To avoid rain and thunderstorms James W. Shabel filled up with fans on a humid Thursday night, where Fairview slowly and methodically took down the Good Hope Raiders 27-6. Eli Frost ran wild for 332 yards on 25 carries for all 4 of Fairview’s touchdowns, more on Frost later.
It didn’t take Frost long to get going after he took off for a 70 touchdown run on the second play of the game for what is truly worthy of a ESPN top 10. On the carry he broke tackles, juked, spun, and at one point in the spin stiff-armed a defender with his back to the endzone. The jaw dropping run put the Aggies on top early after the Kolt Redding extra point, 7-0.
Good Hope responded with a lengthy drive behind three Tyler Cone receptions, from Colten Whatley, but the drive fell short of the endzone when Fairview’s Cade Yeager picked it off at the goalline. Yeager returned it all the way to midfield at the 49 yard line. Frost would run six of the next seven plays and capped the Aggie drive off with his second touchdown of the night, coming on a monstrous hit laid to the Raider defender to go up 14-7.
On the Fairview kickoff the Raider would unable to jump on the “pooch kick,” and Jameson Goble was able to recover for the Aggies. A few plays later a fumble gave the Raiders the ball back, and with some referee calls that kept going Good Hope’s way, they were able to eat up much of the second quarter before ultimately punting.
Fairview, starting on their own 37 yard line put together an 11 play drive, that ended on a 4th and goal at the 1 yard line. With seconds to go before the half the Raider defense was able to come up with a huge stop on a Frost carry that kept them in the game at half, down 14.0. Frost ended the first half with 166 yards and the 2 touchdowns.
The second half Frost went straight to work scoring from 20 yards out in the beginning of the quarter and after a promising Good Hope drive ended at either own 10 yard line, Frost took one to the house from 94 yards out. A three and out later Frost took his last couple carries of the game to finish with his 332 yards and 4 touchdowns. Good Hope was able to score late to bring a final score of 27-6.
If you’re keeping up, Frost has eclipsed the 1000 yard mark through four games. You read that right, 1000 yard through four games. He sits at 1007 yards and 16 touchdowns for an average of 250 yards and 4 touchdown a contest… Wow. At some point you run out of things to write about the kid, but he hasn’t ran out of words at all, “It’s my line man. Those guys up front and my receivers. Those are the guys making it possible. Like I said last week, I’m just a part in a machine.”
Aside from another huge Frost night, the Fairview defense that is known for it’s stinginess continued to get back to form, holding Good Hope to just 191 yards on the night. Coach Redding had this to say on this defense, “It really starts with the front six and they’re been playing remarkably, staying in their lanes and creating layers to defense.”
Redding continued, “We knew this game was heavily anticipated and we talk so often about effort and energy, but we stressed this week on the mental side staying balanced and simply executing. I’m proud of our guys. Coach Scott does such a great job over there. This was a tough team to get a win against.”
For the Raiders, Kaleb Jones finished with a hard earned 56 yards on 13 carries and the lone Good Hope touchdown, while Whatley finished with 74 yards on the ground and 52 in the air. Good Hope heads down 278 next week to take on a talented Addison Bulldog team to snap a two game losing streak.
Meanwhile the Fairview now will have an opportunity to put the debate to rest. Next week they host the Branding Iron Bowl rivalry game against West Point, with a chance to claim “Kings of Cullman.” With all the in county games this year it boils down to this final county matchup for Fairview. With the “County Championship” on the line, trophies, bragging rights, and more are on the line. It will all be determined next Friday at 7pm inside Dafford Smith Stadium.
