Fairland quarterback Owen Burcham (7) throws a pass against Minford Friday in a high school football scrimmage at Jim Mayo Memorial Stadium in Rome Township, Ohio.
Fairland High School football coach Mike Jackson (green t-shirt) greets players as they come off the field after a defensive stop against Minford Friday in a high school football scrimmage at Jim Mayo Memorial Stadium in Rome Township, Ohio.
Fairland quarterback Owen Burcham (7) throws a pass against Minford Friday in a high school football scrimmage at Jim Mayo Memorial Stadium in Rome Township, Ohio.
Fairland High School football coach Mike Jackson (green t-shirt) greets players as they come off the field after a defensive stop against Minford Friday in a high school football scrimmage at Jim Mayo Memorial Stadium in Rome Township, Ohio.
ROME TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- Grasping at air and gasping for air.
That's what Minford defenders did much of the night Friday trying to tackle, then chasing, Fairland quarterback Owen Burcham. The elusive and fast 5-foot-8, 150-pound sophomore scored three touchdowns in the Dragons' 37-21 triumph over the Falcons in a scrimmage at Jim Mayo Field.
Scrimmage scores are worth little, as coaches often work on specific areas more than they might in regular-season games. Coaches from both teams said they liked some of what they saw, needed to fix other aspects and came away relatively pleased overall.
"We're young," Fairland coach Mike Jackson said. "The main thing is to see what kind of game shape we're in and see what the young guys and the team in general have learned since last week's scrimmage with Greenup County."
Jackson said effort was there and mistakes are fixable.
Minford coach Jordan Michael, who played at Fairland, said he looked for improvement from last week's scrimmage with Piketon.
"We want to fine-tune our schematics and execute at a better clip than we did last week," Michael said. "We have to line up better and make sure we're reading the right stuff. We did some good things and some bad things tonight."
Minford led 7-0, 14-7, 14-13 and 21-13 before Fairland rallied. Burcham scored on a 40-yard scramble, a 2-yard option and a weaving 70-yard dash. He threw a 2-point conversion pass to Ford Rickard to tie the game at 21-21.
The Dragons took the lead when Kinyon Smith, listed as a wide receiver, lined up at quarterback and raced 48 yards for a touchdown with 4:52 left in the third quarter. Smith then threw a conversion pass to Aiden Trimble to put Fairland ahead 29-21.
Both teams' reserves played much of the fourth quarter. The Falcons, who wore practice jerseys with no numbers, were driving when a running back fumbled and the Dragons' Cody Sketel recovered at Fairland's 10-yard line.
The next play, Trimble burst through the middle on a 90-yard scoring jaunt. Smith ran for two points to set the score.
Minford scored on a 40-yard run, a 15-yard pass and a 39-yard pass. The Falcons found a fair amount of success running away from defensive end Davin Murray, who spent much of the game in the Minford backfield.
Fairland treated the contest as much like a regular-season game as it could, although there were no kickoff or punt returns and no rush on extra point attempts. Jack Harris and Dave Carroll broadcast the game from the press box, Bryan Ward did public address announcing, C.J. Hayes ran the scoreboard, the band performed The Star Spangled Banner and played at halftime and cheerleaders did their duties on the sideline.
The Dragons open at 7 p.m. Friday at Portsmouth West. Minford entertains Rock Hill at 7 p.m. Friday in its opener.
