XENIA — Xenia’s offense is as explosive as it comes and it was on full display in a rivalry win Friday night.
Fairborn’s defense struggled to make tackles and it led to numerous big plays for Xenia in a 47-0 win in MVL action. The Bucs retained possession of the Clifton-Sphar Trophy.
“It’s great when our kids go out and execute,” Xenia head coach Maurice Harden said. “They focus on the small details that you prep during practice and when they execute at a high level, it’s pretty awesome to see.”
It was all or nothing by the Bucs’ early on as Xenia scored on its first play of a drive four times.
Trei’Shaun Sanders and Tremell Wright combined to touch the ball five times in the first half for Xenia, and all five times the play ended in the endzone, including several of the aforementioned plays.
Sanders scored on runs of 40, 63 and 6, while Wright hauled in receptions going for 80 and 72 yards.
“It goes back to our preparation, our time spent in the weight room and the little things that we do to get prepared to go play a game,” Harden said.
The Skyhawks defense did clamp down on the game’s opening possession after a 33-yard run and forced a punt later on, but the wins were few.
Fairborn’s offense played ball control throughout the game and had four drives go at least eight plays, but they were repeatedly stopped on fourth down chances after crossing midfield, including once at Xenia’s four-yard line.
“Our defense does a really good job of being stingy and making the offense uncomfortable with the pressure that we can bring and the athletes we have out on the perimeter,” Harden said. “I’m very proud of them for going out and doing their job.”
Fairborn ran 50 plays in the first half to Xenia’s 21, but were outgained by 263 yards due to the big plays from the Bucs’ offense.
“We didn’t finish drives we made,” Fairborn head coach Larry Cox said. “We’d make a critical mistake and that would lead to us not being able to punch it in the endzone. From 20 to 20, we moved the ball.”
Xenia piled it in the second half when Sanders ran for 74 yards over three plays and scored his fourth touchdown of the game from 28 yards out, and Ramon Browder punched in a 22-yard touchdown on a fourth-and-six run in the fourth quarter.
Sanders, the MVL’s rushing leading through the first two weeks, unofficially finished the game with six carries for 185 yards. His four touchdowns doubled his season total.
Browder had a big game as well, running for 147 yards on 10 attempts to go with his touchdown.
“You can’t make critical mistakes against a good team,” Cox said. “We just didn’t tackle well and need to get better technically as football players. But I’m not going to fault our effort.”
With the win, Xenia is 3-0 and 2-0 in the MVL. Fairborn drops to 0-3 and has lost both of its league games.
