“It feels so good,” said linebacker Amir Armstrong, who led Fairfield with nine total tackles. “Big student section, a lot of noise, great atmosphere … we worked so hard for this. We deserved it.”
David Keeling carried the ball 13 times for 116 yards and a touchdown for the Indians, while quarterback Hunter Krause hit James Mitchell with a scoring pass and also ran for a TD.
The yardage margin was a whopping 324-60 in favor of Fairfield, which kicks off Greater Miami Conference play at Sycamore next Friday.
“Even though we had some mistakes on offense, our defense just kept picking us up,” Tribe coach Jason Krause said. “We played with good tempo. We thought we had an advantage in speed, and we had to take advantage of that.
“All we talked about all week was defending our new house and opening this thing the right way. Twenty years from now, they’re going to talk about the game that opened this new stadium, and we definitely didn’t want it to be a loss.”
Coffman (2-1) tried to make a game of it, closing the gap to 14-7 on Gavin Sturdivant’s 1-yard touchdown run with 11:08 left. That TD followed an interception by Colt Whitman, Krause’s second pick of the night.
But the Indians responded with scoring runs by Keeling and Krause on their next two drives.
“We had a glimmer of hope if that’s the way you want to put it, but that quickly vanished,” Coffman coach Mark Crabtree said. “All the credit goes to Fairfield and their coaches. They dominated the game from start to finish. I think it was pretty apparent.”
Fairfield racked up 189 rushing yards. Mitchell gained 68 yards on 20 carries, but Keeling was the biggest headache for the Shamrocks’ defense.
“All the credit goes to my line,” Keeling said. “It’s a blessing to play with these guys every day. I wouldn’t want to do it with anybody else.”
“Our O-line and backs did a great job when we had to run the ball in the fourth quarter,” Jason Krause said. “Keeling had a great performance. His vision’s really good. He’s tough. He’s durable. The touchdown run was a great effort. It was kind of bottled up, and he bounced it out the front door and just made it happen.”
Jerred McGuire kicked 19- and 25-yard field goals for the Indians, misfiring on a 27-yarder. Josiah Scott notched an interception and recovered a loose ball on a squib kickoff, and Nick Adams added a fumble recovery.
“We knew we were the better team. We just had to prove it to everybody else,” Armstrong said. “We’ve been working for this for a long time now. We’re just going to keep moving, keep getting Ws.”
Armstrong and Josh Weaver had sacks for Fairfield, and Weaver made two tackles for loss. Krause converted 8 of 17 passes for 135 yards.
The Indians led 14-0 at intermission, but that lead certainly could’ve been bigger. Fairfield settled for McGuire field goals after failing to score from the 1-yard line on one drive and watching a 2-yard Mitchell touchdown get wiped out by a penalty on the next possession.
The Krause-to-Mitchell scoring connection was a 25-yard play with 0:51 left in the first half. Mitchell added some flair to the touchdown with a Braxton Miller-like spin move along the way.
“Our confidence is through the roof,” Keeling said. “We went out there and just did it. We kept putting confidence in each other. We’ve been doing that since January. We can do big things. Nothing is impossible.”
Sturdivant’s 63 yards on 19 carries paced the Shamrocks’ offense, and Gunnar Hoak completed 8 of 21 throws for 36 yards. Ryan Boyle contributed an interception for the visitors.
“There’s no excuses here. Our kids played hard, but they were flat-out better than we were tonight,” Crabtree said. “I hope we learn from it. I hope it makes us better.”
Coffman will travel to Hilliard Davidson next Friday.
Coffman 0-0-0-7—7
Fairfield 3-11-0-14—28
F: Jerred McGuire 19 field goal
F: McGuire 25 field goal
F: James Mitchell 25 pass from Hunter Krause (Mitchell run)
C: Gavin Sturdivant 1 run (Ryan Simone kick)
F: David Keeling 28 run (McGuire kick)
F: Krause 19 run (McGuire kick)
About the Author