The Firebirds (6-3, 3-3) are still fighting to be in the top eight in the region and get a home playoff game. They came in averaging 208 rushing yards, and the Elks (7-2, 4-2) held them to 93 rushing yards and 161 total yards.
“Our kids and our defensive staff prepped like crazy this week,” Centerville coach Brent Ullery said. “We’re familiar with each other. And I believe they know what we’re going to do to defend them. And we probably executed just a little bit better tonight.”
Ullery said defensive success was a lot more than winning one-on-one battles.
“Our defensive game plan requires us to play as a team and be disciplined and do your job to spill it to somebody else that hopefully is unblocked,” he said. “They did their job.”
Fairmont coach Dave Miller didn’t know what to say about why his offense was unable to move the ball and score like it has this season, especially the past three weeks.
“I don’t know ... I don’t know,” he said. “Field position played a part. They did a good job defensively. There’s things that we were exposed on tonight that we have to improve on. We will.”
Ullery sensed during the day that something good was about to happen. From the 3:10 p.m. walk-through, to picking up their lunch, to getting on the bus, he saw a growing intensity.
“It was more like hyper focus – it was like nothing else matters,” Ullery said. “Final bell rang in the school, it was like we have a job to do.”
The Elks needed a big night from the defense as they continue to reinvent their offense. When starting quarterback Drake Wells was injured two weeks ago and lost for the season, Ullery turned to 5-foot-8 sophomore Braylon Newcomb. Wells was more of a passer and Newcomb is more of a runner, picking up 75 yards on 15 carries.
“We’ve got to continue to develop and develop the offense around him because he’s different than Drake,” Ullery said. “He does things really well and he has some some limitations. But he’s getting better every day. He’s taking ownership over his play every day. He’s becoming a really good athlete to have back there, and he’s a game changer and gets yards when you shouldn’t get yards.”
However, Newcomb did complete 12 of 18 passes for 100 yards and a 13-yard touchdown to Nic Bruder with 3:52 left in the first quarter.
“We just put that play in this week” Bruder said. “Braylon’s a playmaker, he’s able to scramble out of the pocket. (He’s a) really fast guy, and everybody’s running the right routes, the O line’s giving him enough time and I just ended up open. It was good play.”
Centerville leading rusher Emable Wakilongo is healthy but didn’t have any carries.
“We’re just trying out some new things on offense and using some different guys at that position,” Ullery said. “He’s still very much part of the game plan. We just didn’t use that part of the call sheet tonight.”
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