The Sayre Eagle football team made the road trip to take on the Class A #2 rated Fairview Yellowjackets, but were sent home with a 49 to 24 loss. Both the # l and # 2 teams in class A are in District 1 where the Eagles are located. Hooker bumped up to the # 1 spot after they stormed over Fairview earlier in the season 38 to 7. Hooker also defeated Sayre by the score of 50 to 20 in the Eagles first district contest.
Sayre kicked off to Fairview to begin the game and after a 22 yard kickoff return out to their 43 yard the Jackets began a methodical drive to the Eagle end zone in only five plays. Grant Church carried the ball on all 5 of the plays and the fifth one was a 10 yard TD run. Austin Hickman toed through the PAT and the score was 7 to 0 with 11:08 left in the first quarter.
After the ensuing kickoff the Eagles committed the first of 5 turnovers when on their third play from scrimmage, a pass was intercepted by Aiden Nightingale and returned 33 yards for Fairview’s second of 7 touchdowns on the night. The PAT kick was good and the score was now 14 to 0 with 10:11 left in the first quarter. Following the ensuing kickoff and on the Eagles second play of the possession, another pass was intercepted by Nightingale and returned back to the Sayre eleven-yard line. Two plays later Grant Church punched the ticket for their third TD from the Eagle 5 yard line. Again, the PAT kick was true and the score was 21 to 0 with 8:56 left in the quarter.
After Jaden Mosser returned the kickoff 17 yards the Eagles began their third possession of the game from their own 26. Sayre picked up 2 first downs, the first on a 31 yard run by Mosser to the Jacket 42. A second first down was made 4 plays later but the drive fizzled at the 34 yard line. Mosser punted 21 yards to the Fairview 13. From there, the Jackets overpowered the Eagle defense by storming 87 yards in 6 plays. Three of those were pass completions of 46, 19 and 17 yards. The final 2 yards were gained by Alex Houk for the TD. After the PAT success, the score was 28 to 0 with 1:53 left in the first quarter.
Mosser returned the ensuing kickoff 9 yards to the Eagle 27. Sayre motored to the Fairview Yellowjacket 27 before a fourth down pass was intercepted by Nightingale at the Sayre 12 and returned 88 yards for the Jackets fifth TD of the night. The PAT kick was once again perfect to lift the score to 35 to 0. Sayre struggled on offense following the kickoff and after 3 plays went nowhere Mosser punted 26 yards to the Eagle 42 where Noah Schmidt made the catch and was immediately slammed to the ground by Zane Allen.
Fairview took possession at the 42 and fluidly drove the distance to paydirt in 6 plays. Houk ran across the final 3 yards and after the successful PAT kick the score read 42-0 with 7:35 left in the first half of play. The kickoff carried into the Sayre end zone so the ball was placed on the Eagle 20 where they began their offense. Sayre clocked a pair of first downs as they moved the ball to the Eagle 39. But on the next play another pass was intercepted by Nightingale and returned back to the Sayre 38. A pass of 33 yards from Jax Bernard to Schmidt advanced the ball to the Eagle 5. Two plays later Church plunged into paydirt and following the PAT kick the score was now 49 to 0 with 2:47 left in the first half. Sayre used up the final time after the kickoff before the half ended.
Sayre received the second half kickoff and put together a drive that began at the Eagle 20 and ended at the Fairview 37 where a fumble was lost over to Fairview. The Eagle defense gave up a negative 34 yards that pushed the Jackets back to their own 3 yard line. A fourth down punt was for 48 yards to the Eagle 49. From the 49 Sayre drove for their first TD in the game. After 3 plays advanced the ball to the Fairview, 27 Zane Allen rumbled for a 27 yard TD. Mosser ran for the PAT and the score was 49 to 8 with 4:49 remaining in the third quarter.
The ensuing kickoff put the Jackets at their own 45 to start the possession. On the first play from scrimmage a bad center snap rolled the ball back to the Jacket 27 where Z. Allen made the fumble recovery. Sayre did not capitalize on the turnover and gave the ball back to Fairview at the Jacket 23. Once again a bad center snap sailed back to the Fairview one yard line where Aiden Ball made the recovery of the fumble for Sayre. On first down Hunter Hanrahan dove into the end zone for the touchdown. Z. Allen ran for the PAT and the score was closed to 49 - 16 with 7:57 left in the game. Following the ensuing kickoff the Eagle defense gave up only one yard in three plays to force a Jacket punt from their own 28. The ball now gave Sayre the opportunity to drive for their final TD from the Fairview 48. It took only 4 plays and on the fourth down Jaden Mosser swept 40yardstotheendzone. Z. Allen ran across the PAT and the final score read 49-24. The game was interesting because Sayre held Fairview to 21 carries and zero yards gained in rushing and in total offense outgained them 201 to 142. The loss hurts but those stats eases the pain a little.
The final game of the season finds the Eagles traveling to Hinton where the season is on the line. Both teams hold a 3 win 3 loss standing in the district. The winner will qualify for the playoffs as the fourth place team to go. Z. Allen and J. Mosser each had exactly 101 yards rushing in the Fairview game while Tate Bawden and Allen each had 5 tackles to lead in that department.
