A senior who is verbally committed to Arkansas State, Lewis is back at the controls of the Wayne offense, but Fairmont could be missing its senior leader under center when the teams square off in a second round playoff game in Division I, Region 2.
Brock Baker, the Greater Western Ohio Conference Offensive Player of the Year after leading the Firebirds to a GWOC co-championship, suffered a knee injury late in the Firebirds’ 17-13 win at Springfield in Week 9.
He finished that game and tried to give it a go Week 10 against Beavercreek, but junior JJ Hill took his place last week as the Firebirds dispatched Central Crossing 42-7.
Fairmont coach Dave Miller said Baker is day-to-day at this point, but he likes what he has seen from Hill running his triple-option attack.
“JJ’s done well,” Miller said. “He’s done a great job. He’s a junior and he’s waited his turn. He’s a very smart kid. He’s been a great student of Brock just learning from him want watching him. So a great kid, and the kids are really rallying around him and he’ll be fine. Just feel horrible for Brock.”
The 6-foot-3, 170-pound Hill has completed three passes for 63 yards and run for 145 yards on 24 carries while Baker is 23-for-32 for 460 yards passing with four touchdowns through the air and another 429 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.
Both Fairmont quarterbacks have frequently let Logan Doty handle much of the heavy lifting, and the 5-10, 180-pound sophomore has 1,059 yards and 24 touchdowns on 227 carries.
Damien Pattin and Kameron Thornton have also been effective runners, combining for more than 750 yards, and Thornton has caught six passes for 237 yards and four touchdowns.
The Warriors, who are the eight seed and rallied to beat Middletown at home last weekend, have the potential to be one of — if not the — most explosive offenses in the area, but Lewis’ Week 1 injury disrupted their development.
Teaunn Hunter, who is committed to Kent State as a receiver, filled in admirably in Lewis’ absence for four games, but moving him back to the perimeter gives Wayne coach Roosevelt Mukes three players with FBS offers on the outside.
That also includes senior tight end Ka’maurri Smith, who is verbally committed to Cincinnati, and sophomore Jamier Averette-Brown, who finished second in the 100 meters at the state track meet last season and already has a scholarship offer from Ohio State along with more than a dozen others.
Brown leads the Warriors with 739 yards receiving and 10 touchdowns while Smith has caught 28 passes for 447 yards, Hunter has 23 catches for 400 yards, and Isaiah Thompson provides balance with 979 yards rushing.
Credit: DaytonDailyNews
Hunter threw for 179 yards and ran for 95 in the first meeting with Fairmont, but Lewis will be at the controls this week.
“They’re a different team when they have their starting quarterback,” Miller said. “We did a pretty good job that night controlling the clock. We don’t throw it unless we really need to. We thought there were some things there, but we just we did a pretty good job on the ground, and we kept picking up first downs, so we just stayed with that. I expect it’s going to be a lot tougher sledding this next time around.”
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
Wayne’s comeback win over the Middies in some ways represented its regular season, which started 1-4 but finished 4-1.
The Warriors trailed 20-11 at halftime but scored 15 unanswered points and won a playoff game for the first time since 2020.
“That’s our seniors’ make up. You know what I mean?” Mukes said after the game. “Just continuing to believe, continuing to stay together like we talked about, and then just wanting to make those plays in those moments. We talked about it all the time. Big time players make big time plays and big time moments. That was a testament to them.”
While Fairmont is looking to advance to the regional semifinals for the first time in school history, Wayne is no stranger to deep playoff runs.
The Warriors went to four state title games from 1999-2015, and Lewis believes they are capable of doing it again.
“Yes sir, we can most definitely go on a run,” he said Friday night. “Especially when we play like we did in that second half. We just gotta stick together.”
The winner of the Fairmont-Wayne rematch will play Hilliard Bradley or Hilliard Davidson next week at a neutral site.
No. 2 seed Centerville and No. 7 Springboro are also set for a rematch Friday night. They are joined in the bottom half of the Region 2 bracket by No. 14 Dublin Coffman and No. 6 Lebanon.
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