CLEVER — Two of the best teams in Class 2 went toe-to-toe on Friday, Sept. 18.
Fair Grove (4-0) held off a furious Clever (3-1) comeback to secure a big 27-20 road win. The win kept the Eagles undefeated, while the Bluejays suffered their first defeat of the season.
Last season, Clever earned a three-point win over Fair Grove. The Eagles never forgot that result and wanted payback.
“We didn’t play our best game, but it was a statement game,” Fair Grove quarterback Gavin Thomason said. “We lost to them last year. We were coming back for revenge."
Clever started the game on the front foot. Running back Kendall Piper found the end zone via an 11-yard touchdown. The Blue Jays defense stifled
Fair Grove, but one play completely changed the momentum.
Late in the first quarter, Clever dropped back to pass. Fair Grove’s Jacob Ahnen jumped a route and snagged the interception. He sprinted to the end zone for the pick-six, tying the game 7-7.
Fair Grove added to its lead in the second quarter. Running back Wyatt Hallum earned a short rushing touchdown, the first of two important touchdowns for the Eagles.
With less than three minutes in the first half, Clever went 95 yards on 15 plays to tie the game at the break. Piper added another short rushing touchdown.
“That’s a good football team,” Fair Grove head coach Josh Evans said about Clever. “We can’t expect to play perfect football, nobody’s perfect. Successful people, it’s about how they deal with mistakes. Out of the gates, some things went bad, but they defaulted to being aggressive.”
The third quarter was all Fair Grove. The Eagles forced another turnover via a fumble. Thomason tossed a 15-yard touchdown to Gage Hill on fourth down, and the Eagles retook the lead.
Five minutes later, Hallum scored a 25-yard rushing touchdown. It was the longest score of the game and it would be a crucial touchdown for Fair Grove.
“Everybody was blocking to the left, I saw a big hole and I just hit as fast as I could,” Hallum said. “I got into the end zone and I was pretty excited.”
Fair Grove was driving the ball down the field ahead 27-14 with six minutes remaining in the game. The Eagles were just five yards away from adding another score and putting the game out of reach.
On fourth down, Fair Grove threw the ball into the end zone, but Trenton Allen picked it off. The junior looked up for return room. After cutting back across the field, Allen was gone. He reached Fair Grove territory and was tackled inside the 1-yard line. A few plays later, Allen caught a touchdown to cut into Fair Grove’s lead.
Fair Grove’s offense tried to ice the game with less than five minutes left. After a couple first downs, the Eagles looked strong. One play gave Clever life. On second down, Fair Grove fumbled and Clever’s Mason Griffin pounced on the ball.
Clever had one last chance from its own 45-yard line to tie the game with 1:05 remaining. The Bluejays advanced the ball 18 yards. After moving the chains for a first down, Clever elected for four straight pass plays, all of them incomplete.
Fair Grove would hang on for the win thanks to its stingy defense.
“I never felt like there was any bad body language or bad morale that crept in and made us play any worse,” Evans said. “We came up big especially on that last play right there. I’m just proud of them.”
This is the third time in the last four years that Fair Grove has won the opening four games of the season. The Eagles will go on the road to face fellow undefeated team Springfield Catholic (4-0) next week.
Clever heads to Buffalo (3-1) for its Week 5 game.
Liam Keating covers high school sports and Missouri State athletics for The Springfield News-Leader. Send stats or information to him at Lkeating@usatodayco.com
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Fair Grove football gets 'revenge' over Clever in close battle
