Centerville rallies in second half to beat Fairmont

“Air Firebird tonight,” Centerville coach Brent Ullery said.

That was the first touchdown pass of the season for the run-first Firebirds. It set the tone in Fairmont building a 21-10 lead in the second quarter, but Centerville rallied with three straight touchdowns and won 31-28.

“They did a great job,” Ullery said of Fairmont. “They always do. Their head coach, Dave Miller, is a phenomenal coach. I have the utmost respect for him.”

Centerville (2-2) won its GWOC opener, rebounded from back-to-back losses to Cincinnati St. Xavier and Carmel, Ind., and beat Fairmont (2-2) for the fifth straight year. Fairmont last beat Centerville 28-20 in 2019. The Elks have won 26 of the last 27 games in the series.

“They were just resilient tonight,” Ullery said. “They decided to start trusting each other, trusting their keys and matching their physicality, and it paid off in the second half.”

Centerville junior running back Parker Johnson ran for four touchdowns. Three of them came after Fairmont took the 21-10 lead in the second quarter.

• Johnson’s 2-yard run with 1:57 left in the first half cut Centerville’s lead to 21-17 going into halftime.

• Johnson’s 1-yard run with 48 seconds left in the third quarter gave the Elks their first lead of the game, 24-17

• Johnson’s 1-yard run with 2:57 to play gave Centerville a 31-21 lead.

Johnson has six touchdowns in four games. He gained 45 yards on 21 carries,

“He’s really good,” Ullery said. “We love leaning on him, and we’re going to continue to lean on him the rest of the way.”

After the 80-yard touchdown, Centerville cut Fairmont’s lead to 7-3 on a 49-yard field goal by Leland Gantz with 5:55 left in the first quarter.

Fairmont scored its next touchdown on another passing play. Baker threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Damien Pattin to give the Firebirds a 14-3 lead with 3:15 left in the first quarter.

Baker completed 7 of 10 passes for 203 yards. He had 96 passing yards total in the first three games and 320 total passing yards in 11 games last season.

Centerville caught a break in the second quarter when Fairmont lost a fumble at its own 1. Centerville scored on the next play on 1-yard run by Johnson with 11 minutes left in the second quarter, cutting the deficit to 14-10.

Baker ran for a 3-yard touchdown later in the second quarter. Centerville answered with a 2-yard run by Johnson. Fairmont took a 21-17 lead into halftime.

Centerville’s defense did not give up a big pass play in the second half and kept Fairmont off the scoreboard until a 1-yard run by Pattin with 58 seconds left.

Centerville recovered an onside kick in the final minute to seal the victory.

“In the first half, (the defense) was not as good as we should have been,” Ullery said, “but in the second half, we played really well. I’m really proud of the way they adjusted.”