After battling for a half that saw them lead by one at the intermission, the Tecumseh Arrows football team watched as Fairborn pulled away in the second half, en route to a 41-21 victory on opening night. “Our kids competed and played hard, we just made some mistakes that a young and inexperienced team would make and Fairborn took advantage of them,” Tecumseh coach Kent Massie said.
“We gave up some big plays, but the one thing we did was we hustled well.”
Tecumseh scored first to take a quick 7-0 lead when Brandon Morgan scampered in from two yards out. This was set up after a long run to get the Arrows out of the shadow of their own end zone.
Fairborn then reeled off 14 consecutive points to take the lead early in the second period as Wesley Watts hit Brandon Easterling on a pass to tie the game, then a touchdown catch from KJ Redmon put the host Skyhawks in front 14-7.
“Fairborn converted on some of their chances early in the game, and we gave them some opportunities on penalties to give them a first down,” Massie said.
Tecumseh fought back to tie and retake the lead at 21-14 later in the half. It was Morgan again who capped the drives with touchdowns, to give the Arrows the lead.
Right before the half, the Skyhawks would cut into the lead again, scoring but missing the extra point to allow the Arrows to maintain a slim one point lead going into the break.
“There were only a couple of plays that the kids really took off tonight,” Massie said. “Even though we are getting beat in the second half, the kids are fighting to the end, and that’s what I like from this young team”
In the third quarter, the Skyhawks put the game away by scoring three times, and holding the Arrows off the scoreboard for the remainder of the game.
“We have some talent, we just need to polish it up,” Massie said. “I think we can get there with it, it will just take some time to get through the learning curve. One thing that is different for these kids is that the game moves so fast from the level they played last year.”
Tecumseh will return to the field on Friday night, as they travel to Vandalia Butler (1-0) for a non-conference matchup. Their first home game is week three as Bellbrook comes to town.
