falling 24-23 to go to 0-3 with its second straight one-point loss.
La Salle broke a 17-17 tie with 1:08 left in the fourth quarter on an Avi Carter seven-yard run. The fight in the Firebirds was not done as they managed to spend just one minute of the clock to pull within one, on a JJ Hill eight-yard pass to Nolan Stringer touchdown pass with the scoreboard sitting at 0:08 in regulation. Fairmont, who had never led in the contest, elected to go for the two-point conversion and the Lancers stopped Kameron Thornton’s rushing attempt to seal the victory.
Carter threw for 129 yards, ran for 95 more with his rushing score and a pair of touchdown tosses to Naseer Salaam for the victors. Thornton 69 rush, 82 KR) and Logan Doty (110 rush, 49 KR) each amassed more than 150 all-purpose yards for Fairmont.
Even though the Firebirds have yet to win in non-conference play, they should still feel very optimistic about defending their reign as GWOC champs in a head-scratching league that has gone a combined 5-19 through the first three games including an 0-8 mark in Week 3.
SCORING SUMMARY
Fairmont 0-10-7-6-23
La Salle 7-10-0-7-24
SCORING PLAYS
L: Naseer Salaam 21 pass from Avi Carter (Grayson Bedacht kick)
F: Logan Doty 1 run (Demaris Shafeek kick)
L: Bedacht 41 FG
L: Salaam 5 pass from Carter (Bedacht kick)
F: Kole Krejna 30 FG
F: Tyrell Lake 12 pass from JJ Hill (Shafeek kick)
L: Carter 7 run (Bedacht kick)
F: Nolan Stringer pass from Hill (run fail)
UP NEXT: Fairmont at Centerville (0-3); La Salle (3-0) hosts Elder (3-0)
