On a muggy Friday night inside Dafford Smith, Fairview bounced back, handing a very talented East Limestone team a lopsided 42-14 loss. Behind yet another huge game from junior star running back Eli Frost, Fairview blew open an early close game.
Receiving the ball to open the game, Fairview marched right down the field, where Frost broke free from 24 yards out for the 7-0 lead. After Aggie’s defense forces a punt, Frost had a rare fumbled returned to inside the goal line, where East Limestone cashed in from a yard out to tie it 7-7.
Fairview responded with a perfect pass from Barett York to Cade Yeager on a slant route. Yeager took 57 yards to the house to pull ahead 14-7. Just into the second quarter, the Indians were able to capitalize on a mistake in the secondary to tie the game at 14-14 apiece. That was the trend last week that cost the Aggies a win, and was a cause for concern.
How would the Fairview defense respond? We will keep it simple, East Limestone wouldn’t find the endzone the rest of the night. Frost, however, would not once, not twice, not three times, but four more times Friday night would find the endzone, to pull Fairview away in a game that was never close again.
As the Aggies coasted to the big win, Frost racked up 263 yards and 5 touchdowns on 26 carries, with his last touch being worthy of an ESPN Top 10 after the 55-yard touchdown run. If you are keeping up, yes, that’s 576 yards and 9 touchdowns the last two weeks. As talented as Frost is, to quote Fairview Head Coach, George Redding, “As good as Eli is at football, he’s an even better person. He’s as good as they come.”
Frost, who never talks about self, said on this continued tremendous play, “I’m just a part of a machine, and I try to do my part. Honestly, it’s all due to my line and receivers who are blocking for me. Please, make sure you give them the credit they deserve. I couldn’t do anything without them.”
On top of another jaw-dropping Frost performance, it was also the type of defensive performance we are accustomed to with Fairview. Coach Redding said on his defense’s bounce-back game, “I’m proud of how our guys responded. We don’t just want to train up good football players, we want to train up men first and foremost. And these guys showed a lot of character this week in practice. Our defensive staff had a great game plan, and the guys executed well tonight.”
Next week Fairview will head to Good Hope as the battle for Cullman continues. The Raiders are coming off a 50-7 loss to Cherokee County, so they’ll be looking to bounce back and knock out their third county foe this season. The last few seasons, both these teams have been at the top of the county, yet they haven’t met. Next Friday night, the hypotheticals go away, and bragging rights will be determined at 7 pm inside James W. Shabel Stadium.
